Nonda Katsalidis has another go at selling Eureka Tower penthouse
A penthouse in Eureka Tower - a 660 square metre full-floor apartment on level 84 - has been relisted for sale.
The four-bedroom, five-bathroom penthouse boasts views of the city and bay from almost 300 metres above Riverside Quay Southbank.
It has been listed by some of the Eureka developers – Tab and Eva Fried and architect Nonda Katsalidis - who have kept the floor since the tower was completed in late 2006.
Its fitout has been undertaken by Nonda Katsalidis of Fender Katsalidis Architects and interior designer Margie Bromilow of MBA Design Group.
It has been listed at $18 million, a bit of a hike on the $13 million plus publicly indicated price guidance when unsuccessfully listed in late 2011.
Greg Herman and Bonnie Wang at Sotheby's have the listing.
It has a marble elevator lobby, study, bar, formal living and dining areas, butler kitchen and main kitchen, home theatre and six car parks.
"One button does everything," Greg Herman told Property Observer.
The apartment is marketed as never lived in.
"It's suitable for overseas purchasers," the marketing says.
It is, when Title Tattle last counted, in the 50th tallest building in the world.
It is the second-tallest building in Australia but the tallest building in Melbourne.
The summit levels (floors 82 to 87) contain only one apartment per floor, and each apartment had an original price tag of around $7 million just for the empty space; purchasers were required to fit out the apartment at additional cost.
It was 2006 when Eureka Tower recorded its first penthouse sale which worked out at more than $10,000 a square metre some five years after construction started on the Eureka project. At the time it was reported about 80% of the 566 apartments had been sold.
The tower has an observation deck on level 88, a restaurant on level 89, a communications room and balcony on level 90 and water tanks on level 90 and 91.
Eureka Tower was completed in 2006 as a joint venture consisting of Daniel Grollo (Grocon), investor Tab Fried and Katsalidis, whose firm, Fender Katsalidis Architects, designed the building. In 2000 the Melbourne businessman Paul Sailah paid $1.2 million for the first apartment sold at Eureka Tower.
Sailah, who had a gold mine in Jamaica, bought a three-bedroom apartment on the 58th floor.
Building tycoon Daniel Grollo and wife Kat tried to sell their Eureka Tower whole floor 80th level penthouse with an $8.2 million asking price in late 2011, but it likewise didn't sell. The Grollo's paid $6.25 million for their shell in 2007.
Developer Elias Jreissati is the last known whole floor buyer. Jreissati, the group chairman of the Bensons Property Group, has been fitting out the shell of the entire 82nd floor of Eureka Tower, which he bought in 2010 for $6.67 million.
He has been trying to sell his Port Melbourne penthouse - 1,040 square metres over three levels - 18, 19 and 20 - atop the HMAS Lonsdale building since February. It was also designed by Airport rail.
There's no shortage of Melbourne penthouse wannabes, but Title Tattle senses a slowdown - because the empty nesters are finding it difficult to secure their own trophy home sales.
Sky-high asking prices come with the turf, but concerns over ongoing strata fees aren't the issue that curtailed interest in some recent Sydney penthouse offerings.
The top floor Eureka penthouse strata fees are around $50,000 per annum.
The record price for a Melbourne apartment was set by the $19.36 million sale of an East Melbourne penthouse on the 11th floor of the 150 Clarendon Street development in 2008.
