Jackie O’s ex-husband Lee Henderson buys in Watsons Bay
Lee Henderson has bought a home at Watsons Bay following his separation from radio star Jackie O — and the $4,675,000 price tag was relatively modest compared to his ex-wife’s recent buy.
NSW
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Lee Henderson, the former husband of radio star Jackie O, has secured himself his next home. His Watsons Bay acquisition comes a year after the sale of their matrimonial Vaucluse home last March.
While Jackie went pricey contemporary, Henderson has emerged as the $4,675,000 buyer of a redesigned 1840s fisherman’s cottage in Watsons Bay.
The English photographer’s new abode is on the trendy strip where owners include fashion designer Jodhi Meares and chef Guillaume Brahimi.
There are few details on Henderson’s purchase, given its discrete off-market sale through Raine & Horne Double Bay agents Dion Markovics and Christophe Serrao. But the settlement paperwork reveals no registered mortgage was taken.
It was bought from the McFarlane family, who paid $822,500 in 1997.
The freestanding cottage comes with original features merged with a modern design. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, living and dining zones, and a courtyard.
Jackie — real name Jacqueline Ellen — recently told her audience on the top-rating KIIS FM radio show “I had to share my wealth” following the separation from Henderson, adding her ex advised: “Yes I’ll take it.”
The couple’s former Vaucluse home sold for $6,675,000 just before the pandemic briefly paused the prestige market. It had been built after the Cambridge Ave property cost $2.7 million in 2012.
A few months later Jackie O, who had been renting in Bondi, spent $11 million on Woollahra’s contemporary Cooper Park House.
The 2014 Tobias Architects-designed home was sold by fund manager Angus Aitken and his wife Sarah. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a rear pool.
Ellen and Henderson met in 2000 when he was backpacking around Australia.
Their first property purchase was in 2001 when they paid $512,500 for an Elizabeth Bay apartment. It sold for $910,000 in 2009. Their next home was a $2.75 million Paddington terrace which was sold for $2,897,500 in 2011.
Their Kangaroo Valley farmhouse, Glen Athan, which sits on 42ha, was sold for $2,425,000 to fund the Vaucluse rebuild, having cost $825,000 in 2005.
Additional research by Joel Robinson
TRENT’S RETURN TO BARRACK POINT
New Canterbury Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett and his wife Kylie scored building approval last month for their $770,000 dream home plans at Barrack Point.
It will be a new two-storey home with pool set on the oceanfront.
Their building application shed light on their return to the Illawarra coast from Sydney’s northern beaches.
It has now emerged they have spent $1.764 million in an off-market purchase of a 760sqm building site.
Their late-2019 exchange settled over the summer break, with the family renting at Barrack Point after Barrett lost his coaching job at Manly Sea Eagles.
They had departed the Shellharbour region in 2015 after securing a record-setting $2.4 million sale price for their then-newly built home.
The Barretts had paid $904,000 for the oceanfront reserve site in 2004.
Barrack Point has only had two higher sales in the interim, when $2.5 million was paid on Shell Cove Rd in 2017 and $2.82 million paid in 2018 on Headland Pde.
Their redundant Freshwater home sold for $3.65 million, with the deal last November done in just six days after it hit the market with a $3.2 million guide.
The couple had paid $2.41 million in 2015 for the five-bedroom home after moving from Barrack Point.
Barrett retired as a player after the 2010 NRL season, following a 15-season career with the Illawarra Steelers, St George Illawarra, Wigan in the English Super League, and the Cronulla Sharks.
The then-32-year-old left the game as the incumbent NSW captain, having played 11 games for the Blues.
TILLEY LISTS DOUBLE BAY UNIT
It was the distinctive Ellerston Polo Club logo emblazoned on the fridge door that initially caught my attention in the auction marketing.
And a title search revealed the Double Bay apartment listing was by the Tilley family, who have been Packer family friends for decades — ever since the gambling table friendship of the patriarchs, the late Kerry Packer and 86-year-old Barry Tilley.
It seems the Tilley clan have decided to stop playing pass the parcel with the small Double Bay apartment, which has been listed for March 30 auction.
Scion Ben Tilley had bought the art deco Manning Rd apartment for $860,000 in 2014, then his wife Tiffany secured the property following their separation in 2017.
The Double Bay garden apartment was transferred in February last year at $1.22 million from Tiffany to Harvey, their 20-year-old son.
During the past year it has been “refurbished to the highest standards” according to the marketing.
Double Bay’s median apartment price currently sits at $1,295,000, according to realestate.com.au, after 77 sales last year.
Ben Tilley is tipped to show up as a buyer in the One Barangaroo complex, when its off-the-plan settlements occur next month.
His mate James Packer spent $60 million on his two-floor apartment, which ranks among the priciest of the $850 million sales secured so far in the 82-apartment tower.
GOODES OFFLOADS AT BONDI BEACH
Former Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes has quietly sold his long-time Bondi Beach apartment which cost $1.03 million in 2003.
No price disclosure from Raine & Horne agents Alex Lyons and Ric Serrao, who sold the home off-market.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment is set on the top floor of a 1990s block of 10 on the Ben Buckler peninsula. It has ocean views from its entertainers’ balcony.
There were two sales in the complex last year, both two-bedroom apartments, which fetched $2.33 million and $2.59 million, however they were bigger and had an extra parking space.
Bondi Beach has a $1.1 median price for units.
Based on five years of sales, Bondi Beach has seen a compound growth rate of 4.6 per cent for units, according to realestate.com.au.
Goodes is a long-time investor in Kensington, having bought a freestanding 1930s home on 690sqm for $2.2 million in 2007, shortly after securing his second Brownlow Medal.
SCALIS LIST PALM BAY RETREAT
Anthony Scali, the head of booming furniture retailer Nick Scali, and his wife Donna have listed in Palm Beach.
It is the 1940s property they bought in late 2019 for $9 million.
The Point Piper-based family will still retain two other waterfront holdings along prized Iluka Rd.
Their initial acquisition came in 2013 when they bought Bukutilla, a seven-bedroom Walter Barda-designed residence on Snapperman Beach, for $7.5 million from property developer Denis O’Neil and his wife Charlotte.
It’s held by their wine distributer son Elliot.
The next-door boatshed block was added six months later for $4.43 million, so there’s plenty of space for their generational stays when they are not out sailing on Sydney Harbour.
In the meantime, Nick and Donna paid $4.2 million for the property known as the Castle in the Sky in Wilsons Creek in the Byron Bay hinterland, which is mostly occupied by their medico son, Nicholas.
The redundant Palm Beach retreat was bought from the estate of miner James Mitchell, who paid $72,500 in 1977.
No rebuilding plans had been formally lodged for the 562sqm holding since their purchase through Ray White Palm Beach Prestige’s Noel Nicholson who now has it relisted.
Iluka Rd’s most recent sale was the $9.65 million paid by Orlaith Turner, wife of Kieran Turner, the chief executive of the Heartland Motor Group.
It came after Bruce Corlett and his wife Annie bought from Lisa Keighery for $16 million.
KNAPPICKS SELL BYRON RETREAT
Coal tycoon David Knappick and his wife Ann have sold their Byron Bay hinterland retreat.
The Coorabell offering came with price hopes of $15 million-plus when listed last December through local agent Graham Dunn.
The 25ha property, which is mostly rainforest, comes with a striking designer residence built in 2008 using recycled timber from Queensland’s Mackay Wharf.
Knappick, who made his fortune with his stake in Felix Resources, which was sold to Yanzhou for $3.5 billion in 2009, has owned the Coolamon Scenic Rd property since 2004, paying $2.3 million.
The pavilion-style home comes with 587sqm internal space and 354sqm balcony space.
Coorabell’s previous highest sale was $8 million in 2018 for a functioning 37ha farm.
The Knappick family retain a Wategos Beach property and acreage at Ewingsdale.
AGENT TO THE STARS SELLS
Sharon Finnigan, the celebrity agent whose star clients through the years have included former breakfast television presenter Sam Armytage, has sold in Baulkham Hills.
It was a renovated, single-storey, three-bedrooms-plus-study home on a 695sqm block that she bought for $615,000 in 2013.
There’s been no price disclosure by Manor Real Estate agents Igor Jugovic and Declan Morris.
Armytage was managed by Finnigan between 2012 and 2105, having previously been with Sean Anderson’s celebrity stable.
Anderson and his wife Shelley, founder of online store Alex and Ferry, reputedly sold their matrimonial home last month pre-auction for more than $1 million above the $8 million guide.
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