A HUGE unfinished house that is the biggest residence on the elite Sovereign Islands at Paradise Point has been put to market by mortgagee, the ANZ Bank.
The mansion, which sprawls over four blocks that cost $9.44 million in 2005, is to be auctioned on July 20.
The ANZ took possession of the Knightsbridge Parade East giant after taking court action in Australia and Singapore and evicting owner Clare Marks and husband Scott Tyne.
A new owner will face the expense of completing the 3004sq m house, which is believed to be only 80 per cent finished.
The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion, which had an initial construction cost of $12 million, has been built to very high standards.
It has triple-glazed windows with hand-beaten copper framing, exterior pillars that are 100 per cent travertine, thick interior doors that have aluminium running through them to prevent twisting and foundations that one observer says would support a 10-storey building.
Ms Marks and her family were living in a completed wing of the house when they were evicted.
David Vertullo and Chris Moyer, of The Professionals Vertullo Real Estate, are marketing the property.
The ANZ gained an order in the Supreme Court, Brisbane, in October to take possession of the house, an order which Ms Marks unsuccessfully appealed against.
She later said she had declined a bank offer to lease her the house at $3000 a week because she could not afford the rent and, in her words, was left `homeless’.
Ms Marks is an accountant operating a practice at Paradise Point.
Previously she ran a similar business in the UK for five years.
Former Mallesons lawyer Mr Tyne has been locked in a $2 billion-plus legal suit against AXA Asia Pacific (now part of AMP) over cancelled life insurance policies called Prosperity Bonds.
The ANZ’s move to take possession of the Sovereign Islands house came after interest payments were not made on a multi-currency credit facility for up to $15 million.
The facility was secured by a first mortgage over the house and by personal guarantees from Ms Marks and Mr Tyne.
The bank’s decision to auction the property comes as there are signs of renewed life in the Sovereign Islands market after a rough period in which distress sales have seen prices under severe pressure.
One street, King Charles Drive, has seen seven sales in five weeks at prices from $1.3 million to $2.7 million.
Among those who have been active in the market is billionaire Clive Palmer who, with family members, owns at least nine Sovereign Islands properties.
The record for a house on the islands is $11 million, paid in 2006 for Baltimore, a seven-bedroom Royal Albert Crescent home.
Owner Susan Lillioja has since marketed it at $19.5 million.
Original Article published at www.Couriermail.com.au by Quentin Tod, Gold Coast Bulletin 12/6/2013