Art dealer and prestige home collector Steve Nasteski buys $7.5m Darling Point apartment

Art collector and prestige home flipper Steve Nasteski has bought the Darling Point apartment of former model Marie Spies, widow of funeral services businessman Ian Spies, for about $7.5 million.

Nasteski’s purchase in the well-heeled waterfront building Santina well ahead of next week’s scheduled auction comes after a run of high-end sales and purchases in recent years by the Brett Whiteley dealer, most recently his $3 million purchase of the Blue Mountains award-winning property Invisible House.

His 300-square-metre apartment was originally two three-bedroom apartments before it was amalgamated about 40 years ago by the Spies family into a four-bedroom spread with separate living areas, separate study, four car spaces and panoramic views over the harbour.

Daniel Baran, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, had listed it for $8 million and confirmed he sold it to Nasteski on Tuesday night. Sources put the sale result at more than $7.5 million.

Nasteski is expected to undertake a renovation of the property, having recently completed a major upgrade of the Peter Stutchbury-designed landmark property Invisible House in the Megalong Valley he bought last June for about $3 million from Hollywood filmmaker Alex Proyas, who originally wanted $9 million for the property.

Nasteski’s most high-profile deal – apart from his vast collection of Brett Whiteley’s – was selling his art deco Coogee house for $5.875 million in 2016 to Tim Minchin, and off-loading his Bondi Beach penthouse in the Bondi Pacific for $14.75 million two years ago to heiress Ginia Rinehart, daughter of mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

His latest purchase puts him among a who’s who of owner-occupiers in the Santina building, including Sydney Cricket Ground Trust chief Kerrie Mather, who bought the penthouse for $10.35 million in 2007, as well as options trader David Waterhouse, a long estranged member of the prominent racing family, and magician Garry Cohen and his wife, travel consultancy owner Fay Cohen.