Billionaire’s $22.5m Mermaid Beach purchase smashes regions property record
A billionaire and his family are off to the beach after smashing a property record in Mermaid Beach’s Multi-Millionaires’ Row.
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PROPERTY billionaire Bob Ell and family are off to the beach, smashing a property record in Mermaid Beach’s Multi-Millionaires’ Row.
The Ells are buying a three-level beachfront home in Hedges Ave for close to $22.5 million.
Mr Ell said it was a family-motivated decision – he and wife Bridget have four children under 16.
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“The kids all are rather sporting-minded and love the beach and the ocean. This buy will enable them to burn off a bit of energy whenever they get restless and to perhaps lap up the surfing culture that’s synonymous with the Gold Coast.”
Mr Ell said the home would not be the family’s main residence – that would remain their riverfront Budds Beach property.
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The Ell deal was handled by Amir Mian and Nat King, of Amir Prestige, but neither would comment.
The sale eclipses the highest price paid in the street for a completed residence – that was $19 million by Harvey Norman executive Steve Cavalier in 2006.
The only bigger Hedges Ave sale was in 2008 when four lots on which founder Tony Smith had built the basement of a house sold for $27 million. In May, the Smiths’ Heron Ave home, just off Albatross Ave at Mermaid Beach, sold for $25 million.
Mr Ell had been looking at Mermaid beachfront properties for some time and his buy comes on the heels of a family holiday home at Noosa selling for $9.6 million.
He also has just sold, for $4.05million, a property near his family’s Gold Coast riverfront home at Budds Beach.
The Mermaid Beach property bought by the Ells was built for racing industry figure and former realtor David Henderson and family. It was completed in 2012.
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Mr Ell’s new Hedges Ave mansion was designed by Paul Uhlmann and is on one of the largest lots in the street at 1215sqm with a 30-metre ocean frontage.
It was sold for $16.5 million in 2017 in a deal handled by the agency in which Mr Henderson previously was a principal, The Professionals Mermaid Beach.
The buyer, and the seller to the Ells, was Rosa Raso, wife of Sam Raso, whose Molendinar-based Austworld group makes high-end plumbing products and has six offices across the country.
What the Ell money has bought
* A near 1400sqm home on a 1215sqm site.
* Five bedrooms, two studies, five bathrooms, three powder rooms, and an outdoor beach shower.
* Balconies off all bedrooms.
* A basement for seven cars and including a gymnasium, cold room, storerooms, sauna, bathroom, dog’s bedroom, and second laundry.
* A man cave/games room with study, pool table, bar, powder room, and four-screen television.
* A Sonos sound system, keyless entry, and Gaggenau appliances.
* Ducted reverse-cycle airconditioning, CCTV security, vacuumaid,
and a backup generator.
* A system that controls lighting, security, climate, audiovisual equipment, and the intercom via an iPad.
* A lift to all three levels.
* A magnesium-chlorinated pool with spa and wading area and tiled in glass mosaics.
* Copper roofing that opens over the pool to let in sunlight.
* An indoor-outdoor entertaining area with dining area with dining, cooking and bar facilities.
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