Former owner of grand Gold Coast estate Bellagio La Villa embarks on new mansion

Prior joint owner of grand Gold Coast estate Bellagio La Villa, has embarked on another major mansion. FULL DETAILS

PAUL Sweeney, pre-divorce joint owner of grand Tallebudgera estate Bellagio La Villa, has embarked on another major mansion.

This time, instead of being surrounded by horses and lush pastures, the setting is fronting the Nerang River.

There are pastures across the road – a park and the fields of The Southport School.

Racing enthusiast Paul, of Coral Homes fame, two years ago bought a large home at the head of dead-end Winchester St for $6.5 million.

The new Sweeney mansion underway on the left, at the head of Winchester St. Picture: Supplied

The two-level house, since bowled, was one of 12 in an elite strip that exudes wall-to-wall wealth but twice in the past decade or so has seen receiver-induced sales of giant homes.

Paul’s buy was from Bea Jeanes, who had owned the property – which came with a tennis court and 20-metre pool – for 35 years.

She spent more than $1 million remodelling the 500 sqm house in 2009 and eight years later was aspiring to achieve $11.5 million for it.

The obvious attraction to Paul and Abigail Sweeney — the property was bought in joint names – was the 1682 sqm river frontage and the eastern aspect.

The Sweeneys, with the Jeanes house but a memory, have embarked on a dual-level mansion with five bedrooms, all with ensuites, and including what’s called a great room.

Whether the new mansion will have grandeur to match that of the 2450 sqm giant that is the centrepiece of the former Sweeney Tallebudgera estate remains to be seen – construction is in its infancy.

The palatial Bellagio La Villa has 10 bedrooms with en suites, multiple living areas, a library, media and music rooms, a gym, indoor pool and spa, and five-car garage.

The ‘Villa’ is accessed via a gated, tree-lined driveway with the southern boundary bordered by water.

It was built, at a suggested cost of $8 million, on a 17.6ha site bought for $7 million in 2006.

The property, true to the Sweeney racing passion, at one time was home to group-one winning thoroughbred Southern Lord.

The Sweeney tenure came to an apparently bitter end in 2012 when a court fixed minimum prices that must be achieved as part of a divorce settlement between Paul and then wife Viki.

Chinese billionaire Ryu Li in January 2014 paid $7.2 million for the two-title Bellagio property and went on to add adjoining land to his holding.

The Sweeney wealth has been built on the success of Coral Homes, which was started in 1990 and has delivered more than 20,000 houses.

The new Sweeney home underway in Southport will have plenty of wealth nearby, with the likes of boatbuilder Bill Barry Cotter, former cotton farmer Tom Hadley, ex V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane, and V8 Supercars team owner Charlie Schwerkolt.

The two biggest homes in the up-market strip were completed during the GFC and sold by receivers, both for less than $10 million.

One of them fetched $9.8 million at a 2013 auction and last year re-sold for $23.75 million.

Meanwhile, the Sweeney Winchester St buy represents a land cost of $4161 a square metre.

That’s way ahead of the $3000 rate paid by developer and caravan-park investor Simon Lee in Broadbeach Waters riverfront address Monaco St last year for 2166 sqm.

By contrast, beachfront tower sites in Surfers Paradise have surged to as high as $22,000 a square metre.

The difference? The riverfront sites can take one residence — the beach sites tens of them.