Property mogul Antony Catalano splashes $17m on new Byron Bay resort

Located in the NSW holiday spot, the Bonobo by Raes is a new luxury development featuring 33 boutique hotel rooms, alongside 41 apartments, a wellness centre, retail and dining spaces and a rooftop pool.

The deal was settled recently after mortgages were taken out over at least two Catalano-controlled assets.

The SMH reported last week that Catalano’s son, Luca, had taken out two new mortgages over the Wategos Beach, Byron Bay, development site. The family plans to build a $29 million family compound on the block.

The new venture, which opened in June, is managed under a contractual agreement by the team behind Raes. Catalano’s eldest son, Jordy, is the managing director.

Birdy Catalano, an interior designer and another of the businessman’s nine children, was the design lead for the apartments and hotel room furnishings.

A limited number of apartments remain for sale, with prices starting from $2.25 million.

Catalano first bought the iconic Raes on Wategos in 2013.

“The longer-term plan is settle in Byron Bay,” he told The Australian ­Financial Review in 2014.

Prior to his property investments, he held the chief executive role with property listings website Domain. He was previously an editor at The Age, leaving in 2010 when it was owned by Fairfax Media before its merger with Nine.

Catalano was arrested this year and charged with assaulting his wife.

He faces charges including unlawful imprisonment, making threats to kill, recklessly causing injury and four counts of assault following an alleged incident in Melbourne. He is yet to enter a formal plea to the charges.

The iconic Byron Bay venue has proved a celebrity magnet over the years, with high-profile guests including Hollywood elite Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet, Tom Cruise, Harvey Keitel and The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards.

Byron Bay local Ruth Harris originally built Rae’s guesthouse as a French medieval-style mansion in the 1970s.