From Byron Bay to Bellevue Hill: David Gyngell and Leila McKinnon buy eastern suburbs digs

Former Nine boss David Gyngell and his television reporter wife Leila McKinnon have bought an eastern suburbs bolthole for their return visits from their Byron Bay hometown.

The three-bedroom spread is the largest in the art deco block of five, known as Villa Rossmore, with about 200 square metres of living space, according to the marketing of Ray White Woollahra’s Randall Kemp.

It was left to settlement records to reveal the couple paid $4.5 million in a company name, replacing their former Sydney home set on the Dover Heights clifftop that they sold two years ago for $8.4 million.

The couple also retain a three-bedroom investment pad they bought in Bondi Beach three years ago for $1,675,000, now leased for $1300 a week.

Gyngell was meant to be in recuperation mode following a life-threatening heart attack in July after an intense boot camp workout with Pat Rafter near his Byron Bay home.

However, within two months he looks to be back in the swing of  things, having turned his attention to expanding his Byron Shire property portfolio that he shares with his mate John “Strop” Cornell and more recently by buying a $3.4 million property behind their Brunswick Hotel that housed the local Centrelink office.

Finding a buyer close to home 

Private equity supremo Chris Hadley and his wife Sue pulled their Mosman home and its $10 million hopes from the market earlier this year amid the pandemic-related lockdown that soon followed, but in the absence of any marketing since then and with no agent to be seen for miles he looks to have found a buyer on his own.

The chairman of Quadrant Private Equity went to the office and offered Quadrant’s managing partner Marcus Darville the chance to buy his Phil Corben-designed residence, thereby freeing the Hadleys to spend more time at their $10.6 million digs at Palm Beach.

Or maybe Darville approached the boss. Either way, records show the agreed price was $10.9 million for the three-level digs with gym, wine cellar and swimming pool in Mosman’s Golden Triangle. It’s a step up for Darville from the three-bedroom unit he bought down the road in 2013 for $2,625,000.

A material gain in Woollahra 

An 1880s Victorian cottage in Woollahra that was owned by the “godfather of Australian fashion” Peter Weiss until he died in June has sold for more than its $5 million guide offered by The Agency’s Ben Collier.

The Holdsworth Street cottage was the long-time home of the late composer Peter Sculthorpe, who purchased it in 1976 and lived there until he died in 2014.

When Sculthorpe’s estate put it to auction in the property boom of 2015, it secured $1 million more than the reserve thanks to Weiss’ $3.75 million bid.

Hitting the right note in Palm Beach 

The Palm Beach holiday home of Emlen Bell, daughter of the late US senator Joseph Tydings, has sold for $9.17 million to recruitment industry boss Jason Johnson.

Bell, former wife of stockbroking legend Colin Bell, bought the property in 2002 for $3.1 million, and sources say McGrath’s William Manning was taking buyers through on the quiet before it sold.

The sale comes amid rumours of a $15 million sale of one of Palm Beach’s most expensive holiday rentals, Karala, regularly fetching as much as $25,000 a week during the peak holiday season, and having hosted the likes of Elle Macpherson and media man Sam Chisholm in the past.

Silvana Marshall, wife of Richard Marshall, lawyer and former head of legal for mining giant Glencore Xstrata, purchased it in late 2017 for what was then a bullish $12 million from hedge fund manager Adrian Vanderspuy and his wife Vanessa, owners of the Oldenburg Vineyard in South Africa.

David Edwards, of LJ Hooker Palm Beach, would not confirm the widespread talk, despite sources saying he had listed it given the Marshalls’ return to live in Switzerland.

Bronte upgrade on the menu 

McDonalds tycoon Louie Treffiletti and partner Gabrielle Neves have upgraded their Bronte real estate handsomely, emerging as the $16 million buyers of the designer residence of Cassandra and Dan Collins, co-founder of the largest cancer services provider in Australia, GenesisCare.

Treffiletti, licensee to a slew of McDonald’s in the St George and Sutherland area, has already farewelled his former Bronte home on Bronte Park, sold by Neves for $6.75 million, and already rented out for a hefty $3500 a week by Hong Kong-based expats Thomas and Belinda Liu.

Alexander Phillips, of PPD, transacted the double deal, but sources say Ray White’s Evan Williams was involved in the Collins family home sale.

 The Collins clan have relocated to the US where they are spearheading the expansion of GenesisCare thanks to a recent $1.6 billion buyout by 21st Century Oncology.  

The hilltop residence last traded four years ago for $14.5 million when sold by Nadia Jacob and Peter Scutt, founder of online homecare platform Mable.

Boyd’s two-year sale campaign

On the Hunters Hill peninsula the Woolwich waterfront home of Judy Boyd, former wife of property developer John Boyd, has sold after two years on the market.

The property last traded in 1987 for $950,000 from businessman and former chairman of Direct Acceptance finance group Ray Lord when the Boyds were living at the Packer family’s Palm Beach weekender.

There was no comment from Christie’s Darren Curtis or McGrath’s Tracey Dixon after the marketing was pulled from the internet on Thursday, so it remains unknown if they realized the $13.5 million hopes.

Boyd is moving up the road to the Federation mansion Te Roma bought for $7.7 million two years ago from former treasurer Joe Hockey and his investment banker wife Melissa Babbage.