He complained about restaurant noise in Palm Beach. Then he sold for $9.5m

As Palm Beach locals await a decision from the Land and Environment Court as to whether they’ll be able to dine out beyond 4pm this summer at the revamped old Barrenjoey boat shed, one of the more vocal objectors to the extended hours bid has packed up and left.

The issue of whether The Joey owners Ben May and Rob Domjen should be able to open the venue until 11pm made headlines earlier this year after the local council rejected an application despite an extraordinary 132 submissions in support.

Will it, won’t it: The Land and Environment Court is yet to decide if The Joey will be able to open beyond 4pm this summer.Credit: Alex Marks

In short, the argument in favour of extending the hours largely related to the relative isolation of the venue, 600 metres away from residents, and a lack of local hospitality options. Meanwhile, local Stephen Jones was one of seven objectors to the application given concerns over noise pollution and serious adverse effects on a person’s mental health.

But that won’t be such an issue given records show that Jones and his wife Susan have sold for $9.5 million. Jones is yet to respond to inquiries about why he sold, but local word is that the couple has decamped to Avalon Beach.

Ben May and Rob Domjen have spent about $150,000 in a bid to extend The Joey’s opening hours.Credit: Alex Marks

With a no comment from LJ Hooker’s Peter Robinson, records show it was an off-market deal to investment manager Frank Elsworth and his wife Amber, who earlier this year sold their nearby home for $26.25 million to car dealer Paul Warren.

The sale follows the recent purchase by Crownland Developments boss Andrew Wiesener across the road of a waterfront house for about $32 million.

And May has also bought into the neighbourhood, paying $10 million up the hill to fashion designer Heidi Middleton.

The Joey is expected to find out in the coming month if it can take evening bookings over summer, if only to recoup the estimated $150,000 forked out in legal costs and consultancy fees.

Secret $50m sale

If there is one residential property sector clocking up impressive results this year (and there is only one) it is the trophy home market. This week the Vaucluse waterfront home of Dawn Lincoln-Smith sold for more than $50 million.

The Vaucluse home of Dawn Lincoln-Smith has sold after more than 65 years of ownership.Credit: Domain

For some reason, buyers and sellers at this end of the market like to keep things between themselves, so it is not surprising a high degree of confidentiality has been applied to this deal.

Neither of the agents, Sotheby’s Michael Pallier and Highland Double Bay’s David Malouf, would comment, but the property was on offer for $50 million to $55 million before it was removed from property portals.

The six-bedroom residence last traded in 1958 for £19,500 when bought by Lincoln-Smith and her late husband, mining boss Paul Lincoln-Smith, a former chairman of Magnum Gold and Magnum Resources.

It is the fifth-highest house sale this year, topped by the $130 million sale of Point Piper’s Elaine estate by Scott Farquhar, the $82 million sale of the Rockfield mansion in Point Piper, Stephanie Conley-Buhre’s $80 million sale of Alcooringa in Bellevue Hill and the $51.5 million sale of Tom Magnier’s Notrella in Point Piper.

This North Bondi house was sold for about $17.5 million to Andrew Findlay, chief at boutique investment advisory Antipodes.Credit: Domain

Still with the secret sales, Andrew Findlay, chief executive of the boutique investment advisory Antipodes, has bought designer digs in North Bondi for about $17.5 million.

The architect Andrew Burges-designed house was built in 2016 for Redpoint Capital’s Steven and Natalie Hall, and listed with Raine & Horne’s Ric Serrao for $17.5 million.

Andrew Findlay’s purchase was revealed by a caveat on the title of the North Bondi home.Credit: Nick Moir

The deal is yet to be made official on title, and Serrao declined to confirm that it had sold, but a caveat reveals Findlay’s purchase.

The deal comes months after Antipodes Partners acquired high-profile rival investment firm Maple-Brown Abbott.

Fund manager James Simpson has also quietly sold, pocketing $13.2 million for his Mosman home.

James Simpson has pocketed $13.2 million for his Mosman home at Chinamans Beach.Credit: Domain

It comes as Simpson nominates himself for the Platinum Asset Management board, the fund he co-founded about 30 years ago alongside Kerr Neilson, Toby Harrop and Andrew Clifford.

Simpson bought the house near Chinamans Beach in 2015 for $11 million from Nicolette Harper and Spiro Pappas, chairman of buy-now, pay-later outfit Splitit.

Sure thing

Rick Karpin, boss of online betting company SUREpick, is backing another of his home property flips, this time selling his Point Piper spread two years after he bought it from Joan Throsby, widow of meatworks businessman David Throsby.

There is a $15 million guide on the Point Piper apartment of SUREpick’s Rick Karpin.Credit: Domain

What was bought as two separate apartments on level nine for $7.45 million in 2022 has been consolidated, reconfigured and redesigned by architect Pierre Della-Putta.

Sotheby’s Joseph Raskin has a $15 million guide.

Karpin has form in the property flipping arena. His previous home was a 1970s townhouse in Darling Point, which he bought in 2019 for $4.25 million and sold, two years later after a glamorous redesign by Della-Putta, for $10.2 million to Stern’s Pools founders Rae and Cliff Stern.

Alas for the Sterns, they sold the Darling Point townhouse this year for $7.9 million.