Sunland Group: Soheil and Sahba Abedian quit development giant for new company

Soheil and Sahba Abedian have resigned from Sunland Group, severing a 40-year relationship with the company. They reveal what will happen next. FULL STORY

Soheil and Sahba Abedian have resigned from Sunland Group, severing a 40-year relationship with the company.

The elder Mr Abedian founded the development giant in 1983, while his son was its long-serving managing director.

Sunland announced the move to its shareholders on Wednesday that the Abedian’s positions had been made redundant after the sale of its remaining assets and both would resign their board seats in the now-delisted company.

Sunland chief financial officer Grant Harrison has been appointed executive director to replace them.

Sahba and Soheil Abedian. Picture: Tertius Pickard

But it’s not the end for the Abedians, who have immediately launched their own private development company, which has more than $1.5bn of project on its books.

The elder Mr Abedian, who led Sunland to create the Q1 and Palazzo Versace, said it was the end of an era.

“After 40 years I have left the company to continue the family business and both Sahba and I have resigned to pursue this private work,” he said.

“It is mixed-feelings for me because I started this company 40 years ago and went from a private organisation a public one and now (Sahba and I) are going back to where we started.

“We hope that the new company will continue to create buildings which will add to the landscape of the Gold Coast and create homes for individuals who have a love of this city.”

Sunland is expected to continue existing for up to five years as a legal entity while it addresses its remaining liabilities, other obligations linked to project management and defect rectification.

The Abedian family now have three projects in the pipeline.

Artist impression of Peerless, a $255m, 36-storey tower proposed for Mermaid Beach by Sunland founder Soheil Abedian, his first project outside of his company. Picture: Supplied.

Work has begun on Peerless, a $255m, 36-storey resident tower in Mermaid Beach.

It will rise over the city’s most expensive mansions on Hedges Ave.

The project will have 109 units. The company also bought a site on Broadbeach’s Ann Street from fellow tower developer Jim Raptis for $12.1m.

Mr Raptis, who had approval to build a 35-storey tower on the site had previously spend $12.5m for the land. Abedian and Co is now designing a 38 storeys which will have 120 units.

Meanwhile plans were lodged in June for the first stage of a three-tower development – the Eden Ave Residences – on the site of the Greenmount Beach resort.

The first tower, sitting above the famous Snapper Rocks break, will be 16-storeys and will feature 54 units containing nearly 150 bedrooms. The project is expected to be launched to the market in 2024. No timeline has been decided on when the other towers will be submitted for approval.

Artist impression of Eden Ave Residences, a redevelopment of the Greenmount Beach Resort planned by Abedian and Co.

Sunland unsuccessfully attempted to buy the site for $35m in January 2007 before it was snapped up by City Pacific.

Mr Abedian got his wish in March 2016 when the resort was bought for $26m by the publicly listed Sunland, which he remains at the helm of.

Sunland in 2017 lodged plans for a $370m, two-tower project of between 14 and 17 storeys with 247 apartments overlooking Coolangatta Beach.

However, the development group went back to the drawing board after proposed changes to the City Plan and did not end up lodging the revised plans.

The plans were opposed by many southern Gold Coast groups on grounds it was inappropriate in size and scale for the area.

Sunland, which is winding down, put the site on the market in late 2020 and announced in January 2021 it had sold the site to Arium Group, which both Abedians have an interest in.

The $42.3m sale, which settled in 2022, came after eight offers were made.