Savage Garden's Daniel Jones sells Sydney harbourfront property at last: Title Tattle
Expatriate songwriter Daniel Jones and his wife, the retired Hi-5 member Kathleen de Leon, have finally sold their Neutral Bay harbourfront house (pictured above and below), which comes with its own beach. The sale details are still under wraps, but over the past three years the couple have found it necessary to adjust their expectations lower than the $7.7 million purchase price in 2007.
The waterfront mansion failed to attract a single bid at its late 2008 auction when the couple sought $8 million. The Gundimaine Avenue house, which was then put into the prestige lower north shore rental pool, is set in a serenely private Neutral Bay location overlooking Kurraba Point. The contemporary house comes with terraced lawns that lead to the sandy beach.
Jones, the former Savage Garden member, pretty much left Australia in 2008 sensing he needed to work in the United States to pursue his passion for songwriting. The keyboardist and guitarist formed Savage Garden in 1993 with Darren Hayes. Between 1996 and 2001, Savage Garden sold 25 million albums and 15 million singles, topping the charts in Europe and the US market.
There are six waterfront houses on the street. Jones was born at Southend-on-Sea in Britain, but his family moved to Australia when he was less than a year old. The couple, who are spending much of their time in LA, California, met at the Logie Awards in 2000.Cameron Day, managing director of rugby union player agency The Blaze, secured $760,000 for his Redfern apartment, which sold last weekend through McGrath Edgecliff agent Andrew Toohey. The three-bedroom apartment in a boutique block on George Street had been expected to fetch more than $700,000. Since Day bought the property for $460,000 in May 2003, he has renovated the kitchen and installed floating timber floors. Initially, Day lived in the apartment, but for the past few years it has been his investment property. Day established The Blaze in 2007 with his clients including Wallabies Drew Mitchell, Rob Horne and Ben Alexander.
Former Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson sold his classic Victorian house in Williamstown (pictured) post-auction at undisclosed record price. It was renovated and extended about five years ago after Johnson and his wife, Donna, bought in in 2002 for $897,500. The double-fronted weatherboard house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a pool, a large L-shaped veranda and a double garage on its 650-square-metre block. Rendina Real Estate selling agent Lou Rendina and Compton & Green Real Estate had been quoting $2.2 million. There was a vendor bid of $1.9 million and then a bid at $1.95 million, with the sale negotiated afterwards.
Wine industry entrepreneur Russell Leslie, a former director of Macquarie Group, and his wife, Katrina, the executive chairman of recruitment company HRX, have sold their Longueville residence. The Arabella Street property had been tipped to fetch more than $7 million. It is understood to have fetched just above $6 million. It had been listed through McGrath agent Brent Courtney. The five-bedroom, four-bathroom house, renovated since it was built in 2004, sits on a 1500-square-metre block. It last traded for $6.4 million in 2006. The harbourfront house comes with a tennis court and indoor pool. It also has a 12-seat home cinema.
The penthouse in Francis Hall (pictured above), the Kings Cross apartment block has been sold for $2.8 million. It last sold at $550,000 when bought by Allan Gill in 1993, thereby reflecting 10.8% annual price growth. During its ownership the three bedrooms were converted to two bedrooms. The whole-floor unit occupied the eighth floor of the art Deco Kings Cross Road block. It was sold through Jason Boon at Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay agent Jason Boon.
Darren Lockyer, the 36-time Queensland State of Origin team hero, has listed his Brisbane house for August 6 auction. The contemporary Paddington property cost $1.49 million in 2004. The five-bedroom, three-bathroom place could be expected to fetch $2 million plus based on the standard growth and decline experienced in Brisbane over the past seven years. It has been listed through Tim Douglas and Gail Miller at Place Estate Agents. Naturally it comes with barbecue facilities (pictured above) that befit any Queenslander sportsman. It was 2007 when Lockyer married Loren Pollock, his girlfriend of three years, who gave birth to their first child, Sonny James, in April 2010.
Title Tattle aims to tell you as soon as we know – often before it happens – so the word from Elizabeth Bay is that John and Jo McNiven are the mystery $9.8 million buyers of the One Onslow penthouse (pictured above) through Jason Boon at R&W and Ben Stewart at CBRE. The couple recently sold their Vaucluse hillside house for about $22 million to Chinese buyer Yang Yang, who currently gives an address as a 47th-floor rental in the multi-award-winning Lumiere Apartment complex on Bathurst Street. The McNivens bought a vast investment terrace on Challis Avenue, Potts Point which is set to be the Sydney base of Melbourne retailer Chiodo.
And don’t say that Title Tattle told you, but apparently Michael Caton has spent about $1.8 million on his Bondi Beach upgrade – a contemporary four-bedroom semi (pictured above). Now he has all the time in the world to lounge on the back deck. The climate change activist, star of The Castle and sage of the TV reality show Hot Property and his wife, Helen, recently sold their top-floor Sunnyhurst apartment for $938,000 through Sandy Kogan at Richardson & Wrench Bondi Junction. Apparently they had minor body corporate strata issues.