A North Fremantle site with views of Leighton Beach and links to elusive Malaysian developer Victor Goh is set to sell, after the land – formerly owned by the state government – sat vacant for more than a decade.
Business News understands Subiaco’s Edge Visionary Living is in the process of purchasing the 4,000-square metre block at 35 Leighton Beach Boulevard, with the off-market deal expected to settle in August.
The Western Australian Land Authority sold the parcel to Victor Goh in 2015, according to industry sources, for $15.4 million.
Since then, the land – which lies across the road from Freeman Residences and Bib and Tucker – has been left empty.
Property records show Resort Home Development is the owner of the site.
West Perth’s Albert Marr and Malaysia’s Meerasa Sahib Bin K A Ramansah are listed as directors of Resort Home Development in Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents.
Malaysian company Regent Estate SDN BHD was shown as the main shareholder.
Mr Marr has also been named as a director of developer D & C Corporation – a company that was involved in Mr Goh’s EQWest project (a slow-moving apartment and hotel development at Elizabeth Quay).
Edge managing director Gavin Hawkins said once the deal settles, the developer envisions around 70 premium residential apartments for the site.
The price tag on the land has not been revealed.
North Freo precinct slow moving
Close by, Mirvac's Latitude Leighton Beach project – spanning 108 apartments – was complete in 2020 and ADC's Freeman Residences – featuring 46 apartments – finished construction early last year.
However on the other side of Cattalini Lane, Mr Goh’s former land holding in North Fremantle was one of several lots primed for development, but with little progress made.
Next door at 9 Cattalini Lane, Summit Homes Group’s Rockingham Park has owned 3,573 square metres since purchasing the site from the WA Land Authority in 2007, RP Data shows.
PTS Town Planning, on behalf of Rockingham Park, is scheduled to hear a decision on a $22 million three-storey development plan at a Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel meeting on Tuesday next week.
According to planning documents, Rockingham Park has submitted and resubmitted plans multiple times since 2007.
The site at 35 Leighton Beach Boulevard (highlighted in red) near several other vacant lots. Photo: Google Earth 2023
A five storey 51 apartment development was approved by the City of Fremantle in 2008, but approval lapsed.
In 2015, the Metro South West JDAP approved a plan for 104 dwellings on the site, conditional on the project starting by 2019.
Metro South West JDAP in 2020 then gave the greenlight for an extension of the approval for another two years until 2022.
The current plan involves 30 dwellings.
Opposite that, Andrew Forrest owns 15 hectares of land – which he bought for close to $107 million in 2023.
Business News understands Mr Forrest had planned to build a major residential and commercial precinct in the area, which has been earmarked for redevelopment for at least eight years.
And neighbouring that significant holding is land owned by North Fremantle JV.
Superannuation fund Hostplus owns a majority stake in North Fremantle JV, ASIC records show.
Roxy NF Pty Ltd is another shareholder.
That entity is owned by Roxy-Pacific Holdings – a property and hospitality group headquartered in Singapore with a portfolio across Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
The sites lie within the 24-hectare North Fremantle Urban Precinct, which was rezoned in 2025 to allow for redevelopment of the land for a mixed-use precinct, including residential development and public open space.
The City of Fremantle is also in the process of creating a draft plan for North Fremantle, which is set to be released this year.
Heat on Goh ramping up
The site at Leighton Beach Road is not the first to raise questions around the timeframes of development’s related to Mr Goh.
Questions have continued to swirl around Mr Goh's three unfinished Elizabeth Quay projects.
At the start of the year, Mr Goh was granted a 12-month extension on his proposed 54-storey glass tower development on Lot 4.
His substantial commencement deadline was pushed to October 26 this year.
Lavan's announcement in January of its plans to move to Nine The Esplanade in Elizabeth Quay cast further doubt over progress with Lot 4.
In 2024, Lavan inked a non-binding agreement to move into Mr Goh’s proposed 54-storey glass tower at Lot 4 in Elizabeth Quay.
Mining giant Rio Tinto was also eyeing the space in 2024, ahead of its impending lease expiry at Central Park, but industry sources say the miner decided against moving there.
Meanwhile, work on the developer’s two buildings on Lot 2 and 3 of Elizabeth Quay is still not complete, despite starting in 2019.
Last month, Mr Goh narrowly escaped the execution of an arrest warrant after a Supreme Court judge dropped the order that was made when he failed to take the stand.
He was entangled in a dispute between contractor SRG Global and developer D & C Corporation over claims of unpaid debts totalling millions of dollars.
