The Sell: Paddington conversion nearing completion for Amber Symonds
Amber Symond, the former wife of Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond, is incrementally nearing completion of her residential conversion in Paddington.
NSW
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Amber Symond, the former wife of Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond, is incrementally nearing completion of her residential conversion in Paddington.
Symond is converting the former Savill Galleries art space into her residence after buying it for $5.3m in June 2021.
The semi-retired art dealer Denis Savill, who offered seven paintings by artist Arthur Boyd for midweek auction, had owned it for four decades. He boasted during the Hargrave St terrace marketing that after his 1985 renovation he’d not “spent 10 dollars on it since”.
The initial plans by Hancock Architects for Symond were approved in February 2023. They were costed at $924,000 in the development application submitted in August 2022.
Last month, Symond got approval for her fourth modification to the plans, including reconfiguring internal walls, moving skylights and windows as well as moving the location of a toilet.
Her first Section 4.55 modification was submitted in June last year. The next a month later.
They were approved in August and September.
These amendments included the layout and depth of the basement.
The third application was submitted last November and given the green light in January this year. It included the installation of a lift.
Symond has also made changes to the master bedroom, walk-in robe and ensuite layout.
Meanwhile, no sign of her approved $4.9m renovation to Killountan at Potts Point getting underway.
The 1890s-built former boutique Simpsons hotel premises on Challis Ave were bought for $12.5m in late 2020.
The local whisper is that it could be onsold if the right offer lobbed with the Mosman-based fashion designer whose Common Hours label has released a 1920s-inspired collection.
COASTAL HOTSPOTS LURE ESTATE AGENTS OVERSEAS
Real estate agents are mostly back on the listing and selling trail, with many having holidayed abroad this winter.
Based on social media posts, the main destination was the surf in Asia rather than the pricier beach clubs of Europe.
Those enjoying the magic of Bali included TRG agent Jye Emdur, Brad Pillinger, of Pillinger-Double Bay, and Daniel Cachia, of PPD Real Estate.
Richardson & Wrench agent Jason Boon, who calls himself a surfer in his Instagram bio, has been surfing in Hawaii.
Luxe Listing Sydney cast member star D’Leanne Lewis took the family to Aulani, the Disney Resort in Hawaii – and has been complaining about jet lag since her return.
McGrath Central Coast agent Mat Steinwede was in Fiji, although no waves popped up on his family holiday where he reported in ill.
Buyers agent Simon Cohen headed to Europe, including the Amalfi Coast, where he posted enjoying lunch at the Conca del Sogno hotspot.
Rival buyers agent Jack Henderson, whose 70,000 Instagram followers ranks 20,000 more than Cohen, was also in Capri, on the water near the megayachts.
Veteran buyers agent Henry Wilkinson advised that modern communications meant he was doing deals including the purchase of a Paddington terrace while bike riding at Lake Bohinj, in Slovenia.
Then, while in Naxos, Greece, he negotiated the purchase of a Manly apartment.
“While the time differences can be challenging, it’s great to be able to achieve success for our clients wherever in the world we may be,” he told his LinkedIn followers.
Meanwhile, another buyers agent, Michael Connolly, has been in Portugal.
Back in Sydney, the top sale so far this winter has been about $40m, in Rose Bay, for the three-level Studio Johnston-designed property of David Pacanowski and wife Maxine.
It sold in early July, said Ben Torban, of Biller Property, who just days later posted snaps from the Mediterranean holiday hotspot Ibiza.
Alexander Phillips, of PPD Real Estate, has returned from a sojourn in the south of France, with 41 properties set for spring listings.
Sydney’s 704 auctions this weekend is 15 per cent up from last weekend and up 4 per cent on the same weekend last year, according to PropTrack.
TAX FRAUD CRIM’S HOME SNAPPED UP FOR $140,000 ABOVE PRICE GUIDE
The Picton home of Lauren Cranston, who was jailed for her involvement in Australia’s largest tax fraud and money-laundering scheme, sold at its well-contested weekend auction.
The 1880 home, which was listed with a $750,000 guide, fetched $892,500, with the auctioneer Peter Baldwin announcing it on the market after its $760,000 opening bid.
PropTrack calculates the region’s median house price as $1.05m.
The Campbell St house, known as Beechwood, which sits on 1062sq m and features a bullnose veranda, was marketed by Conor Arnold, of Richardson & Wrench, as an “affordable home in one of Picton’s most sought-after areas”.
The onsite auction attracted bids from about half the 15 registered bidders, mostly young families. The unrenovated three-bedroom, one-bathroom house was bought by Cranston for $678,000 in 2016 with her ex-partner, who is the father of their six-year-old daughter.
Her residence had been vested to the commonwealth of Australia. The property was initially frozen in May 2017 after the Australian Federal Police’s Operation Elbrus raided 27 homes and businesses across Sydney.
Cranston was sentenced in May last year to eight years in jail with a five-year non-parole period. Her older brother, Adam Cranston, received a 15-year sentence with a 10-year non-parole period as an architect in the $105m Plutus Payroll tax-evasion scheme.
In the Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Payne ruled that Lauren Cranston had benefited by “financial gain”.
Unlike the main conspirators, she received comparatively small remuneration for her back-office role.
However, the judgment noted that she appeared to believe she and her co-conspirators had done nothing wrong.
The Crown submitted her participation secured about $181,000, with some money used to pay the 10 per cent deposit and stamp duty to purchase the Picton house.
SINGER’S HIGHLANDS HOLDING REALLY ROCKS
Singer Mahalia Barnes and her musician husband Ben Rogers have relisted their building block at Mittagong.
The 7930sq m Range Rd holding cost $1.6m in 2021, which is the current guidance through local agent Corina Nesci.
The marketing advises the bushfire, geotechnical and survey reports have been done, saving 18 months of pre-build preparatory work. There has also been extensive contouring of the land, with a self-watering landscape system and water tank.
The architecturally designed plans are pending Wingecarribee Shire Council approval.
With just a few tall trees, the block was marketed last time as a rare opportunity. It was only on the market by the Mackie family for 10 days before being snapped up.
Barnes and Rogers bought the property soon after they sold their Berrima home for $2.35m.
The couple had bought that home in 2017 for $960,000 when they made the move to the Southern Highlands, taking up residency just 700m from her father, rock legend Jimmy Barnes, after leaving their $1.4m Redfern warehouse conversion apartment, complete with recording studio.
Jimmy, the front man for legendary Australian band Cold Chisel, and his wife Jane first bought in the region at Mt Gibraltar in the 1980s.
For the past 16 years, they have owned the Wingecarribee riverfront property, Riverbend, at Berrima.
HIGH-LIVING HADLEY TO MAKE MOVE
Top-rating 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley has sold his Gold Coast bolthole for $2.05m.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Spinnaker apartment, with car space, was sold through Ryan Ward, of Kollosche. The marketing attracted five offers.
Spanning 174sq m of open-plan living, the 20th floor Main Beach Pde unit has 180-degree views of the city, hinterland, ocean, Broadwater and Main River from its interior and balcony space.
The then-renovated apartment was bought for $1.225m in 2017.
It had previously sold in 1987 for $265,000 in the 1983 apartment tower constructed by the late Ron McMaster. The prolific Gold Coast builder – responsible for more than 40 high-rise buildings on the Gold Coast – was the president of the Queensland Master Builders Association at the time.
McMaster had commissioned architect Ron Burling, of Burling Brown, to design Spinnaker.
Its amenities include a swimming pool, spa, sauna, steam room, gym and tennis court.
PropTrack put the three-bedroom median Main Beach apartment at a record $1,850,000 – up 10 per cent over the past 12 months after 55 sales.
Hadley and wife Sophie have plans for a Main Beach upgrade.
QUEEN OF THE VICTORIAN ERA
Rosyln, the restored boom-style Victorian Italianate mansion in Coogee, has been listed for an August 24 auction through PPD agent Alex Phillips with early interest between $9 million and $10 million.
The seven-bedroom, four-bathroom 1887 home stands on its 465sq m Arcadia St holding with 552sq m of living space under its widow’s walk.
It was built as a showpiece by timber merchant Charles Saxton.
NEST EGG STILL RATES HIGHLY
Just before heading off to the Olympic torch relay, Channel 9 CEO Mike Sneesby secured tenants for his $650 a week Elizabeth Bay investment apartment that he bought for $367,000 back in 2002.
There had been a $600 a week asking rental last July.
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom Onslow Ave space had been rented out at $550 a week amid the 2020 pandemic downturn, less than the $600 secured in 2018.
SALE LAYS THE PAST TO REST
The Rushcutters Bay apartment of the late convicted drug smuggler Bennet Schwartz has been sold for $1.085 million by his mother Laelie.
The former mining executive was found dead after an inmate attack in his remand prison cell in early 2022 after being charged over another smuggling plot.
He had bought the one-bedroom Waratah St property for $500,000 in 2007.
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