Inside John Singleton's new $9.3m Hawaiian slice of heaven
Advertising legend has no qualms about dropping $9.3 million on his new Hawaiian paradise, just down the road from Barack Obama. Take a look inside his latest lavish property.
Confidential
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JOHN Singleton expects his new $9.3 million Hawaiian house to collapse into the North Pacific Ocean within 20 years — yet the multi-millionaire entrepreneur is sure it’s not one of his bad investments.
He’s lost a fortune on pearl diving, buffalo hunting, horses, rodeo riding, women, radio, television, the failed political career of cricketer Nathan Bracken, real estate and business over six decades.
A seven-figure flutter on a slice of heaven on one of the most admired beach fronts in the world — just two doors from former president Barack Obama’s summer rental house — feels, despite troubling environmental forecasts, like a gamble worth taking. If it’s good enough for Obama …
“The house is right on the water. The water laps the sea wall boundary of the property. It won’t be there in 10 or 20 years’ time but that won’t worry me,” Singleton said.
“The sea will take the house one day — but I’ll be beyond caring. The location is beautiful. I’ve found my own peaceful haven.”
Singleton snapped up the oceanfront property at Lanikai Beach on the east coast of Hawaii’s Oahu island in September 2019, the same month he banked $81 million after cashing in his chips at radio network Macquarie Media, selling his 32 per cent share of the business and a handful of radio stations including Sydney’s 2GB to media company Nine.
Friends note the island escape — a 1935 shingled timber bungalow in a gated estate fronting a powder white beach, a short kayak paddle to a tropical bird sanctuary and half an island’s drive from Pearl Harbor, the state capital of Honolulu and an international airport — is a virtual ad for Hawaii’s tourism industry. Something befitting an Australian advertising legend.
There are three separate dwellings on the 1300 sqm property — one three-bedroom house with two bathrooms and two separate cottages with additional bedrooms and bathrooms — all of which were renovated in 2010, although not quite to Singleton’s exacting standards.
“I’ve had to have the TV set up properly so I can see the Australian rugby league, the racing, and get Australian news, but once that’s done we’ll be set,” Singleton said.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, he’s only visited the property once since buying it.
That was over a year ago when he flew over to inspect the property and spent a week at the house. The pandemic interfered with plans to visit again this year.
“I haven’t been able to get back to the house because of COVID-19. I haven’t wanted to isolate there because it’s not quite finished and isn’t really very comfortable at the moment,” he said.
His preferred interior designer, Michelle Leslie, the former model and ex-partner of silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, is overseeing a renovation that — according to a local government DA — is worth $400,000.
Singleton said it will transform a dark, outdated home into a coastal oasis, with a centrepiece of three sparkling glass pavilions.
“The house wasn’t a knockdown. The footprint was there. The glass over (looking) the ocean has been delivered. It’s three pavilions. Two are complete. At the worst it will be all finished by January,” he said.
The businessman, who turns 79 next week, plans to return when the house is complete, along with his beloved Rhodesian ridgeback dogs, who won’t need quarantining to visit Hawaii.
The businessman, whose personal value was last year put at $670 million, plans to spend “at least every autumn and winter” at the house for the rest of his days.
The proximity of daughter Jessie, one of Singleton’s eight children and one of two daughters he has with third wife Belinda Green, is an added attraction, he said.
Singleton expects Jessie, who has as interior design boutique in San Francisco and two toddlers — Willow and Jackson — with husband Richard Black, will use his Hawaiian retreat as a sanctuary of their own during the pandemic that still grips the US.
“It’s a chance to see a bit more of her and the grandkids and that would be nice to do at my age,” he said.
