A block of land for about $25 million? Welcome to Point Piper

An intriguing block of rubble on the Point Piper waterfront is set to hit the market for about $25 million seven months after it last traded.

The 733-square-metre property was previously owned by Hugh Huang, son of Shanghai-based shipping magnate Shannian Huang, who had knocked down the original 1970s-built residence amid plans to build  a Tzannes Associates-designed residence as part of his agreed Foreign Investment Review Board-approval of the purchase.

However, Huang did an abrupt U-turn on those plans late last year and instead put the demolished block up for sale, pocketing $22.5 million from it in January from a mystery buyer who bought it in the name of his accountant Peter Wyer.

Months later the ultimate owner of the block of land remains unknown, and the selling agent Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, has continued to refuse to disclose their identity, but sources say he has been enlisted this week to put the block back on the market in the hopes of recouping not just the purchase price but also the $1.5 million stamp duty.

The asking price remains undisclosed, but sources have been given a guide of $25 million.

Huang purchased the Wolseley Road residence for $14.35 million in 2013 from  Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow, who had commissioned the DA-approved plans for the striking glass-fronted mansion.

By the time Barlow bought the well-positioned block, it had already been owned by a who’s who of Sydney and often in quick succession.

Barlow, the son-in-law of Sydney FC’s billionaire owner David Traktovenko, paid $11.75 million for the property in 2010 from hotelier Damien Reed after it was caught up in the unresolved Michael McGurk murder mystery.

Reed had bought it in 2004 for $9.5 million by Hunters Hill trophy home owners Rosena and Eddie Yip, co-founder of wholesaler Look Sharp, who only owned it a year after they paid $7.38 million to orthopaedic surgeon Lawrence Kohan and his property developer wife Gail.

The Kohans also kept their ownership brief after they bought it in 2001 for $5 million and sold it two years later after their $2 million redesign by architect Joshua Farkash was knocked back by council.

Amber Pavlik, of the Bushells Tea family, did score approval for her designer residence after she bought it for $4.375 million in 2000 from car dealer Ian Pagent and his wife Marianne, but sold the following year anyway.

The Pagents managed two years’ ownership since they bought it in late 1998 for $3.35 million from renowned gardener Marilynn Abbott Zweck.