Recruiter Phil Kerry buys Woollahra shoptop conversion

Recruitment boss Phil Kerry and his wife, 1984 Olympic Games gymnast Anne-Maree, have their next eastern suburbs renovation project.

It follows their $6.25 million purchase of the Gant menswear store on Queen Street, Woollahra (pictured above), an 1870s double shopfront which will get a residence facing its laneway rear on the 400 sqm block.

It has been the much traded premises, selling three times in nine years, and going back in price too. The Kerry's have picked it up at its 2009 price. It sold inbetween at $5.6 million in 2015.

The couple are seeking $20 million for their historic Darling Point home Greenoaks Cottage, built in 1850 for industrialist Thomas Mort to a delightful design by colonial architect Edmund Blacket.

The Kerry's bought it from the Haege family in 2015 for $6.525 million and commissioned architect Tanya Hancock.

This article was first published in the Saturday Telegraph.