Menulog founder Leon Kamenev has received approval to build a two-storey French-style chateau on the harbourfront parcel of land he bought last year for just under $80 million.

Kamenev’s purchase last year of four homes on Coolong Road, Vaucluse, is the highest price ever paid for a residential site, trumping even the $71 million paid for the Fairfax family’s Elaine in April this year, and the $70 million paid for James Packer’s Vaucluse home in 2015.

Woollahra Council rejected Kamenev’s original plans, primarily due to the building’s proposed height. But this week the Sydney Central Planning Panel accepted Woollahra Council’s recommendation to approve the development with amendments.

The chateau is expected to take two to three years to build, and will cost at least $30 million.

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The Daily Telegraph reported that Karla Castellanos, of GMU Urban Design, who addressed the panel on behalf of objectors, said the proposal was “unique and unprecedented” because four properties were amalgamated into one.

“The controls don’t really foresee this type of development and therefore are unprepared to provide guidance”, she said.

“It will be the largest home in the precinct with the widest frontage,” she said.

Brett Daintry, an environmental planning expert who represented Kamenev, said the proposal met the council’s objectives because the house, though large, was within a garden setting. He said the house will occupy only 25 per cent of the 4200sqm site, and 1,700 new trees will be planted.

Daintry said that from the street, the house will appear to be a single storey.