It’s an audacious plan that has sent the locals into a tailspin.
Brisbane entrepreneur David Wu’s plans to build a towering mansion, complete with a panic room and putting green roof top, on a suburban street have been met with fury.
The eight-bedroom property earmarked for a leafy street in Hollands Park West in southeast Brisbane has led to angry residents bombarding Brisbane City Council with objections.
One person described the proposed height of the house as “inappropriate” and said it failed to meet community expectations in a low density residential environment.
Others feared it would lead to a loss of privacy and could set a precedent for the neighbourhood.
“It’s a breach of neighbourhood policy,” one wrote in a submission, describing the plan as a “blatant attempt to push the council’s limit to maximise personal gain without regard to existing residents”.
One even wrote they would deny Mr Wu access to their property which has been requested to complete the works.
“I question whether this is a deliberate endeavour to incrementally circumvent the rules,” the unnamed neighbour stated in their objection filed in council on July 26.”
Who is David Wu?
Mr Wu is a well-known Brisbane entrepreneur, famous for owning the up-market Takashiya restaurant in South Brisbane.
He also founded the 11-store Sunlit Asian supermarkets chain, three ‘8 Street’ Asian-hawker style markets in major shopping centres and Cloud 8 Karaoke at Westfield Mt Gravatt.
According to his LinkedIn profile he is a previous winner of Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Entrepreneurship Award.
Mr Wu told The Courier Mail he was willing to reduce the height of one of the houses and would submit new plans to council.
“We have new plans,” he enthused.
“We have to make sure all the support in the housxwe is okay and the services can run through the slabs.”
He said the new plans would meet all council requirements and please the next door neighbours around him.
“The neighbour ... is currently building a house which I believe has an approved height of more than 9.5m,” he said.
Mr Wu paid an eye-watering $3.4 million to buy the land, with existing houses in August 2019.
His council application will increase the height of the larger house by three metres by adding another storey, which would make it roughly 3.6m above the legal height limit.
The lower storey above the basement has a floor area of 638 sqm for dining rooms and kitchens, nearly the size of three Brisbane homes, the middle storey has floor large ensuite bedrooms and laundry over 606 sqm and the top floor has an area of 296 sqm.
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The average Brisbane home is just 241 sqm.
The plans submitted to council show one of the houses on the property will feature eight bedrooms, with a panic room off the top level walk-in-robe.
It also boasts a roof top putting green, as well as rooms for poker, cigars, ping pong, shoes, massage, a squash court and a salt room, gym and saunas in most bedrooms and three dining rooms, including one formal, one Chinese and a Japanese dining room.
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