Plenty of blue sky with 12 Sydney penthouses at $10 million or more: Which one to buy?
These days living in a luxury penthouse denotes the epitome of modern classy apartment living for cashed-up downsizers.
Since 2007 there have been a few penthouse sales at more than $10 million, but typically at well under their ambitious asking prices. One of the strongest sales was when Angela Fleming, the widow of grocery tycoon Jim Fleming, beat off the Maloney family paying $12.3 million last October for the former Point Piper apartment of mining executive Ian Stolyar, which was sold mortgagee-in-possession. Angela Fleming bought before she sold, which most are not prepared, so the impasse of unsold huge mansions has caused some tepidness in the penthouse market. Angela's strategy has paid off as Donnington Grange, her neo-Georgian-style residence on Bellevue Hill was reported sold on late Friday afternoon at around $19 million, after it was listed in January for $20 million with Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby's International, and Bill Malouf at LJ Hooker Double Bay. It last traded in 2005 for $16.5 million.
Meanwhile across inner eastern Sydney, where penthouse envy reigns supreme, a wide range of top-notch penthouses remain up for grabs, including a couple of listings that offer the choice of combining two adjoining apartments. The agents say be prepared to spend $10 million plus.
The supposed Sydney record of $21 million was set last year at Bondi Beach for the off the plan The Pacific double penthouse, bought in an uncharacteristic blaze of marketing hype by the publicity shy chief investment officer of Caledonia Investments, Will Vicars. This week our property contrarians Jonathan Chancellor and Margie Blok cast their eyes across the 12 priciest penthouse offerings in the “Emerald City” and say which one they’d buy if the funds allowed.
1) The ultimate - well priciest - trophy penthouse listing currently on offer is at 1 Macquarie Street overlooking Circular Quay (pictured below). In the Bennelong complex directly behind the Opera House, it is for sale with price hopes of more than $30 million.
Originally designed as four separate apartments, this enormous harbourside penthouse was consolidated by hoteliers Cyril and Margaret Maloney after the couple purchased four units off-the-plan in 1999 for almost $14 million. The penthouse has been listed for the second time in five years. In 2010 it was listed with a $30 million price tag, but failed to sell.
Following the death of Mr Maloney last year, his widow has placed the property on the market through Bill Malouf of LJ Hooker Double Bay and Michael Pallier of Sotheby's International. With annual strata fees reported to be well over $100,000, the 700 square metre apartment has its own lift lobby, a wine cellar, billiards room, a grand main bedroom suite, dressing rooms and a multimillion-dollar view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House concourse. There are also five car spaces on title.
Malouf and Pallier suggest the penthouse will attract an international buyer due to its unique landmark position in the dress circle between Circular Quay and the Botanic Gardens.
2) In second place, with reported $20 million hopes, is the Darling Point penthouse of the late Macquarie Bank co-founder David Clarke. With about 740 squares metres of Babworth House (pictured below), the Arts and Crafts mansion built in 1915 for retailer Sir Samuel Hordern, the Mount Adelaide Street apartment was bought by Clarke in 2003 for $8 million.
Architect Michael Suttor and designer Michael Love collaborated on its interiors, which boast a grand reception hall, sweeping staircase, study, gym, and formal and informal living areas. Clark’s widow Jane Clarke has it listed with Sotheby’s Michael Pallier.
3) The next most expensive is the Darlinghurst penthouse of high-rise Horizon which remains for sale after it was withdrawn from auction last weekend through Bill Bridges of Ballard Property.
Crowning the distinctive Harry Seidler-designed tower, the 43rd-floor penthouse (pictured below) is owned by Tasmania’s gambling arts patron, David Walsh, who’s the proprietor of the much-admired MONA gallery and Moorilla Estate vineyard. Walsh had listed his penthouse with $16 million price expectations.
To entice buyers and sweeten a deal for prospective purchasers, he was to offer the buyer select artworks from his private collection, including a watercolour triptych on paper by John Olsen to remain, though it makes more sense to keep the oil painting by Michael Johnson in situ. Walsh bought the penthouse from property developer Lang Walker in 2002 for $10 million through Bridges - it exceeded Sydney's then $8-million penthouse record.
4) The Residence on College Street overlooking Hyde Park still has a sub-penthouse (pictured below) remaining for sale with $16 million hopes.
Known as The Archibald, it was withdrawn from recent auction by CBRE agent Ben Stewart. Jonathan honed in recently on the mystery $17 million buyer of The Residence's true penthouse known as The Sulman and luckily numbered 88 in the building.
The buyer is Huang Shannian with clues about him coinciding with a person of the same name who featured on the 2009 Huran Richest Chinese People list at 88th place before disappearing from public view. With 690 square metres of space, the three-bedroom Archibald sub-penthouse has panoramic views and includes a private pool and spa, a rooftop kitchen and outdoor terraces.
5) At Bondi Beach, a pair of penthouses, owned by celebrity accountant and yachtie Anthony Bell, is listed for sale by expressions of interest closing March 28 through McGrath agent, James Dack.
Atop The Bondi, a modern complex on Campbell Parade, the two penthouses were purchased by Bell for $7,725,000 in 2006 and then a supposed $9 million in 2010. Each has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, large open-plan living spaces, a Calacutta marble kitchen and a staircase leading up to an enormous rooftop entertainment deck. Bell and his Getaway presenter wife, Kelly Landry, are off to a waterfront house at Watsons Bay bought for $12.5 million last year.
There have been $15 million reported expectations for Bell’s pair of penthouses in The Bondi.
6) There are $15 million-plus hopes for The Eliza penthouse on Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Developed by Edward Doueihi of Ceerose, The Eliza is under construction and due for completion this year.
Spanning three levels overlooking Hyde Park, the 460-square-metre penthouse will sit atop a 17-storey building designed by the architects Tony Owen Partners.
It features four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a home theatre, a private lift, 3.5-metre-high ceilings, a massive 13.5-metre frontage overlooking the park and full automation through C-Bus. The top level comprises the entertainment terrace with a 10-metre lap pool.
Many of the lower floor sales have been through Savills. The full floor offerings are being marketed by Nigel Napoli and Irene Lau of Savills, in conjunction with Richard Shalhoub and Hamish Robertson of McGrath.
7) Some years after completion, The Stamford Residences penthouse at 171 Gloucester Street (pictured below), Sydney remains listed with $15 million expectations.
In 2007 when, when the Stamford Residences was the latest high-rise in The Rocks, the four-bedroom penthouse was been listed with $16 million-plus expectations.
With Thomas Hamel designed interiors and numbered 28A in the Kahn Finch-designed building, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom penthouse has 567 square metres of indoor and outdoor space with views to the north and west, and frontages to Gloucester and Cumberland streets. It is listed through Colin Griffin of CBRE Residential Projects.
8) Two adjoining apartments in Highgate are offered for the first time together (pictured below).
With $12 million hopes, the two most northern penthouse apartments, numbered 2802 and 2803, have a total of around 600 square metres which includes eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, vast living areas and parking for five cars. Robert Alfeldi of Feldi Property Agents has the offering.
9) At Potts Point, there’s no word yet about the sale of the penthouse atop The Georgia (pictured below) which was listed for sale at more than $10 million with expressions of interest through Jason Boon at Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay.
Expressions of interest closed on the 14th March, was developed by the hotelier Chris Crawley but is for sale under instructions of receivers PPB Advisory.
The Georgian on 22 Macleay Street was finished in 2010, with Crawley retaining the three-level penthouse as his own. It has 680 square metres of space with a rooftop pool and panoramic views stretching from the city skyline to The Heads.
10) At Darling Point, the redundant penthouse of property developer Bob Rose and his wife Margaret (pictured below) is listed at $10.75 million through LJ Hooker Double Bay agent Bill Malouf, in conjunction with Ken Jacobs of Christies.
Located towards the tip of the peninsula at 56 Yarranabbe Road, it spans a total of 512 square metres over two levels with an expansive rooftop terrace.
The Roses commissioned architect Dennis Rabinowitz to design the Yarranabbee Road triplex, in which they will keep the middle apartment.
11) For sale at about $10 million is the Woolloomooloo pad of Ian Gowrie-Smith (pictured below), the flamboyant Australian-born London-based founder of several international drug companies as well as oil and gold exploration groups.
Although not atop a building, the Gowrie-Smith, 2/6 Cowper Wharf Road Woolloomooloo apartment is certain to attract penthouse buyers due to its unique position in an ultra exclusive modern building at the northern tip of Woolloomooloo Wharf.
Boasting some the largest and most expensive penthouse-style apartments in Sydney, this ultra-private waterfront building is the home of radio broadcaster John Laws and his wife Caroline, as well as actor Russell Crowe.
In 2004 the Laws paid almost $15 million to buy the apartment above their existing home in the complex, while Crowe paid $14.35 million for his apartment in 2003.
For sale through through agent Peter Blacket and Ken Jacobs of Christies, the marketing says the garden apartment totals 600 square metres including a protected outdoor entertaining area where you can fish from the balcony.
12) There also is a $10 million asking price on the Boheme penthouse, on Hall Street, Bondi Beach.
It’s the priciest of the virtual sellout of 43 apartments in The TOGA Group’s luxury development. Ben Stewart, of selling agents CBRE, has the Bates Smart-designed Boheme 225 square metre penthouse listing.
Numbered 702 in the complex, it comes with a strata levy of $7,000 a quarter.
HE SAID:
I reckon there can be just the one penthouse in an apartment block - the best unit in a residential development taking up the whole of the top floor.
So it is The Georgian penthouse in Potts Point (pictured below) for me.
No doubt about it, since it occupies the top three floors. It’s also within the Potts Point village which hasn’t looked back since the local Woolworths opened almost a decade ago.
Others on the list we've compiled of 12 are either in windswept, weekend empty, CBD locations or close enough to smell the wafting smell of the fast food eateries that attract the hordes below.
The Georgian, of course, looks down onto the recently sold 28 Billyard Avenue, Elizabeth Bay penthouse. It has been sold to a company called MAH Pty Ltd, which I gather might be short for Michael Hill, but not the well known jeweller, but the South Africa born businessman who founded Blue Sky Capital. It's been very hush hush since the former chairman of the Future Fund, David Gonski sold the penthouse through Ballard Property agent Clint Ballard, in conjunction with Michael Pallier of Sotheby’s International.
No doubt they all celebrated with a drop from Eagles Rest Winery, of which Hill is a director. I glean it sold for $12.5 million. It had been slightly updated since Gonski’s $12 million purchase in 2012 from former Deutsche banker Hal Herron. But the rooftop golf putting green was maintained which could presumably provide the Georgian penthouse buyer with hours of viewing entertainment.
SHE SAID:
Given I could fish from its terrace, I’d choose the Gowrie-Smith pad at Woolloomooloo Wharf.
With its glorious harbour views and excellent restaurants on the doorstep, and also the close proximity to Potts Point’s cafes, restaurants and shops, I think the location is hard to beat.
What appeals to me about this apartment are its privacy, close proximity to the water, spacious living areas and the 315 square metre terrace with attractive planting and world class views. When I felt like a swim, I could stroll around the bay to Boy Charlton Pool in the Domain or walk up to Potts Point and visit Jonathan at The Georgian penthouse.
The idea of keeping a 40-metre boat moored at Gowrie Smith’s adjacent marina berth appeals too – but in reality I’d eschew the hassle and expense of maritime pursuits, and leave that berth with Oscar, Paul Ramsay’s magnificent motor vessel.
Due to the exclusivity of the five-level complex at the wharf’s tip, I think the Gowrie-Smith abode is a wise investment for this building always has commanded top prices from savvy buyers with deep pockets.
I prefer the Gowrie-Smith apartment to the Pomeroy penthouse (in nearby Potts Point) which liquor baron John Piven-Large bought last year for $15 million from property developer Bob Ell.
For me, the wharf location also is preferable to the soulless city or lifeless Darling Point where an unrenovated penthouse, in company title Santina on Yarranabbe Road, sold for $10.35 million in 2007 to Kerrie Mather, CEO of Macquarie Airports.
And I’d rather live in the Gowrie-Smith pad than the four-bedroom four-bathroom penthouse (with 600 square metres of entertainment areas) atop 7 Macquarie Street which the Manassen family bought for $12 million in late 2011. It was was sold at a loss by retail entrepreneur Brett Blundy and his wife, Vanessa, who paid $12 million for it in July 2007 before engaging designers Hare & Klein to refurbish the interiors.