High-end home shoppers with a spare $31 million to $34 million say they are being quietly offered McCallum’s long-held designer retreat in Palm Beach by Christie’s Shane Clinton.
The off-market sales campaign comes a quarter of a century since the property last traded for $1.95 million in 1998,which came at the end ofAndrew Lloyd Webber’s record run ofThe Phantom of the Opera in Sydney and Melbourne – for which some three million people packed auditoriums.
In 2005 McCallum completed a major rebuild to make the most of the unfettered views to Barrenjoey Headland,complete with a swimming pool,fire pit,gym,sauna and self-contained studio.
Palm Beach’s values have followed Sydney’s trophy home market into the stratosphere in recent years. The local record house price jumped from $24 million in 2020 – for the retreat of the late media titanSam Chisholm – to $40 million last year for a beachfront house bought by former garboIan Malouf.
Teoh’s family compound
Shane Teoh,the son of reclusive billionaireDavid Teoh,has joined his little brotherBob on the Cremorne waterfront,buying a house for $15 million.
The six-bedroom house with a private beach,pontoon and jetty,that was sold by Ray White’s David Gillan,will make the 36-year-old Teoh a direct neighbour to the last year (not that it’s a competition).
Teoh Snr and Shane resigned from telco giant TPG two years ago following its merger with Vodafone,freeing Shane to focus on his high-end property business.
In 2018,Teoh co-founded boutique luxury developer Clutch with his friendsNick Ross andJack Wu,the esports gaming entrepreneur and son of another rich list couple,vitamin mogulsJina Chen andAlex Wu.
The developer – so named given their shared love of basketball and a “clutch move” – has a slew of projects across the eastern suburbs,the latest of which is set to launch in Edgecliff after the group purchased a deceased estate late last year for $19.5 million through The Agency’s Ben Collier.
Crime Commission swoops
AsMark Chikarovski awaits his day in court to face charges for his alleged role in a,his recently purchased Vaucluse home has caught the eye of the NSW Crime Commission.
The five-bedroom residence with views of the harbour settled in Chikarovski’s name in April at a cost of $11.5 million,and with two mortgages:one to Westpac and another to a second lender offering $1.2 million for 12 months and interest rates of 14 to 19 per cent.
But within a week of him taking the keys the commission lodged a restraining order on Chikarovski’s half share of the property,that coincided with the execution of a search warrant on the house and a Bondi Junction apartment. To be clear,the restraining order will restrict whether Chikarovski can sell the house,pending the outcome of the criminal case. It is not by any means indicative of guilt,and his case is still at an early stage.
Detectives allege that during their raid of both properties they found prohibited drugs,computers,$30,000 in cash,about $269,000 worth of cryptocurrency and two Porsche SUVs.
Chikarovski,the son of former state Liberal leaderKerry Chikarovski,was charged with 31 offences related to supplying prohibited drugs,knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and 16 counts of supplying a prohibited drug. Bail of $500,000 was granted,leaving him free to deal with circling real estate agents who are keen to list the Vaucluse house in an otherwise tight market.
In good news for Chikarovski,he did well on the purchase earlier this year through buyer’s agent Simon Cohen,given the same house had last traded six months earlier for $13.1 million at auction.
The purchase follows the sale of his Bellevue Hill home,with equally bullish short-term movement in price,again in Chikarovski’s favour. He purchased the Bellevue Hill house for $11.25 million in 2021 and sold it earlier this year for $12.46 million through PPD’s Alexander Phillips.
Corporate movers
Corporate bigwigsKaren andPeter Tompkins have traded in their former Coogee home for $5.2 million and bought $9.3 million digs in Bronte.
Karen is the chief risk officer and general counsel for Sydney Airport and Peter is the chief of Downer EDI,who was appointed a few months ago to turn around the business and boost its share price after corruption allegations saw one-third of its value lost in the past year.
Still with the corporate bosses,Ausgrid’s newly appointed chief executiveMarc England and his wifeJulia have paid $9.87 million for digs in Woollahra.
The three-storey house with a 16-metre pool was sold by Ben Collier on behalf of MasMarket Advisers’Jolanta Masojada,whose architect partnerEdward Szewczyk built it 20 years earlier.
England has been in New Zealand in recent years heading up electricity giant Genesis Energy since 2016.