A Former Aussie Footballer’s Gold Coast Fixer-Upper Now Has a 500-Foot Go-Kart Track and Pyrotechnics at the Entryway

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Brad Moran, a former Australian Football League player and his wife, Alicia, purchased the existing home on the property for A$7 million (US$4.6 million) in 2021. They’ve since poured their energy into transforming the mountainside mansion into one of Queensland’s grandest private properties.

The Morans acquired the property, simply called the Estate, the same year Brad Moran sold his retail media startup, CitrusAd, for a reported A$205 million to Publicis Groupe.

“When I first saw the property, what really sold me was the view,” said Moran, who played for both North Melbourne and Adelaide during his career. “None of the photos online had captured it. When I finally arrived and saw the skyline and Pacific Ocean from 950 feet above sea level, I fell in love. There aren’t too many places on the Gold Coast where you get that kind of perspective.”

There is a Manhattan-inspired whisky bar and dining zone that opens to a vast terrace.Kollosche

The lot spans 2.2 acres, featuring a main residence with approximately 2,400 square feet of living space, plus three separate guest houses and a coastal panorama that stretches 10 miles.

Originally developed by Gold Coast builder Graeme Ingles, the 2010 home was already grand, but Moran had an even greater vision that clearly no other buyers shared. The home had sat on the market for more than 550 days during the pandemic, when city slickers were paying millions for regional homes sight unseen.

Now that the rebuild is complete, the Morans are gearing up to sell the Estate in a private auction on Nov. 28 with Kollosche agents Michael Kollosche and Jamie Harrison. Due to Queensland’s strict rules around publishing price guides on auction properties, there is no official indication of how much the property could fetch under the hammer.

The current Gold Coast auction record sits at A$24.8 million, when a stately home in Southport sold through Kollosche in 2023.

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“With a lot of these properties, we could give a list of comparable sales, but they’re very few and far between,” Kollosche explained.

“What I can say, however, is that Brad is determined to sell. He’s not testing the market. They’ve made a conscious decision as a family that they aren’t going to move back in. So, we’re encouraging anyone with a reasonable level of capacity to reach out to us and have a conversation.”

Moran said he could see the potential of the original Tallai property, despite its bold character.

The estate in Tallai, about 50 miles south of Brisbane, boasts whiskey and poker rooms, a car gallery, a dedicated race-simulator room and full go-cart track that winds around the property.Kollosche

“It was fairly ostentatious when we bought it, but I could see it had a lot of really nice architecture, like the copper roof linings. Everything had a story behind it. The roof curves were made in the shape of wine barrels, because of the owner’s love for wine. It was beautiful, but I think some areas of the house were polarizing,” Moran explained.

“The previous owner had carved it into the hillside and done all the heavy lifting,” he added. “I’m not sure I’d have been game enough to do that.”

He was game, however, to take on a mammoth renovation that became a full-time passion project lasting approximately three years. To manage the colossal job, Moran said he divided the work into 70 individual projects.

“That’s where the obsession started—80 hours a week, every week, for years,” he said.

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“I approached the renovation like I would a software business. Every part had to have a purpose and deliver the best possible user experience. I asked myself, ‘Who am I building this for and why?’” Moran said.

Moran said his favorite elements of the property are those that posed the greatest challenges.

“I actually love the entrance; how as you pull up and pass the fountain, fire jets come off the water. It’s pretty special,” he said, noting the mobile app-controlled fire fountain was a real feat of engineering. “We had no idea if it was going to work. People said it couldn’t be done, but I was so used to hearing that my whole career. It made me even more determined.”

Beyond the three-story main residence’s gallery foyer, there are 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a commercial-grade kitchen, multiple living areas inside and out, as well as a wine tasting room, backlit fridges to display aged meats, cheeses, wine and cigars, along with two meat-drying fridges, plus a hidden wine cellar.

There’s a putting green and a basketball court.Kollosche

The primary suite alone is larger than many urban apartments, spanning about 2,150 square feet. The ceiling overhead soars roughly 20 feet and includes a retractable starlight roof. There are also dual dressing rooms, a fireplace, a kitchenette, and a bathroom tiled with 65,000 hand-laid Bisazza mosaic tiles.

There is also a Manhattan-inspired whisky bar and dining zone that opens to a vast terrace, a 16-seat cinema, a poker room, an infinity-edge pool finished in gold mosaics, and a full health and wellness suite with a gym, yoga studio, sauna and steam room, and hydrotherapy pools. Smart technology is embedded throughout the compound.

Perhaps the most unusual amenity the next owner will get, however, is the private fun park outside, which includes the 525-foot track with Lamborghini-branded go-karts, a putting green and a basketball court.

“When the new owners move in,” Moran said, “I’ll hand them the keys and the Google password—and that’s it.”