An entrepreneur worth more than half a billion dollars has been forced to halt construction on a terrace at the back of his mansion as a neighborhood dispute erupts.
Woollahra Council received complaints about work being done on a waterfront deck at Gabriel Jakob’s home at 42 Wolseley Road in Sydney’s eastern suburbs of Point Piper.
Disgruntled residents of Australia’s most expensive street had raised concerns because there was no planning permission for the 18 by 5 meter deck.
Mr Jakob bought the mansion in 2021 for $32.5 million, before buying the previously abandoned lot next door – where the dock is being built – for $27 million the following year.
A compliance officer from the municipality arrived at the home of the founder and CEO of investment company Hyper Capital on Tuesday to investigate the matter.
Mr Jakob was issued a Development Without Consent (DWC) notice by the council and construction has since been halted.
The 42-year-old is said to have tried to rush the project so it could be ready for a New Year’s Eve party.
Council data shows there has been no DA application for the property since 2018.
A multi-millionaire has been ordered to halt unapproved construction work on a huge waterfront deck outside his huge mansion (pictured, highlighted)
A spokesperson for Woollahra Council confirmed it had received a complaint ‘regarding work being carried out on the property’.
“City staff have met with the property owner on site and building permits are currently being reviewed,” he said Daily Telegraph.
Images of the deck showed pieces of timber left on the unfinished project that stretched to Sydney Harbour.
Other satellite images from Google Maps showed that the former $27 million dump has since been resurfaced with artificial turf and a half-size basketball court installed.
Mr Jakob also owns the neighboring 50 Wolseley Road and had plans in 2022 to merge all three plots to build a mega-mansion that would be among Australia’s most valuable.
But he and his wife Alexandra put the five-bedroom house on the property up for sale in September for a whopping $100 million.
If sold, the entrepreneurial couple would make a whopping $60 million profit since purchasing the home in 2019.
It is understood that Gabriel Jakob tried to rush the project on a previously abandoned adjacent plot (pictured right) to complete it before a New Year’s Eve party
Mr Jakob moved to Australia from Sweden more than 20 years ago with just a few thousand dollars to his name.
After years of consulting with small businesses, Mr and Mrs Jakob bought a childcare center in Wahroonga for $3 million in 2011.
The couple then grew the brand to 54 centers in 2018 before selling it to create another childcare centre, a haircare brand and Hyper Capital.
In 2020, they sold the child care center and hair care brand again, making the couple “hundreds of millions of dollars” in profit.
Mr. Jakobs still owns shares in the investment company, which is worth more than $500 million in 2020, according to figures. Australian Financial Statementwhich he plans to double in the near future.
Despite having an extensive interview with the AFR in August, he is so media shy that he refuses to publish photos showing his face.
Mr Jakobs has been banned from providing financial services for five years by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over his conduct as 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 material to sell investments to wholesale investors.
Mr Jakob said no external investor lost money, was not involved and had no knowledge of the conduct of the externally appointed asset manager, Brett Trevillan, according to the Financial Review.