Owner of Commodore Drive land on Gold Coast propose small lots plan for ritzy street

Residents of riverfront address Commodore Drive, the premier street at Paradise Waters, might soon have ‘lots’ to dwell over.

RESIDENTS of riverfront address Commodore Drive, the premier street at Paradise Waters, might soon have ‘lots’ to dwell over.

Owners who started trying to sell their home on a double lot in 2013 are trying another and unique approach.

They are offering the 1649sq m site cleared and with approvals in place to chop it into four lots averaging just over 410sq m.

To some of the Commodore diehards, allowing so-called small lots in their high-class street might, with multi-level houses closer together, sound like sacrilege.

121-123 Commodore's mooted small-lot homes

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The smallest riverfront site in their street is 600sq m, most are around 800 or 900sq m, and one holding is 3369sq m.

The homes on the 410sq m sites would have three living levels and a total floor area of around 650sq m each, inclusive of basements.

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They would sit 3.3 metres apart, be separated by a dividing wall, and each have a frontage of around 11 metres to the Nerang River.

The party that started trying to sell the double block and the five-bedroom house on it seven years ago is Redwing (Ashmore), owned by the Bromley family.

Jim Raptis.

The property was bought, as the GFC hit in 2008, for $5.2 million from a company associated with developer and Commodore Drive resident Jim Raptis.

It wore a $5.5 million tag when the Bromleys moved to sell it in 2013, an ‘ask’ that was boosted to $6.3 million six months later.

The small-lot move is not a result of some sudden inspiration – the move to get planning approvals started in 2017.

The Bromleys, who apparently have a PNG tea and coffee background, are no strangers to the Gold Coast or its property market.

121-123 Commodore Drive Surfers Paradise Photo: Scott Powick Newscorp

Their Redwing (Ashmore) in 1998 paid $9.735 million for a sprawling commercial property at Bundall, subsequently called the Redwing centre.

Four years ago another Redwing company bought a Southport office building for $3.5 million and a nearby office block was bought for $2.65 million in 2019.

The plan to split the Commodore double lot into four might well have another major owner in the street thinking hard if the lots achieve good money.

Beijing businessman Wei Cai bought adjoining lots in Commodore Drive, and across the river from The Southport School, for $7 million in 2017.

Artist impression of Le Chateau.

He had plans for a mansion on the 1723sq m holding but ran into a hurdle – he couldn’t get money out of China.

The land was put on the market for $7.9 million a year ago, with Wei described as a serious seller who would look at offers.

None appear to have met his expectations and, if none appear and the Manton plan succeeds, he might be tempted to try selling four 440sq m lots.

Meanwhile, John Dell, the Kiwi who paid $9.4 million last year for the 3369sq m holding at the end of Commodore Drive, isn’t looking to go ‘small’.

John’s had a boundary changed to create lots of 2420 and 948sq m.

He appears to be sticking with the plans laid by the land’s seller, a Chinese billionaire, for a giant home called Le Chateau on the larger lot.

Originally published as Owner of Commodore Drive land on Gold Coast propose small lots plan for ritzy street