Yachtie Hugo van Kretschmar sells Darling Point apartment for $25 million-plus

Former Cruising Yacht Club commodore Hugo van Kretschmar and his wife Karen have set a Darling Point apartment record of more than $25 million.

The sale is not only the highest in the suburb for more than 18 months it also smashes the $16.8 million apartment high set in June by the off-the-plan sale of an apartment in the John Kolenda-backed Norfolk Group Investments development on Yarranabbe Road.

The exact sale price of the van Kretschmar home remains undisclosed by 1st City Double Bay’s Julian Hasemer, who listed it less than two weeks ago with the bullish $25 million guide. It has sold well ahead of the November 4 expressions of interest deadline.

Social media posts by the agency touted the result at more than $25 million.

The two-storey spread is one of two in the block built by the couple after they bought the site in 2004 for $7 million and commissioned Allen Jack+Cottier Architects to design them both.

The lower-level apartment sold six months before it was even completed in 2007 to Thelma Levin, wife of Park Lane Fashions boss Mervyn Levin, after the couple reportedly made an offer at the time that was too good to refuse. Settlement later revealed it transacted for $7.4 million.

The upper-level apartment built as the van Kretschmar’s own has formal and informal living areas that feature uninterrupted harbour views to the city skyline, five bedrooms, an internal lift and a swimming pool.

It includes 375 square metres of internal living space that translates to about $68,000 per square metre.

Mr van Kretschmar, a civil engineer and property developer, is best known for heading the CYC during the disastrous 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race when six sailors lost their lives.

Darling Point’s last trophy sale of more than $25 million was in March last year when prominent retired car dealer Laurie Sutton sold his architect Michael Dysart-designed residence for $32 million to Pamela Lee, wife of Borg Constructions boss John Borg.