Wenlei Song emerges as the buyer of Neville Crichton's $60.8 million trophy home

“Andy” Wenlei Song isn’t well known among Sydney’s trophy home watchers, but he should be. After all, the stock trader from China is set to settle on the third most expensive house in Australia.

Or rather, the $60.8 million Point Piper mansion is set to settle in the name of FIRB-approved Cao Yingping.

And what better time than Chinese New Year to make Song’s introductions to his new Sydney home town.

The paper trail behind the buyer of luxury car importer Neville Crichton‘s home proved rather non-eventful, at first, given Cao’s lack of any corporate and property interests, but updated caveat records have Cao registered to The Hyde apartment at Hyde Park, which was boughtd by Song in late 2015 for $2.86 million.

Song’s new Sydney base, negotiated by Brad Pillinger, of Pillingers, and Bart Doff, of Laing+Simmons Double Bay, is set in a protected cove on Point Piper’s prime west-facing foreshore next door to Aussie John Symond’s waterfront mansion.

Historic homestead

The historic Killara residence Poitiers is for sale, ending 86 years of it being home to two of Australia’s sporting legends.

Former Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock, AM, was born into the Federation property after his parents, lawyer Patricia Mortlock and insurance broker John Mortlock exchanged on it for $127,000 a week before his birth in 1977.

It was being sold then by Ruth Oldfield, the widow of Test cricketer Bert Oldfield, who had barely survived being shot in the leg during World War I only to go on to become one of Australia’s best wicketkeepers.

The Oldfields had owned it for 47 years, and reportedly moved to their Clareville holiday home during World War II to allow refugees to stay at their Killara home (now there’s an idea).

The Springdale Road property sits on 1869 square metres and has been beautifully restored over the years. It has a swimming pool at the rear. Glenn Curran, of Curran Property, is asking $4.9 million to $5.2 million.

Elite estate

In Vaucluse, a 2100-square-metre property from the estate of the late Helen Andrews is up for grabs for the first time in 54 years.

The Federation-era residence was built for the headmaster of Wolaroi College (now Kinross Wolaroi School) Thomas Henry Richards, and later owned by Winifred Margaret Mills, daughter of prominent 1800s pastoralist Charles Mills.

It was sold by the Mills’ estate in 1963 for £40,000 through then real estate doyen Max Raine to Helen Andrews, who with her husband Andrew Andrews had established the famed nightclub The Latin Quarter in the 1950s.

There is no price guide by Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, on the private double block on Wentworth Road but its best comparable sale is last year’s $20 million paid for the heritage-listed Werribee estate on busy New South Head Road.

Ultimate waterfront

Dick Denton, AO, has called the Newport waterfront home since 1987 when he returned from his stint in New York as chief of Deloittes.

At the time his residence on Salt Pan Cove was only recently completed, having been built on the property he bought from lawyer James Samuel Whitehead in 1974 for $57,000.

But not for much longer. The company director of more than 20 public and private companies, including former chairman of Energy Developments, has enlisted Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International, and James Baker, now at McGrath Avalon to sell it given $7 million to $7.7 million. 

Featuring strong Mediterranean influences and a separate studio, it comes with a private jetty, fully equipped boatshed, slipway, saltwater pool and private beachfront with northerly views over Pittwater.

Printing magnate trades houses

Printing magnate Michael Hannan and his wife Elaine know a good time to sell when they see it, listing their Potts Point apartment for $6 million.

The Woollahra-based Hannan, executive chairman of the family’s IPMG publishing group, bought his Rosemont Avenue home from the Packer family in 2010 and is showing no signs of leaving the neighbourhood.

Hannan purchased the three-bedroom spread on Potts Point’s Wylde Street two years ago from  A. Royale & Co’s Andrew Isles and wife Victoria, and has since had an architect’s plans approved to upgrade the interiors.

Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay, has the listing.

Executive property

Adman Rob Belgiovane has bought back into his Mosman homeland, paying $6.5 million for the home of former bank chief Stuart Grimshaw and his wife Anneliese.

Belgiovane, a founding partner at BWM Group and widely regarded as one of the industry’s leading creatives, scored a bonanza late last year when he sold his renovated Balmoral slopes home for $5,575,000 – a decent trade in on his 2011 purchase of the same house for $2.46 million.

Grimshaw, the former chief of the Bank of Queensland, listed his Chinaman’s Beach home with Province’s Dino Gatti following his move to Austin, Texas, where he has taken up the role as executive chairman of the pawnbroking US EZCORP Group.

A vital purchase

Asia’s appetite for Australian-made vitamins looks like it’s keeping the property portfolio of PharmaCare owner Toby Browne in top shape.

Browne, who founded the vitamins, supplements and skincare business more than 30 years ago, is no stranger to the northern beaches prestige market, with a couple of Newport waterfronts and acreage in Ingleside to his and his wife Julie’s name, among others.

Clearly a fan of the design work of architect Mark Hurcum, who redesigned the couple’s waterfront home in Newport, the Brownes have again enlisted Hurcum to redesign another waterfront down the road.

Expect to pay $5 million to $5.5 million for the contemporary five-bedroom residence with high-end finishes, pool, boatshed, slipway and deep-water pontoon on 969 square metres through Josephine Cowling, of LJ Hooker Mona Vale.

An anthropologist’s discovery

Anthropologist Richard Wright, AM, is renowned for his work in forensic archaeology, but his plans to downsize have unearthed that most rare of Balmain finds – an undeveloped waterfront house.

Of course, the Mort Bay property has been home to the emeritus professor for more than half a century, having been bought by him and his late wife Sonia Wright in 1966 for $16,000.

Built in the 1870s, the two-storey house has retained most of its original finishes and sits on 600 square metres of waterfront with a slipway at the end of the back garden.

Expect to see much of the peninsula suburb’s aspiring upgraders check their bank balances before it goes to auction on March 4 for $5 million through Belle Property Balmain’s Monique Dower.

Star performer

Actor Duncan Armitage and artist John Copley have sold their Gordon’s Bay home, setting a Clovelly record in the process at $8 million.

The Cliffbrook Parade property last traded in 2000 for $1.5 million,  and was later redesigned by architects Erik Rudolfsson and Joseph Alliker into a contemporary three-level house with curved roof.

The couple listed it back in 2014 with $7-million-plus hopes before it was relisted in 2015 with Penny Costello, who sold it earlier this week.

It tops the $7.7 million high of 2012 set when the Maneas family bought on Eastbourne Avenue.

Out of town

The Ridge at Bowral up for grabs

Nicholas and Denise Barrett, who own The Ridge at Bowral have done a U-turn on their plans to run a wedding photography venue, instead listing the 1.1-hectare property for $3.4 million.

The 1920s-era residence was designed by Herbert Wardell, son of noted architect William Wardell, and bought by the Barretts in 2015 for $2.75 million.

Having recently scored a bore-fed irrigation system for the beautifully landscaped gardens, it is listed with Sarah Wotton, of Highlands Property.

Meanwhile, builder Roy Alvaro and his wife Wendy have set a March 8 deadline on the sale of their Bellagio Estate in Bowral with a revised guide of $10 million through Colliers’ Deborah Cullen.

Inspired by the palazzos of Lake Como, Bellagio was decades in the planning and building, but three years after the  Alvaros first listed the property for $12 million, their downsizing plans have gathered momentum.

The Southern Highlands has seen an up-tick in sales activity already this year, including the January sale of Abergeldie, in Burradoo.

The 1880s-era residence built by Dr Edwin Chisholm last traded in 2013 for $2.16 million when purchased by leading lawyer John Moutsopoulos and Vanessa Seary, and sold for some $4 million through Kate McCullagh, of Di Jones.

And Iona Park’s owner Trish Steadman-Towell, wife of National Dental Care chief Gordon Towell, has purchased a 2.21 hectare property in Bowral for $2.4 million. The purchase follows the couple’s decision last year to sell their boutique stud in Moss Vale.