Roosters coach Trent Robinson puts his house up for sale at $2.2m

Roosters coach Trent Robinson and his wife Sandra Stefan are looking to upgrade from their Waverley home given $2.2 million.

The couple bought the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in late 2014 for $1.815 million following his move from the Newcastle Knights to take up the job as head coach in Sydney a year earlier, and prompting the sale of his former home in Newcastle for $495,000.

Robinson, who was recently awarded life membership of the club by Rooster chairman Nick Politis, has listed the property with Debbie Donnelley and Nick Quilkey, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, ahead of an August 24 auction.

Out of the blocks in Elizabeth Bay

Fund manager Michael Hill has got the jump on spring’s roll-out of prestige offerings with a sale campaign underway on his waterfront penthouse in Elizabeth Bay.

This is the five-bedroom spread atop the Burley Katon Halliday-designed block that is on the site of what was once the Cardigan mansion owned by the late society couple Cedric and Elizabeth Symonds before they sold it for $8.5 million in 1996 to the East Asia Property Group to be redeveloped into a luxury block of six harbourside apartments with a swimming pool and jetty.

Hill, who heads up Blue Sky Capital Management investment advisory, bought the apartment with a putting green in 2014 for $12.5 million from a company linked to corporate heavyweight David Gonski through Ballard’s Clint Ballard.

There is no price guide as yet, but no doubt it returns to the market amid hopes of reclaiming the apartment’s previous record set when the same apartment sold in 2006 for $14 million by Bloch Ballet dancewear co-owner David Wilkenfeld to chairman of software company Netfira Hal Herron.

Also in the building is investment banker and former SBS chairman Joseph Skrzynski and his wife Robin Horin, who bought the apartment below Hill’s for $11 million in a company name in 2010 from venture capitalist Bob Blann.

It is listed again with Ballard, who is selling it with his co-agent Paul Ephron just weeks after Hill finalised the sale of his Hunter vineyard Echo Ridge in Pokolbin for $2.6 million.

Stewart on song in Pyrmont

Poet Janadele Stewart has listed her Pyrmont penthouse atop the Mirvac-built Promontory building for $5.3 million to $5.5 million.

Stewart, who claims to have been the first female DJ on Australian radio, bought the three-bedroom spread in 2003 for $2.485 million from Hunters Hill trophy home builder Vito Panzarino and his wife Anna.

The east-facing spread includes vast wraparound terrace that takes the size to 363 square metres with three bedrooms and harbour views.

It is exclusively listed with Adrian Wilson, of the newly launched apartment specialist agency Ayre Real Estate

Squirrelling away another investment

Coal tycoon and macadamia nut farmer David Knappick has added to his stockpile of north coast investment and holiday homes by buying La Vista Byron Bay from Damien Antico, son of the late industrialist Sir Tristan Antico, for $3.4 million.

The Ewingsdale property was developed by Antico to include a resort and conference centre with five villas on the grounds after he bought it in 1999 for $280,000.

It was listed with Karin Heller and Frank Mlikota, of Parkinson, for $3.5 million before it sold to Knappick’s investment vehicle Fibora.

Knappick, who last graced the rich list in 2012 when the BRW magazine put his worth at $235 million thanks in large part to his shoareholding in coal group Felix Resources, has become better known as a macadamia nut farmer since the coal company was sold to Yanzhou Coal.

Knappick has also been a keen property shopper in Byron Bay in recent years, with his portfolio including a $9 million duplex on Wategos Beach in 2012 and a beachfront apartment in Lennox Head for $2.7 million late last year.

Palm Beach pad adds to portfolio

Boutique Retreats founder Sioned Rees Thomas has added another luxury rental to her pile of holiday home options, buying the Palm Beach property of vintner Tony Maxwell and his wife Robyn, of the Half Moon Vineyard in Braidwood.

The Maxwells completely rebuilt the Ocean Road residence after they bought it a decade ago for $4 million; a JPR Architects-designed spread over four levels with a pool, gymnasium and media room. LJ Hooker Palm Beach’s David Edwards listed it with $12 million hopes last year.

The purchase by Rees Thomas follows the sale of the weekender up the hill owned by her husband Gavin Parker for $5.4 million to portfolio manager David Allingham, of Eley Griffiths Group, and his wife Alexandra Schilbach through LJ Hooker’s Peter Robinson – matching Parker’s $5.4 million purchase price of two years prior.

O’Rourke finds a match in Potts Point

Government recruiter Amanda O’Rourke, founder of her eponymous executive search firm, has bought the grand Victorian terrace in Potts Point for $4.7 million.

Long owned by the Malouf family, it was listed earlier this year by Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay, and settled in O’Rourke’s name this week.

O’Rouke’s purchase comes as she lists her Paddington terrace for $2.85 million ahead of an August 17 auction through Catherine Dixon, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley.

Newport’s landmark sale

Peter and Kay Knox, until recently owners of one of Australia’s largest wholesale nurseries Alpine Nurseries, have followed up selling the business late last year with a seachange to Newport.

Records show the couple paid $7.5 million for The Eyrie landmark residence from filmmaker Kate Long and her husband Matt, who had undertaken a major renovation since they bought it in 2014 for $3 million from jazz musician James Morrison.

Sold by LJ hooker Mona Vale’s Lachlan Elder, it was previously owned by the son of prominent lawyer Sir Garfield Barwick, Ross Barwick.