Rare slice of Mosman's prized Wyargine Point hits the market as Messara clan do $33m deal

The clifftop mansions that crown Mosman’s coveted Wyargine Point are well known in prestige circles as some of the most prized properties north of the Harbour Bridge and, while the owners are renowned for expanding their foothold in the golden triangle by buying up their neighbours’ properties, these trophy homes rarely come up for sale.

Until now, with two such properties set to change hands.

Chief among these is Danieli, a waterfront residence set on a double block owned by Louise Fussell, wife of UK private equity investor Thomas Fussell who co-founded intelligence software Fast Search before it was sold to Microsoft in 2008 for $1.2 billion.

The landmark residence with a distinctive north-facing curved facade on about 1400 square metres was already billed as one of Mosman’s most prized offerings when the Fussells bought it in 2004 for $11 million, before in 2007 they added the streetfront house behind for $6.6 million.

The Fussells plan to retain the house fronting Hopetoun Avenue as their own, but the three-level residence Danieli with its level foreshore lawn and deepwater boatshed is listed with Ray White Mosman’s Geoff Smith and Richard Harding, who both sold it last time in 2004 and in 2000 for $7.5 million.

Price expectations are yet to be finalised but it is expected to easily top the $25 million that Swans chairman and investment bank Moelis Australia chief Andrew Pridham paid a year ago for the waterfront residence, on a double block a few doors away, known as Hopetoun.

The listing comes as neighbour and horse breeder John Messara has handed the keys to his Seacliff mansion to his son, investment banker Mike Messara, in exchange for $23 million.

The family deal makes it a total of $33 million for the Messara estate given Messara junior already bought the street-front residence that was part of the family compound two years ago for $10 million.

Seacliff’s provenance goes back to the late 1980s when it was built by veteran property developer Bob Rose and his wife, Margaret, who sold it in 1990 for $5.1 million to accountant John Bennett. When Bennett sold it in 2002 for $8.8 million to the Messaras, it was Mosman’s highest auction sale at that time.

Messara senior, owner of Arrowfield Stud and a former chairman of Racing NSW, bought a Balmoral Beach apartment in late 2015 for $6.5 million, fuelling speculation locally he was downsizing closer to the beach.

Of the 21 houses along the waterfront ridge between Balmoral Beach and Chinamans Beach, 10 of them are spread over two and three blocks thanks to successive property aggregations.

Records show artist Ken Done and his wife, Judy, started amalgamating their three beachfront properties next door to Danieli in the 1980s, and in the late 1990s grocery businessman Roy Manassen and his wife, Cindy, spent $13.9 million consolidating their 4770-square-metre holding.

Ros Oatley, daughter of the late winemaker and yachtie Bob Oatley, expanded the garden of her $15.5 million home by buying the half-renovated mansion next door for $19 million in 2011, and Greg Karedis, son of liquor baron Theo Karedis, bought his waterfront house in 2005 for $14.8 million and created a street-to-waterfront estate the following year by buying out his neighbour for $4.25 million.