Jock McIlwain estate: Subdivision plan revealed for prime Mermaid Waters site on Gold Coast
The Chinese investors who in July paid more than $11 million for the Mermaid Waters property once owned by canal engineer Jock McIlwain have revealed what they intend to do with the property.
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THE waiting game is over when it comes to the future of the hotly-contested trophy property that was the long-time home of canal engineer Jock McIlwain.
The Chinese investors who in July paid more than $11 million for the Mermaid Waters property, which has a 300-metre water frontage, are taking a subdivision route.
They want to slice the 1.1ha site up into a dozen housing lots, which will be sold and not built on by the investors.
All lots will have canal frontages and indications are that they’ll start above $1 million.
They are on the market’s horizon as buyers wanting bare waterfront sites on the central Gold Coast are starved of choice.
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There was a clamour for the McIlwain property when it was put on the market in June via an expressions-of-interest campaign, with more than 300 inquiries and with 35 written offers submitted.
Among those who reportedly put their hands up were Singaporean developer Ho Bee, billionaire Bob Ell, and developers Anthony Gordon and Dean Pask.
Other names in the frame were City Pacific founder Phil Sullivan and Louis Cheung of Hope Island developer the Keylin Group.
Most contenders were looking at the subdivision potential of the land in terms of chopping up the whole site or, in the case of Brisbane families, keeping the point at the head of the property and selling off the rest.
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There was great disparity over what the land was worth.
It seems the lowest offer was less than $5 million, or more than $6 million below the $11.18 million that won the trophy for company SKF Developing.
The price paid by SKF was streets ahead of the land’s 2020 rateable value of $3.4 million.
It also dwarfed the then highest residential sale in Mermaid Waters, a Cessnock Close house built by socialite Jenny Wong on 1633sq m, which sold for $3.25 million in 2017.
The investors behind SKF apparently all are residents in Australia and are scrutinising other possible property investments on the Gold Coast.
Their yet-to-be-approved plan for the ex-McIlwain land is for a community-title subdivision, not gated, which will have the McIlwain Drive cul-de-sac extended into it.
The lots will start at 628sq m and the two premier ones, on the property’s point, will be at least 1000sq m.
The McIlwain compound looks likely to remain in place until the subdivision gets a green light.
It includes an architect-designed house in its original condition, floodlit tennis court with clubhouse pavilion, pool, landscaped gardens and a security gate.
Jock McIlwain, who died at 89 four years ago, was the creator of Gold Coast canal estates alongside Sir Bruce Small and was the engineer behind Mermaid Waters, Sorrento, and Broadbeach Waters.
Meanwhile, the new owners of the McIlwain land might have been chasing a bit of Chinese luck when they offered $11.180 million – the site spans 11,180sq m.
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