Bellevue Hill's prestige property deals pile up as well-heeled locals spend big

Bellevue Hill is the epicentre of big deals of late, thanks in no small measure to the locals who insist on buying and selling in the same suburb.

Take the sale of Rona for almost $60 million to property tycoon Richard Scheinberg, and this week’s no-surprise listing of Scheinberg’s nearby family home.

Rona’s sale result – yet to be confirmed by The Agency’s Ben Collier and Laing+Simmons Double Bay’s Bart Doff  – showed patience paid off for fellow property maestro Terry Agnew and his estranged wife Kyril, who scored almost three times the $20.5 million they paid for it in 2005 to trophy-home collector John Schaeffer.

Which brings Title Deeds to Scheinberg’s nearby secluded residence, on Victoria Road. The grand six-bedroom residence has been held by the Scheinbergs since 1994 when it was bought for $3.3 million, and sits on 1400 square metres with landscaped grounds, tennis court, swimming pool and a guest house.

Almost a quarter of a century after it last traded, buyers should expect to pay more than $16 million through Bart Doff and his Laing+Simmons colleague Steven Zoellner.

Bonnington sale’s trickle-down effect

Still with the ripple effect of Bellevue Hill’s top sales, the Cranbrook Road home of fund manager Ari Droga and his architect wife, Lisa, is set to hit the market thanks to their $20.4 million purchase of John Schaeffer’s trophy home, Bonnington.

Schaeffer put Bonnington up for auction earlier this month, only six months after he took possession of the F. Glynn Gilling-designed landmark home for $20.5 million, but fell shy of recouping his purchase price despite five registered bidders at the auction by Ray White Double Bay’s Elliott Placks and Ashley Bierman.

​Among those in the fray with Droga was food blogger Stephanie Conley, businessman David Royal, and former McGrath franchise king Shane Smollen.

And now Droga’s purchase means his nearby Bellevue Hill home, known as Allala, with a pool on about 1000 square metres is up for grabs for only the third time since 1923.

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Lawyer and aviator Geoffrey Hughes, the grandfather of Lucy Turnbull, bought the property 95 years ago for £2650, and held by the Hughes family in various company names until 1984, when it was sold to hotelier David Thomas for $1.2 million.

Droga bought it in 2005 for $6.5 million, and it returns to the market for $14 million through Elliott Placks.

Rose gets a whiff of success

Rose Bay-based Stuart Rose, who shares managing director duties of the family’s developer giant Rose Group with his brother Bryan, finally found a buyer for his Darling Point apartment three years after he listed it for $10 million.

His sister Marisa Campion, wife of hotelier Graham Campion, has come through with $10.25 million for the apartment in the family triplex.

Campion’s purchase follows the recent sale of her Darling Point house for $5.9 million to next-door-neighbour film producer Deborah Balderstone and her investment manager husband John.

The Balderstones bought their grand Darling Point Road residence in 2015 for $5.46 million when they sold their Elizabeth Bay trophy home Purfleet for $12.75 million to car dealer Tony Azzi.

Campion’s new digs is below the penthouse sold by her parents Bob and Margaret Rose last year for $9.98 million to Robin Chen, director of Starcom Mediavest.

Vaucluse giant hits the market

London-based founder of Reddam House Graeme Crawford and his partner Ian McLeod are selling their Vaucluse mansion.

This is the architect Harold Finger-designed residence with a pool and tennis court on 2268 square metres bought in McLeod’s name in 2012 for $11.75 million from businessman John Hunter and his wife Fiona.

The vast, non-waterfront residence with tennis court and swimming pool was built in 1987 over two blocks by property developer Steven Bauer before it was sold to fellow developer John Dalley in 1992 for $8.5 million.

Expect to pay more than $16.5 million in the expressions of interest campaign by LJ Hooker Double Bay’s Bill Malouf and Ballard’s Clint Ballard based on the circa $17 million sale up the road of the Michael Suttor-designed house sold late last year by tech entrepreneur Gary Cohen and his wife Suzanne.

Adman goes big in North Bondi

Adman Jamie Mackay is joining the North Bondi set, having paid just shy of $10 million for the whole top floor of an oceanfront block of apartments.

The Belgiovane Williams Mackay partner hadn’t quite settled on his North Bondi purchase through Raine & Horne’s Ric Serrao than he had already sold his Rose Bay house.

Serrao wasn’t disclosing the result but sources say the Rose Bay sale price was about $8.7 million, above the $8 million to $8.5 million guide, and sold after the first open for inspection. Mackay had owned the house since 2007, when it traded for $5.5 million.

It’s a good time to own – and sell – in North Bondi. Mackay’s purchase follows the $11.5 million sale of retail boss Mark McInnes’ unfinished penthouse along the beachfront to aged-care bosses Mark and Evette Moran, and the $14 million house sale on the clifftop by NAB senior executive Spiro Pappas.

Taylors heading out of Hunter

The Hunter Valley cattle-breeding farm of former Macquarie Bank executive Peter Taylor and his wife, Dianne is up for grabs for $2 million to $2.2 million.

The Taylors swapped Greenwich on the lower north shore for the Mount Vincent property in the 1990s, following Taylor’s retirement from the millionaires’ factory in 1993.

The Mount Vincent homestead was built 30 years ago and comes with a restored 1880s guest cottage, tennis court and equine arena. Alan Jurd, of Jurd’s Real Estate, has the listing.

The couple have not completely forsaken Sydney. Records show they bought a Manly apartment in the Dungowan building in 2015 for $4.675 million.

AC/DC manager moving on

Former AC/DC manager Michael Browning and his wife Elizabeth have long swapped the world of touring for that of Avalon Beach, where they bought their sandstone home 15 years ago for $956,000.

The three-bedroom house is where Browning wrote his book Dog Eat Dog: A Story of Survival, Struggle and Triumph By the Man Who Put AC/DC On the World Stage, which also documented his time with INXS when he signed the up-and-coming band to his Deluxe Records.

But downsizing beckons the locals, prompting a November 3 auction and a $1.595 million guide by McGrath’s David Eden.

Gregory grabs Hindmarsh estate

Tanya Gregory, wife of Highfield Asset Management director Matthew Gregory, has picked up the Hindmarsh family’s 6-hectare Mittagong property for $6.5 million.

It looks to have been an off-market deal, but not so for the Gregory’s nearby Mittagong property, Midwood, which has now hit the market.

Angus Campbell-Jones has kicked off a sales campaign with a $4.95 million asking price for the Richard Rowe-designed homestead on 40 hectares.