Harvey Norman heir splashes $10.4m on a second coastal-chic Byron house

Harvey Norman heir Glen Norman has expanded his foothold in Byron Bay, purchasing an acreage in the region’s hinterland for $10.4 million.

The 56-year-old businessman has emerged as the buyer of the sweeping parcel of about 20 hectares in Skinners Shoot with views ranging from Byron Bay lighthouse to the Nightcap Range.

Known as Lanikai, the estate has a beautiful four-bedroom weatherboard family home and alongside it a renovated two-bedroom guest cottage, a machinery shed and a gym.

It came with architectural plans for a luxury designer residence, subject to council approval of course, from award-winning local architect Harley Graham. Despite being a five-minute drive into town, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were miles away given the property has numerous creeks, dams, waterfalls, coastal rainforest and is even suitable for livestock with bitumen roads in between.

Norman, the son of Harvey Norman co-founder Ian Norman, already owns a beachfront house at Belongil Beach bought in 2015. He paid $10 million to his former father-in-law, 1970s TV star John “Strop” Cornell, who featured in the comedy series The Paul Hogan Show.

The last parcel of land from the Cornell family’s Belongil Beach estate was on-sold earlier this year for a Byron Bay price record of $33.5 million after a luxury rebuild by property developer and McGrath director Shane Smollen and his wife, Rebecca. The buyers were billionaire Chemist Warehouse directors Damien Gance and his wife, Sasha Robertson.

The luscious green acreage in Skinners Shoot was sold by Simon Oxenham, chairman and co-founder of Convic, which is a leading skate park builder around the globe, as he spends more time overseas. He purchased it for $5.1 million in November 2019.

The property was sold through Will Phillips of Sotheby’s International Realty Byron Bay, who declined to comment.

Deeper in Byron’s hinterland, Wolfmother drummer Hamish Rosser and his wife, Kristy, have listed their charming acreage in Clunes village with a price guide of $2.5 million to $2.75 million.

The five-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which has been redesigned by Byron Bay interior designer Louella Boitel-Gill, sits on 1.9 hectares within a 30 minute-drive into Byron Bay.

The Rossers, who purchased the property in 2020 for $1,375,000, are looking to move closer to town after Kristy’s promotion to lead Live Nation’s sponsorship business in Australia and New Zealand.

Coogee’s record question

Back in Sydney, former investment banker turned charity chief executive Melanie Noden and her surgical oncologist husband, Professor Andrew Spillane, appeared to have reset Coogee’s house price record, until a closer inspection of suburb boundaries.

The last public price guide on the six-bedroom, four-bathroom home was $13.4 million, and it is tipped to have sold for more than that before auction.

Set on 1075 square metres with commanding views of the ocean, the sprawling luxury home, purchased under Noden’s name is one of only two properties in the suburb with a tennis court.

While the exact price will be revealed upon settlement, it is expected to have sold for more than the last reported house record of $13.1 million set by advertising boss Simon Corah and his interior designer wife, Monique, in 2022.

Not to be confused with the $14.25 million high set by the founder of private equity firm Liverpool Partners’ Jonathan Lim and Inspire Impact director Irene Vidaller Sevil, who also works at Liverpool Partners, for a six-bedroom oceanfront mere streets away from Noden and Spillane’s. The home was marketed online as being in Clovelly, but alas, the boffins at the ABS categorise the southern side of the street – where the home sits – as Coogee.

Noden, who purchased in 2002 for $2.9 million, was an investment banker for Deutsche for more than a decade before transitioning into chief executive roles for charitable organisations, including The Hunger Project, Sydney’s Asylum Seekers Centre and now Justice Support Centre, which runs community legal centres. Spillane is a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Sydney, specialising in the management of melanoma and breast cancer.

Their home sold through James Ball of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty, who declined to comment.

Nearby, the stunning Bronte waterfront of MHC fund manager Andrew Palmer and his wife, Susan, has hit the market with a price guide of $25 million.

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom Corben Architects-designed house is one of the closest freestanding homes to the beach.

The sandstone, steel and timber home has a saltwater infinity pool and four car spaces in a suburb where it is nigh impossible to find parking.

The Palmers bought the home for $4.75 million in 2004 and will stand to make almost $965,000 for each year they have owned it if their price guide is achieved.

It is listed through Simon Exleton of Pillinger and Alex Phillips of PPD.