A picturesque part of the NSW Mid North Coast has become a battleground as a billionaire developer and furious locals clash over the fate of 400 hectares of land.
High-flying Phillip Dong Fang Lee and his wife Xiaobei Shi, paid $8.8million for the large chunk of bushland at Fame Cove in 2006.
The land, near Port Stephens, 185km north of Sydney, is worth a great deal more than that now, especially if it’s sold off in smaller lots, as the couple plans to do.
‘Ultimately, this could result in up to 16 lots being offered for sale to any buyers as part of new housing opportunities in a very beautiful region,’ a spokesman for the family told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The latest twist in the almost two decades-long saga of what to do with the lot follows previous plans to transform it into a eco resort, a quarry, a golf course or an 11-bedroom mansion on Fame Mountain.
But locals have vehemently resisted those plans and have petitioned the government to buy the land and turn it into a national park.
‘This is the last remaining parcel of undeveloped waterfront land of its size in Port Stephens,’ said Len Yearsley of the Fame Cove sub-committee of the North Arm Cove Community Association.
‘It would be a wonderful asset in an area where there is no significant national park or tourist attraction.’
The property almost became a national park in 1998 when the then-owner Boral offered it to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for $1.1million.
But NPWS could not raise the money, so the construction materials group instead sold to private developers.
After going through a couple of other investors at increasing prices, Mr Lee and Ms Shi bought the bushland 19 years ago.
The ownership was later transferred to Tea Garden Farms Pty Ltd, which Ms Shi was made sole director of in 2019.
The couple’s vast wealth was on put on full display in 2015 when they paid $39.9million for 87-89 Wolseley Road in Sydney’s ritzy Point Piper.
The palatial home had a large, open plan kitchen with a butler’s pantry along with staff quarters for a maid or nanny, with bedrooms spread across two wings.
The lavish Mandala-style property has panoramic views of the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and north to Manly.
But despite his vast wealth, the developer has never been able develop Farm Cove as he had initially planned.
Mr Lee was slapped with an almost $200,000 fine in 2009 after a dam wall failed during excavation.
Then in 2014, there was an $8,000 fine after bushland was cleared and some knocked down trees were left in the marine sanctuary.
Five years after that, there was an $88,000 fine for the unauthorised removal of vegetation and dumping on the waterfront.
Now, the Mid Coast Council is reportedly close to finalising a plan to protect the land by changing its zoning from rural to C2 environmental conservation.
The Land and Environment Court has put a $200,000 bond on the property and requires quarterly progress reports to restore it with remediation and stabilisation.
If the land is not restored within two years, the owners could be fined or jailed, but Mr Yearsley said the $200,000 bond and other requirements are not strict enough due to the powerful wealth of Mr Lee and Ms Shi.
Their impressive property portfolio includes not only homes in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, but around $47million worth of property on the state’s Mid North Coast.
In 2022, it emerged in an inquiry that Mr Lee had turned over more than $2billion at The Star casino in Sydney in the 14 years to 2021.
He was one of The Star’s ‘largest patrons by turnover’ and lost an estimated $57million at the casino during that period.