Gold Coast real estate: Entrepreneur lists dream Sanctuary Cove weekender

The 900sq m metre home – described as the best golf-course house in Australia – has drawn a rash of viewing requests and offshore interest.

DAVID Baird, an entrepreneurial retired executive, has set out to tee up a buyer for his dream Sanctuary Cove weekender.

The 900sq m metre home – described as the best golf-course house in Australia – has drawn a rash of viewing requests and offshore interest.

Mr Baird and wife Marion bought the home, fronting the 14th and 15th fairways and in the elite Masters Enclave, for $6.5m in 2018.

The weekender replaced one on the Isle of Capri which they sold six days earlier for $8.8m.

Two years earlier they had spent $7m on their weekday home, a waterfront property at Paradise Waters.

Mr Baird, 83, yesterday said he and his wife, who first bought a Sanctuary Cove home in 1987, had decided they no longer needed a weekender.

“The years are passing us by and we’ve decided two houses are one too many.

“We’re fit enough to travel and, while that’s the case, we’ll do things like having a weekend in a Brisbane hotel or driving to Toowoomba.”

Matt Gates, of Ray White Sanctuary Cove, yesterday said he sold the Bairds the home before it hit the market in 2018 and, recognising it as a unique property, they paid a premium.

“This time around I believe it could bring north of $8m.”

Mr Gates said the four-bedroom Baird weekender overlooked the only Arnold Palmer-designed golf course in the country and had an 80-metre frontage to the course.

“There wouldn’t be a better golf-course property in the country. It’s a single-level home that offers both luxury and liveability.

“Testament to that is that the Bairds have been able to lock it up and leave every weekend, with no worries about security.”

The three-year-old Baird home, on a 1978sq m site at 2230 Arnold Palmer Drive, has a sunken lounge, six alfresco dining areas, and includes a bar, firepit and pool and spa terrace.

There is a chef’s kitchen with butler’s pantry, media room, office and four-car garage with parking for two golf buggies.

Mr Baird, prior to moving to the Gold Coast from Melbourne in 1986, was the Australian head of US company Textron.

He and son Matthew set up telco Cellular One and sold it to AAPT for in excess of $20m.

Mr Baird’s other business hats have included being the Gold Coast’s Bentley and Rolls-Royce dealer and importing boats and golf buggies.