Historic Potts Point trophy Bomera listed by Catelan family

Bomera, the grand Italianate mansion on the clifftop at Potts Point owned by Leanne Catelan, daughter of late property data pioneer Ray Catelan, hits the market this week.

This is the sandstone landmark built in 1856 by architect John Frederick Hilly for colonial merchant William McQuade, who then commissioned the marina villa next door, Tarana, in 1889 for his son Arthur “Fred” McQuade.

Both residences were acquired by the Defence Department in 1941 as fleet headquarters for the Royal Australian Navy, and sold off in 2001 for $6.55 million to property developer Jorge and Monica Fernandez.

Tarana was later converted into a luxury triplex, but the grandeur of Bomera was restored as a single residence with the former stables converted into a three-bedroom cottage.

The sandstone mansion complete with formal living rooms, study, five bedrooms and a ballroom overlooking Woolloomooloo Bay is set on 2150 square metres amid landscaped gardens and a swimming pool.

Catelan, who purchased the residence in 2013, has returned it to the market through LJ Hooker Double Bay’s Bill Malouf and Ballard’s Clint Ballard.

First bite in Mosman

Mosman’s first trophy home for 2019 has made a late debut, with the home of prominent dentist Daniel Adamo and his wife, former recruitment boss Katie, listed for $23 million to $25 million.

Dr Adamo is a director of MiFund and co-founder of Mobile Dental Services, and Katie Adamo founded global property recruitment firm Judd Farris before she sold it in 2007.

The couple commissioned architect Susan Rothwell to design the Clifton Gardens residence after they bought the Ruby Street property in 2008 for $7.55 million.

Set on 1700 square metres with a tennis court and pool, the four-level residence with a lift, games room and a gym has interiors by Leanne Smeallie and Siobhan Rothwell.

Geoff Smith and Richard Harding, of Ray White Mosman, have the exclusive listing.

Final chukka for Richmond HQ

Mortgage Choice co-founder Peter Higgins is swapping his passion for polo for sailing, and that means his prestigious polo venue at Richmond, the Sydney Polo Club is being offered to buyers on the quiet for $75 million through Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International.

The 116 hectares of alluvial land on the Hawkesbury River has been amalgamated since 2002 and developed into a world-class operation that won the bid to host the XI FIP World Polo Championship in 2017, as well as making an ideal backdrop to Baz Luhrmann’s hit 2013 movie The Great Gatsby.

Also up for grabs by Higgins is the historic 1875-built, former Richmond Post Office that goes to auction on April 6 for $3.5 million to $3.8 million through Ray White Richmond’s Peter Chidgey.

Designed by colonial architect James Barnet, it was bought by Higgins in 2006 for $2.145 million amid plans to convert it into a whizz-bang bar and restaurant that never eventuated.

What is no longer for sale is his Avalon estate Marara – the largest privately held holding on the northern beaches – which was listed eight years ago with initial hopes of $40 million.

Instead, the 1.27-hectare site is to be subdivided into a gated estate, with the largest of two waterfront lots set to score an architect Mark Hurcum-designed residence of his own, and the surrounding eight lots with designer homes offered to the market through LJ Hooker’s Claudio Marcolongo and David Watson.

Film-makers have a new focus

Film and television makers Daniel Nettheim and Karen Radzyner are swapping their tightly held parkside home in the Woollahra Public School catchment for Bondi Beach, listing their Mill Hill home for $1.75 million.

The sale plans come as Nettheim – a director of the BBC’s Doctor Who, ABC’s Harrow series, and the film The Hunter starring William Dafoe – is set to go into production on the upcoming Netflix series Cursed, and Radzyner returns to producing at the production company Dragonet Films she co-founded with Kate Riedl.

“We bought it tiny and unrenovated, but we loved the children’s park next door, and being in the Woollahra School Catchment for our children,” Radzyner said, with records showing they paid $601,000 in 2004 for what was a two-bedroom cottage.

The ornate facade remains, but it has been extended upwards and outwards since by architect Simon Anderson into a three-bedroom home with separate living areas.

Edward Brown, of Belle Property Bondi Junction, has the listing.

Still with the film industry types of Mill Hill, producers Neil Peplow and Freemantle Media’s Nathalie Peter-Contesse have set an April 6 auction on their four-bedroom terrace.

Bought in 2015 for $2.53 million, it returns to the market following Peplow’s resignation as chief of the Australian Film Television and Radio School to join the British Film Institute as director of international affairs.

McGrath’s William Manning has a $3.3 million guide.

Manning’s latest Mill Hill listing follows his recent sale down the road of the Victorian terrace of Hugh Parry-Okeden, the nephew of Australia’s former richest person Blair Parry-Okeden, and his wife Gendy.

Records do not disclose the sale price, nor does Manning, but it is expected to settle close to the $3.7 million the couple paid for it two years ago.

And the buyer is revealed on title records as funds manager John McBain, chief executive of Centuria Capital, and his wife Trelise.

The Federation terrace was previously owned by interior designer Nellie Tilley, who renovated it after her 2010 purchaes for $1.65 million and sold it three years later for $2.9 million, again through Manning.

New ‘hood for developer

Title Deeds doesn’t usually delve into the property purchases of Sydney’s real estate agents, but when they’re the chief executive of an ASX-listed real estate group, then that changes things.

The Agency’s Matt Lahood and his wife Connie should have a finer appreciation of the downsizer market given their plans to do just that from their Maroubra home.

The couple have owned the four-bedroom family home with swimming pool since he was a McGrath senior executive, paying $2.26 million in 2011.

No surprise it is listed with The Agency’s Tony Laing with a $3.2 million guide ahead of a March 30 auction.

The Lahoods are not going far. They have developed a triplex in nearby Coogee and are taking the top-floor as their own.

Kicking goals in Double Bay

Talk from Double Bay is that former pro soccer player Nick Rizzo has bought a $5.08 million deceased estate in Bellevue Hill after a sales campaign by LJ Hooker Double Bay’s Alain Waitsman.

Historic title records shows the purchase by the former Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Milton Keynes Dons playmaker ends 93 years of Cutler family ownership since it last traded in 1926 for £2350 when bought by Emma Cutler, wife of hotelier Sidney Cutler.

No sign yet of what Rizzo and his wife Ilana plan to do with their Queens Park home they bought in 2010 for $3.06 million.

All yours, if you ‘like’ it

The Castlecrag residence of social entrepreneur and Glenaeon Foundation chairwoman Robin Borrud is up for grabs for $10 million.

The five-level property on 1170 square metres of waterfront overlooking Sugarloaf Bay last traded in 2011 for $6.4 million when bought by Borrud’s former husband, Paul Borrud, the former Facebook Australia boss.

Previously owned by Cathy Hodgkinson, wife of former Macquarie banker James Hodgkinson, it was built in 2002 by architect Mark Broadley, of Giles Tribe Architects.

It is listed with Belle Property Northbridge’s David Forrester.

Trading up to Glenhaven

Home building boss Barney Allam, founder of Allam Homes, is heading for Glenhaven where he has bought the trophy estate Petalinda for $8.8 million.

The sale result didn’t match the $9 million suburb-high it sold for in 2014 when off-loaded by Criniti restaurant chain owner Frank Criniti, but it topped the $7.9 million it traded for in late 2017.

Allam’s purchase – through Mechlenne Douaihy, of Merc Real Estate – comes three years after he bought the historic Glebe mansion Lyndhurst for $7.5 million.

Homestead back from the brink

The historic Hunter Valley homestead Brisbane Grove in Paterson is up for grabs after a major restoration by John Holland senior executive Anthony Ward and his wife, government media advisor Carol Ward.

The 1890-built homestead last traded in a rundown state in 2014 for $450,000 when bought as a weekender by the Sydney-based couple.

The 2.8 hectare property and homestead – featuring relaid original timber floors and convict picked sandstone fireplace – is listed with Jurds’ Cain Beckett for $1.25 million given the couple’s struggle finding the time to get out of Sydney.