Nine Perfect Strangers house set to be sold, Nicole Kidman not included

You’ve read the book, seen the show, now buy the house: Soma is for sale in the Byron Bay hinterland, and it looks just as it did in Hulu’s hit miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers.

Of course, as readers of Liane Moriarty’s best-selling book by the same name and viewers of the Nicole Kidman-starring series will tell you, the fictional wellness retreat at the centre of it all was called Tranquillum House, and presumably, there is not a lot of grave digging that goes on outside of the storyline.

And Kidman’s character Masha, the Russian-born woman who runs Tranquillum, is based on fiction, whereas Soma is owned by media and tech entrepreneur Peter Ostick and Vedic master Gary Gorrow, who were on hand to offer authenticity checks on the film’s spiritual and ceremonial scenes.

The almost nine-hectare property was purchased in late 2016 for $1.8 million, and two years later the main residence took shape to a design by Gorrow, his brother designer and Ksubi co-founder George Gorrow and Indonesian architect Rieky Sunur.

Built from steel and timber and featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, it was completed in 2019, and a year later, film production kicked off, also starring Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Asher Keddie and Samara Weaving.

It comes with a fire pit, outdoor cinema, swimming pool and a geodesic dome.

Sotheby’s Will Phillips is set to launch it in the coming weeks and already has interest of about $15 million.

Meanwhile, down at Belongil Beach Merivale mogul Justin Hemmes has made it three holiday houses not in a row on prized Childe Street.

The bar tzar’s latest purchase takes his local tally of residential real estate to $41.2 million. The latest is a two-bedroom cottage on Belongil Creek, set on just 327 square metres. Hemmes’s corporate interests paid $3.3 million.

It comes a year after he purchased his other two-bedroom house up the road for $16 million from Stephen Hains, son of the late Melbourne billionaire David Hains and $22 million for the triple block of brothers Myles and Harry Trainor.

Meaty result

Haverick Meats chief Peter Andrews and his socialite wife Maree Andrews, the long-time chair of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation Silver Committee, have quietly picked up a Vaucluse house for close to $13.5 million.

The deal was clearly hoped to remain a secret given the no-comment response from McGrath Double Bay’s William Manning and Luke Hogan, but the duo were known to be offering the four-bedroom house on the quiet for more than $12 million.

The sale almost triples the value of the Wentworth Road house since it last traded in 2012 for $4.5 million, purchased by Olga Mikhael.

Third time lucky

It seems Lady Katrina Denzil Hobhouse, of the Macarthur-Onslow farming dynasty, has quite a penchant for Darling Point’s waterfront real estate, and not just the family’s long-held waterfront apartment for which she made headlines in 2021.

Three years ago, the daughter of the late Lady Dorothy Macarthur-Onslow and her late brother Lee Macarthur-Onslow were conferred several options to buy various properties that made up the family estate, of which Lee had first call on an apartment on the Darling Point waterfront.

But when that option ran out after 60 days while Lee waited for a second valuation, Hobhouse claimed her option began, and she gazumped him. The Supreme Court later ruled that Lee retained his option, but on appeal, Hobhouse won out, even if, by that time, Lee had died.

Hobhouse, a descendant of the wool pioneer and Rum Rebellion leader John Macarthur, purchased her first apartment in Darling Point in the nearby Broadwaters building in 2011, paying $1.4 million.

Records show she has now bought the building’s whole-floor penthouse on the quiet for $8.65 million, and just seven months after Blue Mountains pharmacist Karim Rizkalla purchased the same pad for $5.85 million.

That’s just the sort of inflation that’s freaking out the Reserve Bank and luxury shoppers everywhere, although fortunately, this is one of Sydney’s few high-end properties that seems to be fast gaining in value.

Celebrity hot spot

On the western foreshores of Pittwater at Lovett Bay the waterfront retreat of Therese O’Neill is for sale following the 2022 death of her partner, author and lawyer John Bryson.

The couple purchased the 1300-square-metre property with a boat shed, ramp and pen in 2007, paying $1.85 million and commissioning architect Michael Muir to design the three-bedroom house.

LJ Hooker’s Lachlan Elder has a $4 million guide.

While Pittwater’s various inlets all claim quasi-celebrity home owners and holidaygoers, few have so many as Lovett Bay, from the likes of architect Richard Leplastrier, actor Marta Dusseldorp, author Susan Duncan, billionaire Will Vicars and businessman Anthony Gualdi.