With expectations of fetching up to $180 million, it smells like billionaire buying territory.
Not to mention that it is an almost 40ha slice of Byron Bay—the top-ranked global residential hotspot for the ultra-wealthy—with 1.1km of beach frontage.
So, not surprisingly, offers are already on the table.
“This is just a round of drinks,” CBRE Hotels’ Wayne Bunz, who is marketing the property with Pacifico Property’s Christian Sergiacomi, said. “You’d be quite amazed how many people have got that kind of money.
“And Byron Bay is certainly on the global stage now, no doubt about it.”
The 39.75ha site at Belongil Beach, only 3km from the northern New South Wales township, is being offloaded by another billionaire, Brian Flannery’s family-owned KTQ Group, and has been listed internationally.
It sits between the Tyagarah Nature Reserve and $120-million Elements of Byron Resort developed by the rich-lister's family, and is serviced by town infrastructure.
The beachside block has been carved off a 88ha holding, formerly owned by Becton and Club Med, which the coal baron swooped on during the GFC in an $18.5 million bargain deal.
A former nine-hole golf course on the site has been rezoned for development. It is surrounded by protected and restored habitat including dunal, wetland and sclerophyll ecologies.
Bunz said the prized parcel offered a purely residential opportunity with the potential for single dwellings per lot only, subject to council approval.
“It’s more about the exclusivity of the land and where else do you get to buy 100 acres with 1.1km of your own beachfront in Byron Bay?” he said.
“It’s the ability for somebody to buy the entire thing, landbank it, keep it all for themselves or get eight mates who they really like and make them all their neighbours.”
KTQ Group development director Jeremy Holmes said it was “a remarkable piece of the Australian coastline”.
“We have been the fortunate caretakers of this site for 12 years,” he said.
“Following the rezoning we’ve been approached by several interested parties looking to buy all or part of the site, prompting us to formally take it to market.”
Pacifico Property’s Christian Sergiacomi described the sale as a “once in a generation opportunity”.
“It provides flexibility for an incoming purchaser to keep the entire parcel as one for complete privacy and solitude, or alternatively to create Byron’s most exclusive community by subdividing the land from four into nine freehold beachfront home sites to accommodate multiple private family residences, subject to council approvals,” he said.
The property is being taken to market via an expressions of interest campaign closing on September 28.
It has been claimed that as a result of Byron’s rise as an enclave for the rich and famous it is inevitably morphing into the next Santa Barbara—California’s well-established address of the super-rich.
Its median house price more than doubled during the pandemic to be significantly higher than most Sydney suburbs and is expected to soar a further 30 to 35 per cent in the next five years.
With the well-heeled influx pumping up home prices and rents, key workers—including crucial hospitality staff—have been pushed out, severely impacting the tourist town’s service economy.
