As his world crumbles, Antony Catalano’s $29m dream home gets new life

In the weeks before Antony Catalano became swept up in a firestorm of allegations of violence towards a woman, his town planners were preparing fresh documents for a contested multimillion-dollar development at Byron Bay.

The plans for a two-house family compound on the more than 4000-square-metre property would make it the largest home on the millionaire strip at the famed Wategos Beach.

But Catalano’s vision had already sparked heated confrontations with locals, and when one application was rejected by the Byron Shire Council, he appealed their decision to the NSW Land and Environment Court.

On Tuesday, the council put amended plans, including renders from town planners Sutherland and Associates, on public exhibition.

Catalano, part-owner of Australian Community Media and the man credited with turning real estate listing website Domain into an advertising colossus, has an extensive property portfolio, including a penthouse in St Kilda, which was recently taken off the market.

In northern NSW, he owns the bustling, high-end Raes on Wategos resort and restaurant, a short stroll from his contested dream home development, and a luxury apartment building under construction in town, to be called The Bonobo by Raes.

The development of the Bonobo is under way, but Catalano’s plans for his private abode have been mired in opposition from the council and locals.

In March last year, Catalano and his Wategos neighbour, jeweller Giovanni D’Ercole, publicly quarrelled about the development in an altercation at Raes that ended with police being called.

Two months later, a community social media page lambasted the media mogul for arguing with a local woman over parking at Wategos Beach.

Plans for the 4230-square-metre behemoth included a house for Catalano and his wife, Stefanie, who he is now separated from, and another for his nine children, as well as two pools.

Submitted by architect Peter Kennon, it also proposes a six-car garage, a gym, wine cellar and a music room with a sound booth, all below six bedrooms, a 22-person dining room and a library.

The build, if it goes ahead, is estimated to cost $28.8 million.

Despite a promise to offset damage which included planting nearly 1000 trees, the council refused the plans at their December 2024 meeting.

The council gave 24 reasons, including that the build would have a negative impact on the native rainforest around it, and the sheer scale of earthworks required.

Less than two weeks later, Catalano appealed the decision in the Land and Environment Court.

On Tuesday, the council said the court had received amended plans relating to the development application, and the public could make their own submissions over the next month.

Catalano’s earlier plans had the backing of some neighbours, including art collector Steve Nateski, who lives directly across the road, and who wrote to the council declaring his support.

Now, as the allegations against Catalano begin to unfold, his bayside associates are in “no comment mode”, as one told this masthead on Monday.

Others approached through intercom boxes or at the doorsteps of their multimillion-dollar homes also declined to comment.

The house that currently stands where the compound would be built is home to one of his adult children, and now one of the humblest on the street.

If the new plans are approved, the property would be among the grandest in town.

An amended environmental impact statement compiled by Sutherland & Associates dated March 2026 said the developer had reduced the amount of dirt needed to be moved from the site from 4,078m3 to 788m3.

That reduction would take the number of days needed to take dirt out of the site from 20 to four, presuming 30 trucks could come and go from the property each day.

That report also challenged whether the site should be protected by state government rainforest mapping, and said a letter had been sent to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure in April 2025, asking them to review the site, though no review had been scheduled.

The report said the number of trees that would be impacted had been cut from 61 to 28, and the new footprint of the development would be 135 square metres smaller.

Kennon, who submitted the development application, has been contacted for comment.

D’Ercole was also contacted about the amended development.

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