A businessman worth more than $500 million has been forced to halt construction of a terrace at the back of his mansion as a neighborhood dispute erupts.
Woollahra City Council received complaints about work on a waterside terrace at Gabriel Jakob’s home at 42 Wolseley Road in Point Piper, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Disgruntled residents of Australia’s most expensive street had raised concerns there was no development approval for the 18 by 5 meter platform.
Jakob purchased the mansion for $32.5 million in 2021 before purchasing the previously abandoned neighboring lot, where the pier is being built, for $27 million the following year.
A council compliance officer arrived at the home of the founder and chief executive of investment firm Hyper Capital to investigate the matter on Tuesday.
Jakob was issued a development without consent (DWC) notice by the council and construction has since stopped.
The 42-year-old is believed to have tried to rush the project so he could finish it for a party on New Year’s Eve.
Council records reveal there has not been a DA application for the property since 2018.
A billionaire was ordered to stop unapproved construction work on a huge waterside terrace outside his sprawling mansion (pictured, highlighted)
A spokesperson for Woollahra Council confirmed it had received a complaint “relating to works on the property”.
“Council staff met with the property owner on site and development permits are currently being reviewed,” he told Daily Telegraph.
Cover images showed wooden slabs left on top of the unfinished project that extended into Sydney Harbour.
Other satellite images from Google Maps showed that artificial turf has since been laid on the former $27 million pile of rubble and a medium-sized basketball court has been installed.
Jakob also owns neighboring 50 Wolseley Road and in 2022 had plans to unite the three plots to build a mega mansion that would be among the most valuable in Australia.
But he and his wife, Alexandra, put the five-bedroom home on the property up for sale for a whopping $100 million in September.
If sold, the entrepreneurial couple would make a huge profit of $60 million since purchasing the house in 2019.
It is understood that Gabriel Jakob was trying to fast-track the project on a previously abandoned neighboring lot (pictured, right) to complete it before a party on New Year’s Eve.
Jakob moved to Australia from Sweden more than two decades ago with just a few thousand dollars to his name.
After years of working as a consultant with small businesses, Mr and Mrs Jakob bought a daycare in Wahroonga for $3 million in 2011.
The couple then grew the brand to 54 centers in 2018 before selling it to found another daycare, a hair care brand and Hyper Capital.
They went on to once again sell the daycare and hair care brand in 2020, launching the couple to “hundreds of millions of dollars” in profits.
Jakobs still retains the investment company, valued at more than $500 million in 2020, according to the Australian Financial Reviewwhich it plans to double in the near future.
It has been two years since he was banned for five years from providing financial services by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for his conduct as a director of AlphaThorn, now known as Trading Life Services.
ASIC found he was “careless rather than deliberate or dishonest” in his role at the company which the regulator said produced misleading promotional materials to sell investments to wholesale investors.
Jakob said no outside investors lost money, that he was not involved and had no knowledge of the conduct of the externally appointed investment manager, Brett Trevillan, according to the Financial Review.