Point Piper harbourfront bound Angela Fleming lists Bellevue Hill mansion
New prestige Sydney eastern suburbs listings are now well underway.
The freshest is Bellevue Hill residence, Angela Fleming's Donnington Grange (pictured below) with its so-called classic neo-Georgian pedigree.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2014/01/22/bell]}
There is also a $30 million plus offering on Coolong Road, Vaucluse (pictured below) with tennis court, slipway and marina berth.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2014/01/22/vau]}
It was 2005 when the late grocery tycoon Jim Fleming and his wife, Angela paid $16.5 million for the Bellevue Hill residence, a pricey sale at a time when a pall was evident over most of the Sydney market.
The 1,842-square metre Drumalbyn Road estate, with eight bedrooms, 10-bathroom house and 10-car underground garaging, has now been listed through Sydney Sothebys International agent Michael Pallier inconuunction with LJ Hooker agent Bill Malouf and Sophie Beaumont. It was built for the Rubenstein family before its sale to the Flemings.
No price indicator has been given on its current offering, though $20 million plus could possibily be achieved.
Last October Property Observer reported Angela Fleming bought mining executive Ian Stolyar's Point Piper apartment (pictured below) for around $12.4 million from the mortgagee-in-possession. It has since been settled with the private treaty sale being $12.3 million.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/10/10/piper]}
Last traded officially at $13 million in 2010, it was marketed by LJ Hooker Double Bay agent Bill Malouf.
The sale marks a return to the harbourfront for Angela Fleming who'd previously lived in the Wintergarden, Rose Bay garden unit in the Sid Londish development.
Despite the protests, the 1920s Wintergarden theatre, a 2,000-seater with luxurious upstairs lounge, was demolished in 1987 after it was condemned seven years earlier. Sid Londish's Comrealty bought the 2.4-hectare New South Head Road site for $9.5 million in late 1987 from the Low Yat development group of Malaysia, which had the intention of building a 136-room hotel. But Londish subsequently had architect Michael Standley design an eight-apartment block with north-west views of the harbour and city skyline. With living areas the size of most two-bedroom units, it was one of the early penthouse-style apartment complexes developed in Sydney. In late 1989, Comrealty Ltd had an average $4 million asking price on the units, which subsequently sold for about a $2.75 million average in the early 1990s downturn.
Angela Fleming's prestige apartment purchase comes against the backdrop of reduced turnover of prestige houses which has led into the continued restrained trickle of prestige apartment sales to empty nesters, widows invariably accompanied by their pets.
It's a slow task bringing local buyers, sellers and prices into alignment, as the analysis of the year's top 20 sales suggested.
Slow negotiations because the Sydney house needs to be sold before any downsized purchase. And the buyers who've typically been spending little on upkeep at their own house have to get use to the idea of community living and its accompanying strata levey, which in this case sits at $6,500 a quarter. Strata levies can impede sales.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/08/aug28syd]}
It's a different matter with offshore buyers who continue to snap up the prestige apartments at pace, including the penthouse in the Residence (pictured above) overlooking Hyde Park at $17 million in August along with earlier sales including the $8.1 million Lumiere penthouse in the Sydney CBD, both sold through Savills. Some came with the rare prospect of same-floor parking for four cars.