Former Miss Australia Suellen Osborne not allowed to build a rooftop tennis court on her Sovereign Islands mansion
A former beauty queen’s quest to build a tennis court on the roof top of her Sovereign Islands mansion has been denied. Here’s why
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A former Miss Australia who has become an oil explorer wants to take tennis to new heights at the elite community that is the Sovereign Islands at Paradise Point.
Suellen Osborne, who wore the beauty crown in 1998, and hubby Andrew want to build a tennis court atop a two-level-plus mansion they plan on a $10 million site.
The plan for Sovereign, where tennis courts are almost as scarce as hens’ teeth, conjurs visions of mis-hit balls floating in the Broadwater.
It might never come to that as the city council appears to think the plan is ‘out of court’.
The new abode for the Osbornes is earmarked for a 3142sqm site in Parklane Tce, bought from another Sovereign resident last year.
The couple already live in the island community – they have a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home that fronts the Broadwater.
They marketed the home in 2014 at $2.95 million but failed to find a buyer.
Suellen is the daughter of the late David Fuller, founder of global mining equipment, construction and engineering company Nepean.
She worked for Nepean for several years managing large-scale projects in Sydney and PNG and six years ago set up private company Timor Resources.
It is drilling for oil in Timor-Leste in joint ventures with the republic’s government and national oil company.
The Osbornes’ set a Sovereign Islands record last year when they paid $10 million for their Parklane Tce land.
The figure for what has been described as a mega-mansion site topped the $9.44 million achieved in 2005 for Knightsbridge Pde East land that today is occupied by Sovereign’s biggest home, Villa Vittoria.
The Osborne land first was marketed at $9.8 million in 2006 and in 2018 carried an $8.5 million tag.
The couple’s planned six-bedroom mansion, with ‘classic European architectural styling’, is intended to have more than 2100sqm of living area and, in addition, an eight-car basement and the rooftop tennis court.
The court, serviced by a lift and with a kitchenette, and its lighting are designed to be screened from the street and other homes by the roof design.
Council planners say the proposed height of the home, at 15.6 metres, does not comply with the nine-metre building heights set down in the city plan for low-rise areas.
They say the building, to comply with the plan, must significantly be reduced in height.
“This will be achieved by reducing the floor-to-ceiling heights, revising the roof design to incorporate a lower pitch, and relocating the tennis court from the rooftop.”
The ball has been bounced back into the Osborne court.
They have to respond to the planning concerns by September 1 and their application is scheduled to be put up for public comment late in September.
Meanwhile, the three-year quest to find a buyer for the largest house on the Sovereign Islands continues.
A series of agencies have tried to sell Villa Vittoria, owned by Perth-based civil engineer Riccardo Rizzi who bought it unfinished for $5.3 million at a mortgagee auction in 2013.
The latest sales effort for the giant home includes throwing in a Bentley Continental GT V8 and a Princess cruiser to a buyer prepared to pay $50 million.
Meanwhile, there a suggestions a buyer willing to pay $210 million for the Sheraton Grand Mirage hotel has been courting owners the Star casino group and its Chinese partner.
Star and the Far East Consortium bought the beachfront hotel from a Ponzi-linked Indian group in a deal worth $140 million in 2017.
The intention at that time was to turn the Christopher Skase-developed property, built in the 1980s, into a satellite resort for the partners’ mammoth Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane.
In other news, Glenn Thurlow, who nearly 40 years ago achieved a record 200 feet-plus jump as a water-skier, has ‘left the water’ at Paradise Point dripping in profit.
He and wife Lisa in 2019 signed up for a four-level ‘boat home’ in a luxury 10-pack planned by property agency principal Ali Mian on a site bought from the Korean developer of Salacia Waters.
They paid $2.48 million for the home, completed last year overlooking the confluence of the Coomera River and the Broadwater, and have sold it for $4.1 million.
Meanwhile, Jamie Bourke, maverick property agent for 35 years, is going for the doctor at Pimpama. He’s poised to turn commercial developer with a medical centre.
The project, due to get underway in July, is to go on a Dixon Drive site bought last year for $4.4 million.
The Bundall-based Jamie, principal of an agency that carries his name, apparently has 60 per cent of the centre leased, with the rapidly expanding Myhealth chain in place as the major tenant.
How $25m revamp will transform shopping centre
June 9, 2022: Developer John Potter is planning a $25 million new look for a prominent section of the retail and commercial strip that has been part of Coomera East for decades.
He has bought the Coomera Village shopping centre south of Dreamworld and intends clearing the site and using it for a project called Coomera Collective.
The venture, subject to development approval, will deliver a service station, health services, food and drink outlets, outdoor seating and parking.
A Potter company paid $8.275m for the 6500sq m Coomera Village site, which has frontages to Dreamworld Parkway and Jowett and Yaun streets.
Mr Potter yesterday said the 1700sq m project would provide an adrenaline shot to the Dreamworld Parkway strip, which had major residential developments behind it.
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“We hope that what we develop will be of benefit to other retailers on the strip, to residents, and to day-trippers visiting Dreamworld.”
Coomera Village has been bought from its owner for the past 31 years, the David Gainer-linked Foremost Properties.
It has 21 tenancies, storage sheds and parking for 91 vehicles.
The centre was put on the market last year, with net income of $597,000.
The 70-year-old Mr Potter has been active on the Gold Coast for more than four decades and also has been developing in Sydney and Melbourne and in Auckland and Queenstown in New Zealand.
Leasing of his planned Coomera centre is to be managed by Michael Parisi and David Task, of Raine and Horne.
Incoming: Suburbs that top Gold Coast’s new housing supply
Prospective buyers have less chance of finding affordable new builds on the Gold Coast than they do in Sydney and Melbourne, but the city still beats Brisbane’s incoming housing supply.
Tomorrow’s front and back pages tonight
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