Sunland boss Soheil Abedian vows never to leave the Gold Coast

IT’S hard to imagine Soheil Abedian ever sitting still or staying quiet, and as he approaches the twilight of his career the Sunland boss says he’ll never leave his “favourite city”.

HE admits he’s in the twilight of his career … but don’t ever expect Sunland boss Soheil Abedian to ride quietly off into the sunset.

In fact, he’s vowed never to leave the city whose profile he’s so carefully built, both literally and figuratively.

While Soheil, who turns 70 next year, says the company is already in the safe hands of his son and managing director Sahba, there’s no denying his eventual retirement will be the end of a golden era for the city.

Not that he’s done yet.

In fact, it’s difficult to imagine this Iranian-born, Austrian-educated immigrant ever sitting still or staying silent.

Soheil Abedian has no plans to slow down any time soon. Photo by Richard Gosling

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He’s weathered the highs of constructing the iconic Q1, once the world’s tallest residential building, and the lows of a soured land deal on the foreign sands of Dubai, but he never stops – neither to celebrate nor commiserate.

And he’s hardly hanging around to boost his superannuation.

While the Coast is accustomed to news of his latest developments – with the company in the midst of a $1.4 billion development portfolio from Pimpama to the border – it’s not commonly known that Soheil hasn’t drawn a wage for seven years.

He still shows up Monday to Friday from open to close of business and well beyond, but he’s there for the love, not the money. In fact, he’s busy giving away as much as he can, sponsoring 180 scholarships at Griffith University and another 27 at Bond University, where he is the benefactor of the Abedian School of Architecture.

Awarded the Queensland Community Foundation Higher Education Philanthropist of the Year in June, he also created both the Sunland and Abedian foundations.

Soheil Abedian saw the creation of the iconic Q1 building. Picture by Scott Fletcher

“What do I want with more money?” says Soheil, seated in his Benowa office with wife Anne working at the desk opposite. “I work because I love it and because I love the Gold Coast. This is my home. I love it for all it has given me and that’s why I want to give back to it.

“I don’t need the headlines or the glory, I just want to make our city the best it can be. But I can do that in many ways, not just from behind a desk. Our future is our students, not the old guys.”

Soheil’s relationship with the Gold Coast was a case of love at first sight when he first visited during a 1980 holiday.

But it was a disastrous development in Dubai more than a decade ago that made him vow to never again do business away from our shores.

It began in 2007 when Sunland bought a block of land for $65 million called the Dubai Waterfront.

Sunland alleged it had been swindled into paying an extra $14 million for the land by developer Angus Reed.

The company alleged a conspiracy involving two other Australians, Marcus Lee and Matthew Joyce, who were working for the Dubai government’s property development arm, Nakheel.

Mr Lee spent nine months in jail, including two months in solitary confinement, followed by house arrest. He spent five years fighting for his freedom.

He was twice acquitted on a unanimous basis in late 2013. Mr Joyce was also acquitted. Mr

Reed was convicted in absentia and has not appealed the finding.

Soheil and Sahba Abedian have both seen the highs and lows of Gold Coast business. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mr Lee filed suit against Sunland and its executives for damages over his loss of income and losses incurred by the forced sale of properties in Australia. Sunland filed applications for Mr Lee to pay legal costs.

“The matter with Marcus Lee ... it is finished, it is done. It’s subject to confidentiality but I can say that I will never go overseas again. I learned my lesson,” says Soheil now.

“You can think internationally, but always act nationally. We travel a lot and we learn from that but we are not going to expand beyond these borders.

“I wouldn’t change what has happened, though. Everything that has happened in the past for us is a passageway for an ending and an experience.

“If you don’t experience the pain of sorrow then you never enjoy the smile of happiness.”

That smile is apparent when Soheil recalls his history on the Coast.

During that fateful 1980 holiday, he decided to take a day trip from Brisbane and was told to choose between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.

“At that time, I didn’t even know the Gold Coast existed. I asked the receptionist at our hotel which place was more interesting and they said the Gold Coast.

“We arrived over the Southport bridge and I counted something like more than 70 cranes and I said to myself, ‘oh my God, that is the destination for me’.

“I went back to Austria and applied for my and my family’s immigration. It took seven days to get approval. Can you imagine? No one believes me. But we were educated, we had family, we had been to Australia – all the right things. They brought a doctor down for us to do our health checks and that was it. We were ready.”

A lucky trip to the Gold Coast from Brisbane saw him pack up his family and move to Australia.

It was another eight months before the Abedians arrived.

Sunland itself was born in 1983 from a single luxury home at 27 Cabana Boulevard, Benowa, which Soheil designed and built himself. (He bought the waterfront land for the princely sum of $38,000.)

In 1988, Sunland constructed Malibu, its first high-rise apartment, in Main Beach before expanding to land subdivision and then tourism.

It was Soheil’s concept of a fashion-branded hotel that changed not just Sunland, but the hotel industry.

Since Palazzo Versace opened in 2000, a number of other fashion-branded hotels have been built, including the Armani hotel in Dubai and Bulgari Resort in Bali.

“Gianni Versace was the first person to really create the designer homeware collection. Sahba and I thought it would be great to create a hotel featuring that full collection, the furniture, everything.

“The commercial world, especially around 1990s to 2000, was very much moved by brand,” he says. “I saw everything was branded – the jewellery, the clothing, the cars – everything except property. I thought, how incredible would it be if somebody creates a branded property.

“We met the Versaces three months after Gianni was shot. We showed them what we intended and they loved it. And that is history.”

Soheil Abedian can’t name a favourite project among the hundreds over the years. Picture Mike Batterham

While Soheil refuses to name his favourite project, claiming he loves them all like children, there is one that takes up more headspace than the others – the one that got away.

In September 2016, Sunland withdrew its development application for the landmark $600-million twin-tower Mariners Cove development amid political finger-pointing over planning on The Spit.

The proposal included two Zaha Hadid-designed 44-storey apartment high-rises with 370 apartments, offices, a boutique hotel, restaurants, an art museum and an aquarium in what Sunland said was the first major tourist ­infrastructure on the Gold Coast in a decade.

“Hadid was one of the greatest architects to ever live and this was the last project she designed. It had a floating park, an incredible waterfront retail precinct, a museum, it was unique,” he says.

“The council was very much for it until such time as the State Government vetoed it. That’s development - you have to take the good with the bad.

“But was it genuinely a loss for our city that will never be repeated ever again? One hundred per cent.

“It’s like someone gave a picture by Monet or Rembrandt to a museum and they say they don’t have room to hang it.

“Have we lost the greatest opportunity this city ever could have had? Without a doubt. It is a loss not just for the Gold Coast but Australia and the world.

“But we move on.”

Dame Zaha Hadid passed away in 2016, leaving behind a design that Soheil Abedian says was the greatest opportunity the Gold Coast ever had. Supplied by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Iraqui-born British architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs were hailed internationally, died in March 2016.

Soheil says his faith fuels both his equanimity and his desire to build beautiful spaces.

“It’s not just about handing out money or making big buildings, we believe in creating spaces that resonate with the human spirit,” he says.

“All of our projects are about building a sense of belonging. The Lanes at Mermaid Waters is more than just shops, it’s an amphitheatre for the community, it’s supporting small businesses and it’s about beauty.

“When we create something that we feel proud of, people enjoy being there. It’s about the people much more than the projects.”

In fact, much of Soheil’s week is taken up in mentoring sessions. As well as 133 students, he also works with colleagues and, well, pretty much anyone who asks, although he’s far from a soft touch.

“One of the men that I mentor, the first thing I asked him was who in his family does he not speak to. I then told him he must send that person a message of love every day,” he says.

“This man said, ‘no way’. But I said to do it or don’t come back. Well, they are now back in touch and the family has been reunited.

“I tell people to sit with the homeless and find out their stories. As a result, we are now looking at employing one of these homeless people.

“It’s all about reaching out and treating your neighbours like family, that’s what will make the Gold Coast more than just the best city in the world.”

Which makes you wonder … when the sun does set on Soheil’s working days at Sunland, it will be the dawn of a bright new day for the people of his favourite city.