An entrepreneur worth more than half-a-billion dollars has been forced to halt construction on a deck at the back of his mansion as a neighbourhood dispute erupts.
Woollahra Council received complaints over the works on a waterside deck at Gabriel Jakob’s home on 42 Wolseley Road in Point Piper, Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Disgruntled residents of Australia’s most expensive street had raised concerns due to there being no development approval for the 18metre by 5metre deck.
Mr Jakob purchased the mansion for $32.5million in 2021 before buying the formerly abandoned lot neighbouring it – where the dock is being built – for $27million the following year.
A council compliance officer arrived at the home of the founder and CEO of investment company Hyper Capital to investigate the matter on Tuesday.
Mr Jakob was slapped with a Development Without Consent (DWC) notice by the council and construction has since been stopped.
The 42-year-old is believed to have tried to rush the project so it could be finished for a party on New Year’s Eve.
Council records reveal there hasn’t been a DA application for the property since 2018.
A multi-millionaire has been ordered to stop unapproved construction work on a massive waterside deck outside of his massive mansion (pictured, highlighted)
A Woollahra Council spokesman confirmed it had received a complaint ‘regarding works at the property’.
‘Council staff met with the owner of the property on site and development consents are currently being reviewed,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
Images of the deck showed slabs of wood left on top of the unfinished project stretching onto Sydney Harbour.
Other satellite images from Google Maps showed the $27million former pile of rubble has since been astro-turfed and a half-sized basketball court installed.
Mr Jakob also owns the neighbouring 50 Wolseley Road and in 2022 had plans to join all three plots to build a mega mansion which would be among Australia’s most valuable.
But he and his wife, Alexandra, listed the five-bedroom home on the property for a whopping $100million in September.
If sold, the entrepreneurial couple would make a massive $60million profit since purchasing the home in 2019.
It is understood Gabriel Jakob was trying to rush the project on a formerly abandoned neighbouring lot (pictured, right) to be completed before a party on New Year’s Eve
Mr Jakob moved to Australia from Sweden more two decades ago with only a few thousand dollars to his name.
After years of work consulting with small businesses, Mr and Ms Jakob purchased a childcare centre in Wahroonga for $3million in 2011.
The couple then grew the brand to 54 centres by 2018 before selling it to found another childcare centre, a haircare brand and Hyper Capital.
They went on to yet again sell off the childcare centre and haircare brand in 2020, launching the couple to ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ in profit.
Mr Jakobs still holds onto the investment company, worth more than $500million in 2020 according to the Australian Financial Review, which he plans to double in the near future.
Despite sitting down with a wide-ranging interview with the AFR in August, he is so media-shy he refuses to have photographs published that show his face.
Mr Jakobs is two years into a five-year ban from providing financial services handed down 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 as opposed to deliberate or dishonest’ in his role at the company which the regulator found produced misleading promotional materials to sell investments to wholesale investors.
Mr Jakob said no external investor lost money, he was not involved, and had no knowledge of the conduct of the externally-appointed investment manager, Brett Trevillan, according to the Financial Review.
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