Fake prince's real Brisbane property on the market: Title Tattle
The Brisbane riverside apartment of the fake Tahitian prince Joel Morehu-Barlow has been listed for sale. The Supreme Court has given the Public Trustee permission to sell the apartment through Josephine Johnston-Rowell of Johnston Dixon Quality Property. The apartment in the Pietra complex cost $5.65 million in 2010. The two-storey Moray Street apartment comes with three bedrooms, five bathrooms and pontoon on the Brisbane River. Morehu-Barlow is accused of embezzling more than $16 million from Queensland Health.
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It's taken 15 months, but Title Tattle can finally report that the former Champions Textile warehouse in Newtown (pictured above) – once home to broadcaster Alan Jones – has been sold through Raine & Horne Newtown agent Michael Harris for $3.1 million. The three-level O'Connell Street property was owned by Jones between 1989 and 2003, when it was sold for $2.9 million to the current vendors, the Bowden family. Jones secured his place on O'Connell Street, Newtown , in 1989. It was Jones's then managing agent Harry M. Miller – himself a residential warehouse pioneer –who suggested the warehouse way to Jones. Title Tattle seems to recollect that the world boxing champion Danny Green used part of the 650 square metre premises to train for his fights. The space is spread over three levels with 270-degree views taking in St Stephen's tower, among the oldest churches in Sydney. It has a loft penthouse with cathedral ceilings and a sheltered rooftop entertaining terrace. Downstairs there are self-contained apartments, an office and commercial space, and secure parking for five cars. There's approval for its conversion into a six-unit apartment complex. It was listed in April last year with $3.5 million-plus hopes.
With his Woollahra abode nearing completion, Michael Hannan, of the publishing family, has listed his Potts Point penthouse (pictured above and below). It’s in the Kingsclere building, the landmark 1912 Edwardian-style residential block, which was among the first Sydney apartments to have servant quarters, now mostly removed to sit within the four-bedroom, 25-square apartments. Located on the corner of Macleay Street and Greenknowe Avenue, the penthouse is being marketed through Richardson & Wrench agent Jason Boon and Geoff Cox. Hannan bought it in early 2011 for $3.45 million from Paul Uren, of Goldman Sachs JBWere, and his wife, Jennifer, who initially expected $4 million plus.
Its fitout by BKH came after it cost $1.75 million in 2004, following Uren's return from New York. The 215-square-metre abode first sold for $675,000 in 1995. Title Tattle recalls when the entire eighth-floor property was first offered. Strata speculators sold off the 17 apartments through Laing Real Estate agent Doug Laing. It was sold separately after its sale in one line by the Albert family, who’d bought it in 1925 for £35,000. Kingsclere was the first residential block built along Macleay Street, as before 1912 most high-rise residential development, such as Wyoming, and the now demolished Strathkyle and Craignish, had been built along Macquarie Street. Manar, the nearby Macleay Street development, followed Kingsclere in 1919, then Byron Hall in 1929.
The Karbowiak family have sold their Pearl Beach cottage (pictured above) for $970,000 through McGrath Real Estate Ettalong agent Helen Hughes. The Coral Crescent cottage had been tipped to fetch more than $1 million. It last traded at $603,500 in 2001. It dates back to the ownership in the late 1920s by the pioneer Robert Payne. Title Tattle recalls it was owned by the late television celebrity Jeanne Little at one point and featured on Burke’s Backyard. During Barry and Jeanne Little’s ownership it had more of a Balinese bungalow feel, as Barry had done the interiors. They sold for $380,000 in 1997, having bought it in 1982 for $100,000 from the Nelson family, who'd bought it from estate agent Richard Stanton and accountant Nigel Sutherland for $34,000 three years earlier. The house first traded at £1,050 in 1950.
There’s only a few August auctions of note scheduled, headlined by Ivan Anzanello and BCG Construction boss Brendan Gonzales, who are selling another of their contemporary Kew properties (pictured above) with $3 million-plus hopes. It’s within their three home construction collaboration which saw architect Michael Larionoff and Jack Merlo Landscaping undertake the design. The three-level house features a striking façade of cor-ten weather resistant steel. Inside there’s heated terrazzo floors, grey iron-bark floorboards, Hiperfloor polished concrete and basalt floors, and bespoke joinery. There are four bedrooms, four bathrooms along with a study.
The Marshall White agents Walter Dodich and James Tostevin of Marshall White have the listing. The Raven Street house utilises "Green Heat" hydronic heating. Title Tattle recalls it was formerly an ivy-covered Victorian house, the oldest on the block which once had Yarra River frontage. Not sure how long the building syndicate have had the property but it was flipped within a year of selling at $1.66 million for $1,875,000 in 2007 when on an 1055-square-metre allotment. The latest offering is set over a 390 sq m holding.
Dubbed a bijou Darlinghurst residence, interior designer Cameron Kimber’s terrace (pictured above and below) didn’t get to go to last weekend’s scheduled auction, but its still for sale. Expected to sell for more than $800,000, the terrace now has an $885,000 asking price through Julian Tebay of Cramer Property. The terrace has been extensively rebuilt since Kimber bought it for $605,000 in late 2007. Kimber was always referred to as an A-list Sydney interior designer when Melissa Penfold wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald.
The two-level terrace has a north-facing parterre courtyard garden with a water feature, ponds and pots filled with topiary buxus. The two double bedrooms and bathroom with Carrara marble floor and walls are upstairs. The Vogue Living-featured terrace is set on a 70-square-metre block on the northern side of Little Surrey Street.
Martin Hiscock, the Epworth Hospital cardiologist who collects sea shells, and partner Silvana Marasco have bought on the quiet in South Yarra through Kay & Burton. Title Tattle gleans they may have paid $4 million-plus for a contemporary Rockley Road house (pictured above). It was bought from Pearl and Sonnie Lishut, who’d barely posted the listing on the web before its purchase. The last time Hiscock was in the property news was when he’d paid $715,000 in 2003 for a 1954 Toorak house designed by Sir Roy Grounds. Hiscock has since secured Sir Roy's original plans from the State Library of Victoria and teamed up with Grounds' former assistant, architect Don Fulton, to recreate parts of the interior that had been compromised over the years.
Another medical couple, Anne-Marie and Jayesh Desai, have put their 1920s Hawthorn East property (pictured above) up for August 4 auction with $1.65 million hopes. Jayesh is an oncologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, while Anne-Marie is a paediatric dietitian at The Royal Children’s Hospital. The Nicholson Street property was purchased and renovated after the couple returned to Melbourne from living in Boston in the USA. It’s a three-bedroom residence which enjoys city views. The couple are moving to a house with in-law accommodation. It’s been listed through Kay & Burton agents Scott Patterson and Judy Balloch.
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The week's surprise big sale was at Southport, Queensland where the riverfront home (pictured above) of the thrice-bankrupted property marketing spruiker Dudley Quinlivan fetched $9.5 million at Ray White auction. It’s the second-highest paid on the Gold Coast for three years – and just weeks after former motor vehicle dealer John Zupp paid $12.7 million for a Sanctuary Cove home. The five-bedroom Quinlivan mansion comes with a cinema, games room, internal lift, large wine cellar, seven-car basement parking and even a panic room. The 3,366-square-metre Winchester Street property was auctioned for Westpac Bank by receivers through Michael Willems in conjunction with Ray White Prestige Gold Coast agent Robert Graham. There were 18 people registered to bid at the auction with five bidders, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin report. The two-level house was owned through Sandtrend Pty Ltd, an entity controlled by Quinlivan's wife Jo. The Quinlivans left the house several weeks ago. The block cost $2.35 million in 2000.
Quinlivan was most recently bankrupted in September 2011 after failing to pay a $49 million debt to the struggling mortgage fund Equititrust, also based on the Gold Coast. The money had been lent to build a housing development at Ipswich, west of Brisbane. Quinlivan shot to national attention when accused in Queensland Parliament as being involved in the late 1990s property marketeering scam where fly-in, fly-out interstaters were lured into paying out of line prices for Queensland properties. Property consumer advocate Neil Jenman has described Dudley Quinlivan as one of Australia's most infamous real estate characters. “During the 1990s and early 2000s, Quinlivan was deeply involved in the notorious Queensland two-tier marketing rackets,” Jenman’s website notes. Last August Quinlivan was unsuccessful in applying to the High Court of Australia to lower his five-year company directorship disqualification.
