Bruce Coulson: Plans for giant waterfront mansion
An education kingpin is on his way to building another riverfront Gold Coast mansion after securing a prominent site for a big sum of money. FIND OUT WHERE
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Bruce Coulson, no new kid in the game when it comes to property, could be on his way to building another riverfront Gold Coast mansion.
Kool Kids early-learning founder Bruce and wife Carolyne became kings of the river in 2020 when they sold an Isle of Capri giant for a Gold Coast record $26.88 million.
The couple, in the wake of exiting a riverfront home in Monaco St at Broadbeach Waters for $13.5 million in July, quietly have spent $14 million on adjoining riverfront homes in the same street.
The move emulates their decision seven years ago when they outlaid $13.5 million on properties on which to build their record-breaking Capri home.
That house, on The Promenade, sold out of the blue when Chinese buyers knocked on the door one morning and made a very persuasive offer.
The three-level home, which spans 3000 sqm, is on a 2972 sqm site.
The latest foray by Bruce, the Gold Coast Suns No. 1 fan, and his wife involves adjoining north-facing homes that between them sit on 1336 sqm of land toward the eastern end of Monaco St and fronting a wide section of the river.
It remains to be seen whether the Coulsons, if their plan is to build another giant, are content with a site of that size or want to add another property – or two.
Bruce, who moved to the Gold Coast in 1998 from Victoria, is every bit an entrepreneur.
His first job, as a 15-year-old, was sandblasting metal but he didn’t hang around when he found out that if he stayed on, and moved up the chain, the earning potential was meagre.
He headed to the Clive Savage-run Clive Peeters electrical super stores in a move that was to change his life.
Clive became his mentor, put some spark into his ambitions and, in Bruce’s words, changed his life.
He set up Kool Kids after moving to the Gold Coast and sold a dozen centres to the listed G8 group in 2015, based in Southport.
Bruce has gone on to establish a Kools Kids training college for early-learning staff.
Two years ago he partnered with the Suns to develop a $10 million childcare centre adjacent to the AFL team’s home stadium.
The entrepreneur, unbeknown to many people, has become an adept player in the commercial and retail property field, aside from his forays into building early-learning centres.
He had the foresight several years ago to buy sites in northern NSW.
The upshot has seen him go on to the develop a Byron Bay venture, The Hive, based on New York’s Chelsea markets, and The Commons, a shopping village at Casuarina.
Four years ago he sold a block of 15 new apartments in Southport to the Queensland Government for use as public housing.
Bruce opened a few eyes in 2022 when he bought a building in the main retail street at Burleigh Heads on a yield of less than 4 per cent.
The Coulson didn’t slum it after their record-setting 2020 Isle of Capri sale.
They headed to Broadbeach Waters and paid property consultant Jonathan Gross $8.5 million for a large Monaco St home.
They renovated it, added a partial third level, and last year sold it for $13.5 million.
Meanwhile, the Coulsons haven’t always had the Midas touch when it comes to homes.
They bought a property on Capri’s Naples Ave in 2017 with plans to demolish it and rebuild but moved on to their major project on The Promenade and sold the home at a $400,000 loss.
TRIGUBOFF MOVE BOOSTS ASF BOSS
David Fang, part of the Chinese company that was a rebuffed contender to build an integrated resort on the Spit, has turned $15 million into $26 million on the Surfers Paradise beachfront.
He has been a beneficiary of veteran developer Harry Triguboff’s $67.5 million purchase of a site that takes in David’s Dolphins low-rise on The Esplanade and his Pitstop outlet behind it fronting the highway.
David is a director of the listed and multi-faceted ASF group, which owns a Southport tower site and which lost $11 million in its latest year.
GREEN LIGHT FOR TOWER
Elizabeth Meixner, an octogenarian who, with older sister Helga Lithgow, has sold a large oceanfront Kirra site for a tad over $32 million, has plans for a boutique apartment project on adjacent land.
She’s been given the green light for a seven-level building with six whole-floor apartments in Pacific Pde, a street loaded with mid-rise buildings.
Elizabeth, founder of serum producer Moregate Biotech, and her sister have sold their 4800 sqm site to developer Todd Mould’s MAYD group, which plans hotel and apartment buildings which also will front Golden Four Drive and Musgrave St.
TWIN TOWERS BEGIN CONSTRUCTION
Danny Andrews, who’s taken his apartment prowess from the beachfront to Robina, has spent $2.14 million to continue a love affair with Paradise Waters that started more than 20 years ago.
The developer, who’s behind Main Beach tower Dune and has started twin towers called Cascade at Robina, has bought an older home on the corner of Admiralty Drive and Midshipman Crt.
Danny, who between 2000 and 2003 owned three properties in Seafarer Crt, and wife Glenda live at the head of Midshipman and daughter Sarah owns a $7.4 million abode in the street.
In August, the Andrews sold a former family home on the Isle of Capri for $6 million.
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