Interior designer Marco Meneguzzi puts Darlinghurst unit up for sale
Interior designer Marco Meneguzzi has put his two-level Darlinghurst apartment up for sale. The suburb has seen a compound growth rate of 4.7 per cent for houses and 5.9 per cent for units, real estate insider Jonathan Chancellor reveals. TAKE A LOOK INSIDE
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Marco Meneguzzi, who has been styling the homes of Sydney society for the past two decades, has listed his contemporary apartment in Darlinghurst.
The interior designer’s two-level apartment has two large balconies that look across terraces towards Kings Cross and the city skyline.
He bought the two-bedroom apartment in the 1920s East telephone exchange redevelopment — now known as East Exchange — off the plan in 2011 when developers didn’t customise the space to suit individual buyer wishes.
Meneguzzi swiftly removed the laundry at the front door of the seventh floor apartment to make the entrance more spacious and inviting.
He then panelled the staircase and also added a new domed ceiling to give the apartment “a grander feeling”.
Over the years Meneguzzi’s clients have included Jim and Amy Clody, Lisa Keighery, Tim Clarke, Roxy Jacenko, Mike Tilley, Robyn Holt, Andrew and Taryn Boyarsky and Sam Wagner, the creator of the fashion chain Sambag.
The designer featured in Jenny Rose-Innes’ new book Australian Designers At Home, alongside 19 of the country’s leading names in interior design. In the tome he described his aesthetic as “classic and fresh”.
With about 150 sqm in space, William Manning at McGrath Double Bay expects the Liverpool St apartment to sell for between $2.8 million and $3 million at its July 18 auction.
Currently Darlinghurst has 33 properties for sale with its median terrace price at $1.7 million and units at $977,000.
Based on five years of sales, Darlinghurst has seen a compound growth rate of 4.7 per cent for houses and 5.9 per cent for units.
Manning has another Darlinghurst offering, a former 1930s Printers Lane substation whose transformation by Tribe Studio won the Greenway Award last year in the Australian Institute of Architects’ NSW Awards.
With a facade likened to the Tardis from the Dr Who television series, it has been listed by a mate, his motivational trainer.
HORSE TRAINER LISTS IN COOGEE
Champion horse trainer David Hayes and wife Prue have listed their Sydney bolthole, given their relocation back to Hong Kong.
Being not far from his satellite stable at Randwick, the couple bought the three-bedroom Fernside, Coogee apartment for $2.3 million in 2017.
Set in the boutique complex of eight, the 350 sqm apartment has an open plan lounge and dining area that leads to a terrace and lawn.
The 2013-built unit has been listed by NG Farah agent Theo Karangis.
The Melbourne-based Hayes, the son of legendary trainer, the late Colin Hayes, is nearing the end of his mandatory 14-day quarantine isolation in Hong Kong, ahead of taking on John Moore’s stables.
Apparently each day of his quarantine Hayes has been pounding 22 kilometres on the treadmill on his Hong Kong balcony.
Hayes, who has trained around 100 Group One winners, recently had a farewell lunch at Gerry Ryan’s Prince of Wales Hotel that included Sam Kekovich and Adam Sangster among the guests.
MICHAEL SLATER SELLS AT NEWPORT
The former Australian cricket champion turned commentator Michael Slater and his yoga teacher wife Jo have secured around $5.5 million for their two-level Newport home overlooking Bungan Beach.
It was bought in 2013 for $3.1 million when they moved from Avalon Beach. Perched on the escarpment, the home features headland-to-headland views.
Slater, who played international cricket from 1993 to 2001, had it listed through David Edwards at L J Hooker.
Newport’s median house price sits at $1,850,000 which, based on five years of sales, reflects a 5.6 per cent compound growth rate, according to realestate.com.au.
The year’s top sale has been $8.9 million on Pittwater when Pandora Jewellery founder Karin Adcock sold to Elizabeth Fang-Xu Dai, who heads the medical device manufacturer Beijing Demax.
JESS AND NORM’S QUICK SALE
The spritely Triple M breakfast radio personality Jess Eva and her husband Norm have snappily sold their Queensland building block. The Russell Island block sold within a week of its listing.
The couple, who were contestants on The Block Gatwick conversion in 2018, paid $17,000 last July and have pocketed $24,000 through local agents Ted and Karen Byrne.
The plans were drafted and they hoped to build this year, then rent it out and move there in 15 years.
“We didn’t have the time,” Eva told me. Seems their work and family commitments, including an upcoming renovation series for Nine Life, plus the Queensland state border lockdown, meant it was smart to sell the idle block. There’s also her book which has the working title “Have A Crack”.
The family rent in Sydney’s Tennyson Point, a 15-minute commute to the studio where she co-hosts Moonman in the Morning with Lawrence Mooney and Chris Page. Norm’s recently launched handyman business has gone gangbusters given Sydney’s COVID-19 renovation boom.
IN A FINE MANOR
Patchway, one of the Southern Highlands’ most impressive trophy homes, has been sold after being on the market for two years.
The Burradoo home was sold by Ed Blackadder, former managing director of merchant bank Hambros, and his wife Elaine.
With prize-winning gardens of rhododendrons and azaleas, the 8900 sqm Ranelagh Rd holding had initial record-setting $5.95 million hopes.
The Blackadders bought the home for $4,175,000 in 2014 from the Wilson steel fabrication family. The Wilsons bought for $3.03 million in 2002 and carried out a seven-month renovation of the house.
Inspired by English Georgian manor house architecture, Patchway dates back to the 1940s when it was set on 20 acres and built by Eric Pratten. It was later owned by Neil and Beverley Cottee and then by Dan and Toni Regan.
Nearby Burradoo House, an upgraded 1920s home, was sold recently by tourism entrepreneur Rose Deo for around $5.5 million.