Party's over: 'Chinese Gatsby' Sam Guo sells Hunters Hill mansion for $20m

The genteel folk of Hunters Hill lost one of their more colourful locals this week when China’s commercial property magnate “Sam” Kuizhang Guo sold his historic home Windermere for close to $20 million to Lauren O’Hara, wife of pub baron Sean O’Hara.

The off-market sale ends a momentous chapter for the 163-year-old mansion that started with its jaw-dropping $11.45 million sale price in 2014 and a year later became the toast of the town thanks to Mr Guo’s lavish parties for his many neighbours, earning him the nickname “Chinese Gatsby”.

Former treasurer Joe Hockey was less enthusiastic about Mr Guo’s largesse, instead dobbing him in for a suspected breach of the foreign investment rules because he claimed his approval was based on “spurious” grounds.

Then came council objections to Mr Guo’s unauthorised additions to the adjoining waterfront reserve: namely the clearing of bushland, spray painting over Indigenous artwork, a bar built inside a heritage-listed rock cave, and the construction of what some described as a “dance floor” on his Lane Cove River jetty.

After the stoush made its way to the Land and Environment Court, council succeeded in having the works demolished, bushland rehabilitated and costs recouped, and early this year Mr Guo even lodged plans to demolish the garaging shed to build a second residence on the 3500 square metre estate, as stipulated as a condition of his FIRB approval.

The DA was rejected in April and instead it was listed quietly with McGrath’s Tracey Dixon with $20 million hopes despite no longer holding a maritime or Crown Land lease on title.

Ms Dixon would not be drawn on the rumoured sale, but it was confirmed when O’Hara lodged a caveat on title this week.

The O’Hara’s are based in Wagga Wagga, where Sean O’Hara is part of a syndicate with the Laundy and Cruikshank families that has bought three Riverina pubs this year alone, the latest of which is the Springdale Heights Tavern for $22 million.

O’Hara’s pub interests extend to 15 hotels across the state, from Albury on the Victoria border to Orange, Coffs Harbour and the Hunter Valley.

The art of the deal

Art dealer Denis Savill has set a November 27 auction of his Bellevue Hill home, which should make it at the very least entertaining given his showman reputation but also eventful given his determination that it will be sold.

Savill is moving to Woollahra where in May he and his partner Anne Clarke bought a top-floor apartment in a triplex for $7.55 million, and three weeks later sold his art gallery of almost 40 years, Savill Galleries, in Paddington for $5.3 million to Amber and John Symond.

The doyen of art dealing purchased his Stephen Gergely-designed house in Bellevue Hill in 2015 for $6.6 million from the Best & Less-founding Ginges family.

The Agency’s Ben Collier has a $7.5 million guide for the three-level residence with a four-car garage, lift and swimming pool.

Dinnigan cooks up a deal

As designer-turn-hotelier Collette Dinnigan shows off her culinary skills on Ten’s Celebrity Masterchef this week, behind the scenes she has listed her South Coast property in Milton, known as the White House, for $4 million to $4.5 million.

Dinnigan reportedly fell in love with the Federation-era cottage in Milton in 2006, paying $830,000, and recreating it into her holiday home and one one of the area’s most popular farm stays.

Cooper Coastal Properties’ Craig Cooper offers the 2.4 hectare property to buyers as the rebuild of Dinnigan’s holiday cottage at nearby Rosedale nears completion after it was incinerated in the bushfires of almost two years ago.

Wealth management in Mosman

Geoff Lloyd has no doubt had more time on his hands since he stepped down as chief of MLC Australia a year ago, and like most of Sydney has turned his attention to the family home.

Lloyd was chief at Perpetual when he purchased the Federation residence in 2015, known as Cambria, paying $7.8 million to real estate entrepreneur Mike Stokes and his wife Maryanne Collins.

The Balmoral slopes residence was then gutted and redesigned throughout with Marco Meneguzzi interiors, an award-winning kitchen and manicured garden to the wet-edged swimming pool.

All of it could be yours given it is set to hit the market for more than $16.5 million through Atlas’s Michael Coombs amid Lloyd’s plans to trade up locally .

Escape to North Avoca

Hedge fund manager Paul Henry has reclaimed his weekends away, or at least the means to do so, emerging as the buyer of a beachfront shack in North Avoca for a record $8.1 million.

The co-founder of Bennelong Asset Management and his wife Belinda Henry used to escape their Mosman trophy home by heading to Palm Beach where they bought a getaway sight unseen in 2010 for $14 million and sold it in 2018 for $15 million.

Avoca Beach should be a happy place for escapees from Sydney this summer with a run of records this year, first at $7 million for Avoca Beach set by pastoralists Ben and Kim Cottle, then at $7.9 million when Telstra senior executive David Burns bought at the northern end of the beach, and the most recent sale by McGrath’s Mat Steinwede.

Stock trader’s Rose Bay retreat

Stock trader “Andy” Wenlei Song whose Sydney home is the Point Piper residence he bought off luxury car importer Neville Crighton five years ago for $60.66 million, has added to his local property portfolio.

Song’s Sydney real estate is held in the name of FIRB-approved wife “July” Yingping Cao, who has also now taken possession of a five-bedroom house in Rose Bay for $10 million.

The Chamberlain Avenue residence with a half basketball court and a swimming pool was an off-market purchase and comes two years after the Woollahra Council approved a complete redesign of the Point Piper residence into three self-contained luxury apartments at a cost of $7.2 million.