Gold Coast development: Billionaire’s golf playground to be developed into gated estate

A Gold Coast billionaire’s golf playground is set to undergo a major transformation - 30 years since it was first built. 

A BILLIONAIRE’S golf playground at Nerang is to sprout a $220 million lifestyle community with a luxury cruiser for residents’ use.

The Villa, built for Japanese businessman the late Toshiaki Ogasawara 30 years ago, is to become home to 296 terrace homes in gated estate Riverina Gold Coast.

The property, on which the Japan Times owner used to hit golf balls from a driving range outside his grand mansion’s first-floor bedroom, is expected to have its first residents by later this year.

The mansion, which cost $11 million to build in 1989 and at one time operated as a function centre, is to be demolished.

The Riverina project, by Brisbane developer Pointcorp and given the green light by the city council, signals an end to previous plans to build Nerang’s first high-rises on the land.

Bisected by the Brisbane-Gold Coast railway line, The Villa carried development approval for 946 apartments in 10 buildings of between four and 13 levels when Pointcorp bought it 18 months ago.

Pointcorp says Riverina will be a lifestyle haven with resident facilities unmatched on the Gold Coast.

The Villa and the mansion was built for Toshiaki Ogasawara. Photo: Supplied

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They will range from a body corporate-owned cruiser, which residents will be able to hire, through to a cafe, library, private dining rooms, cinema, gymnasium with sauna, and multiple fitness equipment stations.

The property has a 400-metre frontage to the Nerang River, which offers deepwater access to the ocean.

Chris Vitale, who founded the Brisbane-based Pointcorp with Paul Gedoun in 2002, yesterday said Riverina would be a lifestyle pacesetter.

“It’s rare to have such a large riverfront setting so close to the coast and Pointcorp will do it justice.

“Our project not only will be large in terms of resident facilities, but large by way of terrace-home sizes.”

Riverina will have a 2.8ha lake as a centrepiece and will include a large resort-style pool.

The Villa was developed on 23ha bought by Mr Ogasawara for $6 million in the late 1980s and, for several years until 2013, was home to a private golf club where fees were $7500 a year.

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The Villa golf course is bisected by the railway line. Photo: Supplied

Pointcorp snared The Villa in 2018 in the wake of the billionaire’s 2016 death but the price has not been revealed – it bought Ogasawara holding company Nifsan in a deal which included an Emerald Lakes commercial building.

The Pointcorp decision to “go low” will see terrace homes of between 180 and 500sq m and, selling from $495,000 to $1 million, will be built on the doorstep of the Nerang Train Station.

Mr Vitale said they would appeal to the whole spectrum of buyers, from owner-occupiers to first-home owners wanting to get into the market and to investors.

The Pointcorp development approval does not take in The Villa land on the eastern side of the railway line.

A 60m-wide area next to the line is to be used for the Coomera Connector road.

Mr Vitale said Pointcorp, which was proposing a 30m riverfront environmental area, would address the fate of the balance of the “eastern” land once the road was complete.

Pointcorp, which has a development pipeline approaching $2 billion, has just completed a 365-title house and land estate, Bloom, at Coomera.

Its other Gold Coast assets include a service station fronting the highway in the heart of Burleigh.

The group’s activities encompass everything from hotels to luxury apartments and an industrial estate.