On the QT: Highgrove founder Lindsay Sinclair lodges revised plans for Hedges Ave site

The founder of a national bathroom supplier is pulling out all the plugs to get what he wants in Mermaid Beach’s Multi-Millionaire’s Row. Read more in On the QT

Lindsay Sinclair, who’s tapped into the bathroom market in a big way, is pulling out all plugs to get what he wants in Mermaid Beach’s Multi-Millionaires’ Row.

The founder of the national Highgrove group has been trying since 2018 to come up with plans for a house on the beachfront that are his cup of tea and also satisfy the city council.

The home is earmarked for half of a Hedges Ave site that has a history that takes in showbiz entrepreneur Michael Edgley, bookmaker Terry Page, and former milkman Ken Lacey.

Lindsay bought the vacant 405 sqm corner lot from developer John Potter for $4.6m in 2018 and three times has submitted house plans to the city council.

He was roundly rebuffed the first time, got an OK in round two, and now has a third application before city hall.

Lindsay, who turns 75 later this month, also tried to sell the land at one point.

He reportedly was chasing north of $5m for a site that since has mushroomed in value and today could be worth $10m or more.

That possible value is based on billionaire Clive Palmer just paying $26m for a 993 sqm beachfront lot – or a tad over $26,000 a square metre.

Lindsay Sinclair's planned 47 Hedges Ave home.

The 2018 initial Sinclair plan for the land was for a three-level Hamptons-style building spanning 705 sqm, one that the council decided did not meet the required ‘excellent standard of appearance’.

The verdict did not come until early 2020 and showed that the council also was unhappy over setbacks, height and the impact on the adjoining lot.

Among residents in Hedges Ave who voiced concerns over the Sinclair plan were veteran baker Frank Goldstein and wife Regina.

Lindsay, after failing to sell the land, returned to the fray in April last year and, with the council’s earlier concerns addressed, won approval for a new design – a two-level home with a partial third storey.

It would have a basement, served by a turntable, that would take four vehicles and include a cellar and a mancave.

The Highgrove boss has just popped in another application, this one to lift the size of the partial third storey – which would have lounge, dining and kitchen areas – and to include a rooftop terrace.

His planned home would be a dwarf alongside the mansion that Michael Edgley started on the full 809 sqm Hedges site in the later 80s.

He didn’t finish the home and it was sold to Terry Page, who completed it and lived in it for three years.

Former Melbourne milkman Ken Lacey and wife Madeleine were later owners.

The mansion was bowled in 2012 after sitting empty for some time and John Potter later bought the site, unveiling plans for a luxury apartment building but later aborting the idea and selling the site off as two lots.

Lindsay became the owner of No.47 and the adjoining No.49 went to Andrew and Lisa Quinn.

The Sinclair arrival in Hedges Ave was not Lindsay’s only 2018 foray into Mermaid Beach.

He spent $6.165m on three lots spanning 1634 sqm fronting the highway, one of them with a frontage to Venice St.

His Highgrove group is celebrating 20 years in business and has a footprint around Australia.

It today has a commercial division that supplies tradesmen, builders, developers, and interior designers across the country.

MAIN BEACH PURCHASE

A mystery Gold Coaster who hadn’t done any homework has bought a small parcel of land next to luxury Main Beach tower Monaco for $6.5m at auction.

The fellow had noticed only two days before Thursday’s auction that the 407 sqm site, on the corner of Main Beach Pde and Cunningham Ave, was on the market.

The land is home to a low-rise built nearly 60 years ago and is on the western side of the 23-floor Monaco.

Avanti Commercial’s Lachlan isn’t disclosing who the buyer is and doesn’t know their intentions for the property.

It was auctioned after a party who reportedly had conditionally offered $8m walked away.

EX-MISS AUSTRALIA’S NEW INVESTMENT

Suellen Osborne, a former Miss Australia, has joined a healthy $8.11m investment at Oxenford – a stake in a medical centre.

She and hubby Andrew are directors of a company that has bought the 11-year-old Gold Coast GP Super Clinic and Suellen holds a third of the family company’s shares.

Suellen, who as Suellen Fuller was the national beauty queen in 1998, has been searching for oil in East Timor via private company Timor Resources.

She and Andrew live on the Sovereign Islands, where 18 months ago they planned a mansion with a tennis court on top on a 3142 sqm super lot.

They went on to abort the plan and the land, which cost them $10 million in 2021, was put on the market at $13.95m but has yet to sell.

SURFERS UNITS SNAPPED UP

Portia Millar, a dermatologist whose many skills include smoothing out wrinkles, has taken some skin out of the property game by selling a block of 54-year-old units in Surfers Paradise.

The four strata-title units, which have sold for $2.1m, are on the riverfront Paradise Island but don’t have a water frontage – they are called Mountain View.

Portia, who bought the units for $1.38m in 2021, has a portfolio of Mermaid Beach properties, including a modern multi-level home on a double-lot on the beachfront.

She also has her practice headquarters in one of the side streets.