Towers Road, Toorak trophy home sale comes in at $18.55 million
The Toorak mansion with revised, but still overly ambitious $25 million hopes, has now been revealed as having sold at $18.55 million to Sarah Lew, the former daughter-in-law of Solomon Lew.
Its June sale had been kept under wraps, with Socrates Vasiliades, the international commodities trader, taking three years to find the buyer for 3 Towers Road, Toorak (pictured above).
Vasiliades famously lived there for a reputed six days before moving out, taking his family to Europe.
With 22 rooms, a lift, home theatre, gym, pool, and basement parking the trophy home came with record-setting $30 million hopes when listed back in 2011.
Kay & Burton agent Ross Savas Savas had the listing of the 2,140-square-metre property. Kay & Burton have teased the market with word of another circa $20 million sale.
Sarah Lew has been residing in a $4.2 million Toorak penthouse since mid-2012, Property Observer noted on the initial Towers Road sale news.
Vasiliades, who had had tradespeople flown in from around the world to work on the house during its six-year construction, now gives his address as London. The property was bought by his wife, Celeste, in 2002 for $4.6 million from Peter Thomas.
With projects in the Congo, Gabon and Cameroon, Vasiliades has been the chief executive of Core Mining since its 2003 establishment. The iron ore explorer has been backed by Glencore International Plc and has Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal as an investor. He has over 23 years’ experience in the steel industry and prior to forming Core Mining he traded steel and bulk raw materials worldwide.
The Victorian price record remains with the 2010 Portsea sale of Ilyuka for $26 million.
One Towers Road, Toorak (pictured below) was sold in 2013 for $21.5 million to the Cotton On boss Nigel Austin by former JPMorgan Australia chairman Brian Watson.
Set on 3,900 square metres, the six-bedroom house was once owned by businessman John Elliott.
The empty-nester Watson family bought the Toorak property in 2001 for $11.1 million, a then record-setting price. The Watsons had themselves sought to set a record sale price, but fell short at $21.5 million.
Toorak’s highest-priced sale was the reported $24 million sale in 2010 of the former Baillieu family estate on St Georges Road, Toorak when bought by soft-drink magnate Harry Stamoulis.