Houses of lawyer Grant Fuzi and billionaire's son Jianmin Song debut in tight market

The Point Piper residence of Blue River’s co-chief executive Grant Fuzi and his wife Naomi leads the slim pickings to debut on the prestige market this week.

The couple commissioned architect Alex Tzannes to design the property more than a decade ago after they bought the Wolseley Road property for $2.7 million in 2001 from the late Holocaust survivor Braham Stern and his wife Barbara.

The six-bedroom residence is set on an almost level 900 square metres next door to the modernist house of race-car driver Ash Samadi that was passed in on a vendor bid of $15.6 million at its 2017 auction.

Fuzi is the former head of Allen & Overy who five years ago ditched his legal career to co-found the impact investment services firm Blue River Capital with Macquarie’s former global group treasurer Craig Shapiro.

D’Leanne Lewis, of Laing+Simmons Double Bay, is asking $13 million ahead of the March 18 auction.

Hitting the high notes in Vaucluse

The son of one of China’s richest people, “Jeremy” Jianmin Song is off-loading one of his Vaucluse mansions, St Malo, for more than $8 million.

Song, the son of billionaire Nanshan Group founder Zuowen Song who according to last year’s Hurun China Rich List is said to be worth about $US4.3 billion ($6 billion), has amassed an impressive asset portfolio since he bought the Hopetoun Avenue property in 2002 for $5 million.

In 2016 Song’s Nanshan bought a 20 per cent stake in Virgin Australia, followed a few months later by his $7.5 million purchase of the Macquarie Lighthouse keeper’s cottage at Vaucluse, and the Hawkesbury River retreat of retail billionaire Brett Blundy, Sweven the following year for $18.75 million.

Song jnr already lives in Vaucluse having bought a Wentworth Road residence in 2009 for $6.888 million and added the house next door in 2015 for $6.4 million.

Marketing for Song’s six-bedroom, six-bathroom investment property shows it goes to auction on March 11 through Michael Pallier and Walter Antonelli, of Sotheby’s International.

Couple snaps up $4.6m pad

Nora Gazal Milling, the sister of Real Housewife Nicole Gazal O’Neil, and her husband Michael Milling are hopefully putting their disastrous wedding reception of a year ago behind them to instead settle into their new $4.6 million matrimonial home.

The two-storey house in Vaucluse was on the market for all of five days with Georgia Cleary, of Bradfield Cleary, before the couple snapped it up recently. Gazal Milling, whose brother Nabil is the former boyfriend of publicist Roxy Jacenko, is expected to undertake a renovation before they move in.

Golden glow in Bellevue Hill

The question of who bought the Bellevue Hill home of Mercury Capital head Clark Perkins and his wife Marguerite had Title Deeds temporarily stumped this week, what with Sotheby’s James McCowan and buyer’s agent Simon Cohen declining to entertain questions.

But then Anna Lahey, co-founder of collagen supplements outfit Vida Glow, posted the happy story to Instagram celebrating the purchase with her equally photogenic and company co-founder husband Kieran Lahey in front of the home’s sold sticker.

The contemporary five-bedroom residence is a decent step up the property ladder for the wellness entrepreneurs, whose registered address has been the two-bedder spread in Darlinghurst that Kieran bought two years ago for $1.84 million.

The sale result manages a windfall for the Perkins clan despite their bullish purchase price of $8.1 million in 2007, with interested party circling the property putting the sale result at more than $9 million.

Testing the market in Duffys Forest

Builder Isber Melhem and his wife Simone reset the Duffys Forest record early last year when they paid $10.25 million for the property of outdoor advertising boss Ray Balcomb and his wife Julie, but will they do so again now they’ve returned it to the market?

There have been strategic improvements since the couple took possession of the two-hectare property, after selling their waterfront home in Gladesville in January for $6.55 million to Weiguo Ma.

It’ll be a good test of the local prestige market through Christie’s Darren Curtis and Sydney Country Living’s Shane Hutton.

For the record, the Melhems’ purchase topped the $9.5 million high in neighbouring Terrey Hills set in 2012 by the mansion and one-time rental of shock jock Kyle Sandilands known as Symingtonia.

Going from Chippendale to SA

Qian Mai, the 27-year-old property developer from China who is behind a new 39-storey hotel under construction in Adelaide, is selling up in Chippendale amid relocation plans to South Australia.

Mai, a director and shareholder of Equinox Development Property, bought the Sky Penthouse in the Central Park development new in 2014 for $2.865 million, and the following year bought a house in Point Piper for $7.55 million from former ANZ trader Etienne Alexiou.

The three-bedroom spread is on offer for $3.35 million to $3.45 million through Sotheby’s Emma Vada and Modern Realty’s Barry Yu.

New lease on life in Warrawee

Kim Wheatley, wife of Fat Prophets’ property supremo Simon Wheatley, has listed her historic Federation residence in Warrawee after a major restoration and renovation.

The 1909-built property last traded in a dire state in 2016 for $3.125 million when one-time Liberal Party aspirant and developer David Baynie sold it halfway through a previous renovation.

At the time it had 140 council orders on it relating mainly to heritage infringements, all of which have long since been rectified along with a complete overhaul of the internal living areas and high-end finishes throughout, with the addition of Paul Bangay gardens to complement the tennis court and swimming pool.

Tim Fraser, of Di Jones, has a guide of $6 million ahead of the March 16 auction.

Banking on waterfront sale

Cremorne’s waterfront was a popular buyer’s choice for the well-heeled last year, so it’s little surprise to see the home of retired Macquarie executive John Rendle and his wife Carolyn hit the market for between $15.5 million and $16.5 million.

The waterfront house next door was bought by telco-boss-turned-fund manager James Spenceley last year for $12.5 million, while two other waterfront houses on Wonga Road set successive suburb highs of $18 million and $18.8 million.

The Rendles’ property last traded in 2007 for $9.55 million when sold after a brief ownership by Bluestone Mortgages co-founder Craig Mullan.

It is listed with Michael Coombs, now of LJ Hooker Avnu.

Grants make a move in Mosman

Real Pet Food chief David Grant and his wife Lerida have emerged as the $11 million buyers of fund manager Rob Luciano’s Mosman home.

Luciano has swapped Mosman for Palm Beach where he paid $18 million last year for a contemporary residence of Hardie Grant chairman John Geraghty.

The Castle Cove-based Grant was headhunted to head up the pet food giant in 2015 when it was bought out by Quadrant Private Equity for $410 million.