Brambles chairman Stephen Johns sells redundant Darling Point apartment
The Brambles chairman Stephen Johns and economist wife, Michele have secured the onsale of their redundant Darling Point apartment.
It's been sold for $7 million having been bought on delayed settlement terms for $6 million.
They have instead spent $16 million on a nearby penthouse.
However their Bellevue Hill home, Belhaven (above) remains unsold, five months into its Sotheby's listing.
The Victoria Road residence comes with $25 million to $27 million hopes.
Belhaven dates back to 1919 when it was rebuilt by Sunday Times newspaper owner and showbiz entrepreneur Hugh “Huge Deal” McIntosh.
It has been called home by Resch’s brewing scion Arnold Resch and controversial businessman Leslie Owen Bailey, who ran it as the Belhaven Babies Home.
Set on 2,100 sqm, the three storey home with eight living areas on the entry level alone has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a sun room, library, two studies and a rooftop terra
Their giant 17-hand bronze horse sculpture in the grounds by the American sculptor Deborah Butterfield weighs 750kg, and is off to their new apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour.
It took a whole day to get it into Bellevue Hill with a crane, the former group finance director for Westfield recalled recently.
Stephen has owned the five-bedroom Victoria Road mansion for 29 years.
Their $16 million Darling Point penthouse was bought from the Silicon Valley software billionaire David Doyle who paid $7.1 million in 2000, a record breaking apartment sale in Sydney's eastern suburbs at the time.
The penthouse in the Burley Katon Halliday designed project was minimalist in design comprising 456 sqm of internal space, 103 sqm of terraces and 12 sqm of rooftop garden.
It comes with a private gym, study, maid's suite, home theatre and large terrace.
Doyle, who co-founded Quest Software, a Nasdaq-listed company which was sold for around $1 billion, was the backer of Neil Perry's restaurant, Rockpool Bar & Grill.
The Johns' redundant L'amarre, New Beach Road apartment, which sold to Nahid Olfatpour, was bought for $6 million from Robin White, widow of the late arts patron, Ron White.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.