Property mogul who capitalised on density push lists $22m trophy home
Founder of property developer JQZ Jianqiu Zhang has listed his trophy home in Vaucluse with a price guide of $22 million.
The six-bedroom, four-bathroom house was designed by celebrated architect Bruce Stafford and rebuilt in 2017.
The gun barrel views from Zhang’s Vaucluse trophy home.Credit:
Spanning across three levels, the home has gun barrel views of Sydney Harbour that stretches from North Sydney CBD to the city skyline and everything in between.
The 66-year-old, who is said to be downsizing to a recently custom-built luxury penthouse in the CBD, founded his company in 2010. It seems he arrived at an opportune time and has been capitalising on Sydney’s push for density.
JQZ has since completed 1600 apartments dotted across Sydney, including Waterloo, Zetland, Kogarah, Lidcombe, Homebush and Macquarie Park. The largest residential project is valued at about $1.6 billion at St Leonards, according to the company website.
Zhang purchased his Vaucluse home in 2014 for $5.28 million from Sydney barrister Rashelle Seiden. In 2023, Seiden SC was appointed a judge of the District Court of NSW as well as a Deputy President and head of the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division and the Occupational Division of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of NSW (NCAT). She was sworn in last year.
The 538-square-metre block is being sold through an expression of interest campaign by Michael Pallier and Spencer Sun of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty.
Zhang has done well for himself, given the luxury rebuild of his personal home in Vaucluse, his imminent upgrade and other purchases in between. In 2018, his family bought another property: the 1960s style mansion of Hong Kong-based couple Rosemary and Desmond Inglis in Vaucluse for $20 million and it has since been rebuilt into a contemporary trophy home that is said to be worth at least $80 million now. The Inglis family paid $330,000 in 1973 for the home.
Flighting from Manly
In Manly, Flight Centre Travel Group director Kirsty Rankin has listed her waterfront with a price guide of $13.5 million.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom unit has been redesigned by Julianne Henry since the 64-year-old purchased it and it has featured in House & Garden magazine.
Rankin has redesigned the waterfront since she purchased it.Credit:
No expense has been spared on the home with sweeping views of the yacht-jewelled North Harbour.
Rankin, who paid $9.3 million in 2022 for the home, started her career at American Express before joining Pinpoint, a start-up in the financial services and loyalty marketing space which was then acquired by Mastercard when she relocated to the US to run the data and services division in her global role as senior vice president for the company. She serves on numerous boards and is a consultant on data-driven technology and loyalty strategy.
The property is being sold through Anthony Calacoci of Belle Property Manly. It is scheduled to go under the hammer on Thursday May 15.
Carmel’s conga line of owners
The landmark trophy home Carmel in Edgecliff has hit the market again with a price guide of $35 million.
Originally designed by renowned architect F. Glynn Gilling in 1935 for prominent stockbroker Stanley Utz, the home has a rich pedigree of owners. It was later owned by newspaper men Rupert “Rags” Henderson and Ezra Norton, before Rupert Murdoch purchased it in 1968 for $200,000, soon after he married his second of five wives, Anna Torv.
Murdoch offloaded it two years later for $225,000 to the Bishop family, and by the late 1980s it was owned by Warren Kitson, a director of then Hong Kong bank Wardley.
The grand estate covers about 1300 square metres.Credit:
Its latest owner, renowned biotech entrepreneur Paul Hopper and his wife Deborah purchased it for $23 million just three years ago from medical device entrepreneur Dr Charalambos Revelas and his wife Mary.
Hopper’s latest biotech venture, Radiopharm Theranostics, launched on the ASX in 2021, having already attracted the investment dollars of the likes of billionaire Alex Waislitz, cattleman Jack Mann, Collette Dinnigan and Shark Tank’s Andrew Banks.
The Hoppers are looking to downsize from the grand four-bedroom, four-bathroom Mediterranean-style property which sits on a sprawling 1300-square-metre estate.
It is being sold through Gavin Rubinstein of TRG by private appointment.
Laser Clinics founder exits Mosman
The home sold for an almost $3 million discount.Credit:
Laser Clinics co-founder Babak Moini has finally sold his striking Balmoral Slopes home for $14.6 million.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom luxury property did take a discount of almost $3 million to secure a buyer after it had been listed since last year.
It was surplus to Moini’s needs after buying a $22 million pad atop Crown’s One Barangaroo tower in 2021.
The property was sold through Lisa Novak of Novak Properties and Michael Coombs of Atlas Lower North Shore.