Former Menulog owner’s plans for ‘Russian mansion’ in Sydney knocked back
BILLIONAIRE former Menulog owner Leon Kamenev has had his grand plans to knock down four Sydney waterfront properties to build a ‘Russian mansion’ rejected.
NSW
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FLEE Soviet Russia and learn English while delivering pizzas in Australia as refugee. Check.
Create an online food delivery service and sell it for $855 million. Check.
Buy four neighbouring properties in Sydney’s most expensive suburb for $80 million and plan a giant redevelopment that your angry neighbours call ‘The Russian Palace’. Check.
Have your dream home knocked back after the council gets a court order rejecting your development application. Check.
Leon Kamenev was one step away from a dream run.
That was before Woollahra Council won a case in the NSW Land and Environment Court on Tuesday to knock back his development application to build arguably Australia’s most expensive home in Vaucluse.
The 60-year-old set a real estate record when he bought the four adjoining properties on Coolong Rd two years ago.
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The $80 million sale topped the $71 million record set by the sale of the Fairfax family’s Point Piper mansion in 2017 and the $70 million sale of James Packer and his ex Erica’s Vaucluse compound in 2015.
Mr Kamenev planned to bulldoze the existing houses and build one enormous mansion on the property that was to feature a gym, cinema, wet areas, pool and multiple bedrooms.
Mr Kamenev commenced litigation against Woollahra Council after it proposed to refuse the application on the grounds that its size would block the water views enjoyed by his neighbours and the general public.
On Tuesday, the court sided with the council and rejected the 60-year-old’s development application.
The court ruled that Mr Kamenev’s mansion would be 1.39m too high and heard evidence from two neighbours that it would block water views from their home and tennis court.
The court also rejected it because it would block water views that members of the public could enjoy from nearby Nurran Rd.
Luckily for Mr Kamenev, he had a $10 million backup plan.
He had already had an alternate version of the development application approved by the NSW Government’s Planning Panel on September 21, 2017.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that Mr Kamenev will go ahead with building what was approved in that application.
Attempts to reach Mr Kamenev through his barrister were unsuccessful.
The application approved by the panel was worth $10,128,095.
Woollahra Councillor Mary-Lou Jarvis said she backed the court’s decision.
“The result of the appeal confirms the Councils position and the court’s decision to refuse the appeal is the correct one — the development proposed will have an unacceptable impact on harbour views from neighbouring properties and the public domain,” Ms Jarvis said.
“The appellant already has an approval determined not by the Council but by the Sydney Central Planning Panel,” she said.
Mr Kamenev’s purchase of the properties caps off a steep rise for the 60-year-old since he arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1990.
He learned how to speak English by day while delivering pizzas at night.
His fortune was established after he co-founded online eating service, Menulog, which sold for $855 million in 2015. Mr Kamenev’s share was estimated at $455 million.