Pub baron and ex-lord mayor Nelson Meers sells Point Piper pad for $18 million

Philanthropist, pub investor and former Sydney lord mayor Nelson Meers, AO, and his wife Carole have sold their Point Piper pad for about $18 million.

Prestige agents are hoping the sale will be the first in a run of top-end sales in Australia’s most expensive suburb in the wake of last week’s $95 million sale on the same street of a duplex set on 1800 square metres from Katies founders Joe Brender and the estate of his late business partner Sam Moss.

The whole-floor spread in the Alex Popov-redesigned block on Seven Shillings Beach last traded for $16 million just three years ago when sold by property magnate John Roth and his wife Jillian Segal, who in turn had paid $11.6 million for it in 2011.

At the time of the purchase the Point Piper pad was a downsize for the Meers couple, coming just six months after they sold their Bayview home for $4.55 million.

Bill Malouf, of LJ Hooker Double Bay, would make no comment on the sale, despite having listed it in July with $18 million hopes.

It was withdrawn from the Domain property portal on Tuesday, and independent sources say it sold at more than the $18 million bottom line.

Mr Meers is best known for founding the private philanthropic arts Nelson Meers Foundation now headed by his daughter Samantha Meers, however his business interests are centred on a collection of high-value hotel assets around Sydney, including the  Grand Hotel in Rockdale, Oasis on Beamish at Campsie and the Hurstville Ritz. The group’s latest acquisition was the Belmore Hotel for about $50 million late last year.

The block of six Alex Popov-designed apartments has long been home to a who’s who of Sydney. Philanthropist and corporate adviser Simon Mordant and his wife Catriona sold their apartment for $13.35 million in 2015 to hedge-fund trader Ian Calcraft.

Sue Ingham was the first buyer into the redeveloped block in 2010, paying $12,245,000 for her penthouse, and motorcycle dealer Robert Cassen bought his pad below for $13.5 million five years ago from Angela Fleming, the widow of the late grocery tycoon Jim Fleming.

Architect Harold Finger and his wife, Rebecca, bought into the block for $10 million in early 2011, as did printing magnate Graeme Kirk a month later for the same figure.