The Sell: ‘King’ Kyle goes for Graceland vibe with Glenorie renovation
Kyle Sandilands has revealed details on his low-key renovation going on at his Glenorie rural estate he likened to Elvis Presley’s Graceland. Also, David Gyngell gets a good return on a Gold Coast property.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
KIIS FM’s breakfast king Kyle Sandilands has revealed details on his low-key renovation going on at his rural estate at Glenorie in Sydney’s Hills district.
It arose during an on-air discussion with co-host “Jackie O” Henderson about the Elvis Presley family’s Graceland estate.
“That Graceland looks exactly like the house I own in Glenorie, it’s exactly the same,” Sandilands told his listeners and a doubting co-host.
“Glenorie looks nothing like that,” Jackie O exclaimed, prompting Sandilands to order her to “relook at it with some fresh eyes”.
On doing so, she conceded it did, but with the caveat that it needed “shutters and a bit more stonework”.
When Jackie O inquired what he was actually doing with the house, he replied: “No one’s business!” But then advised it had been painted after he had gutted the 1970s house.
The now all-white home with dramatic porte cochere has a Wanless skipbin in the driveway.
The 9580sq m acreage was bought for an enduring street-record $3m in 2022. The eight-bedroom, five-bathroom brick house sits amid other acreages, some of which sell alpacas.
He had previously rented acreage with a Mediterranean-style home at Oxford Falls, and Symingtonia in Terrey Hills that was reputedly inspired by the Palace of Versailles.
Late last year, Sandilands and his wife Tegan Kynaston bought a Vaucluse home with views of the harbour for $14m.
Of course, Jackie O is undertaking her own build of the $13.25m Clovelly oceanfront property she bought last year. As revealed by The Sell last week, Jackie O has submitted $5m architectural plans to Randwick Council.
This week, as an aside from their potty humour, she declared the works did not include underfloor heating in the bathrooms.
GYNGELL MAKES WAVES IN ‘WIPE-OUT’ COOLY RESALE
Media-industry veteran David Gyngell has successfully flipped his apartment in the Queensland surfing mecca of Coolangatta.
It was the first resale within the newly completed Awaken tower at Rainbow Bay that on-sold to a mystery local surfer in what was reported locally as a “wipe-out auction win”.
The full-floor apartment fetched $5.1m through Coastal agents Ryan Hipwood and Dane Atherton after Gyngell had spent $4,206,088 to buy off the plan.
The agents advised buyers that their vendor’s personal circumstances had changed since the purchase in 2021.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom, whole-floor apartment with a study and private foyer, is set midrise in the 12-storey building atop Point Danger overlooking Rainbow Bay, Snapper Rocks and Duranbah Beach. The ocean is known for its legendary waves in the sought-after southern pocket of the Gold Coast that the locals call Cooly.
The apartment enjoys 360-degree views across the Gold Coast, northern NSW beaches and the Tweed hinterland.
Since the Gyngell auction, there has been another successful resale one floor down through Kerry Pezet at the Pezet Matheson agency at .$5m.
The $52.5m Awaken building was designed by Cottee Parker for Paul Gedoun’s S & S Projects and featuring scalloped edges.
It comprises eight full-floor residences and a double-storey penthouse that fetched $9.4m.
S & S paid about $8m for the three-street frontage site on one of the highest elevations on the coastline.
The Gambaro family has two new dining venues in the development, Pipi’s and Awaken Cafe by Gambaro, after Cafe Dbar was demolished.
This month, about 30,000 people descended on Coolangatta beach for a party headlined by DJ Fisher along with Flight Facilities, with festival-goers including surfer Mick Fanning. He sits among the “Cooly Kids” who conquered world surfing, along with Joel “Parko” Parkinson, Dean “Dingo” Morrison, Bede Durbidge, Josh Kerr and Steph Gilmore.
Gyngell, the former Channel 9 boss, resides in the Byron hinterland with his TV presenter wife Leila McKinnon, who he married at Byron Bay in 2006.
He oversees substantial commercial property investments in the region.
Gyngell, the son of the late Nine boss Bruce Gyngell and interior designer mother Ann, has links to the surf, especially Bondi in his childhood years.
For a time he sold beachwear and surf gear at Bondi.
MITCH AND MARK TO DITCH THEIR POTTS POINT JOINT
Interior designer grandads Mitch Edwards and Mark McKie, who starred in The Block 2019, have listed their Potts Point investment apartment.
The Macleay St apartment has been scheduled for June 18 auction through Anthony Birdsall and Vicki Laing at Laing Real Estate, who gave a $1.05m guide at its first open for inspection.
The 65sq m apartment in The Rex has one bedroom, a bathroom and a long balcony overlooking Baroda St, but no car space.
They bought it in 2015 for $680,000.
It first sold in 2002 for $414,000 in the complex whose facilities include indoor heated pool, gym, sauna and concierge.
There was another one-bedroom sale last month in The Rex at $1,120,000 that also sold in 2002 for $414,000.
The median Potts Point one-bedroom apartment over the past year has been $800,000, up 13.9 per cent over the past year after 138 sales, according to PropTrack. The median jumps to for $1,395,000 for two-bedroom apartments and $6.6m for three-bedroom apartments.
Edwards and McKie had been backed as favourites before the Channel 9 series began, given their extensive renovation history, but lost out to Queenslanders Tess and Luke Struber, who took home $730,000.
They brought controversy to The Block, where they ended up finishing last among the contestant couples, albeit pocketing $384,000 when their terrace home sold for $3.374m after the conversion of St Kilda’s Oslo Hotel on the long-running show.
Since selling their North Bondi two-bedroom apartment, Edwards and McKie have had an ongoing project at Newport, where they bought for $1.7m in 2019.
The four-bedroom 1970s home comes with an elevated position and views to the coast. The duo, who also fronted Channel 10’s Location, Location, Location Australia, paused their renovation project to run their recently closed homewares shop.
TYCOON’S TIP TO SEEK $150M FOR ALTONA
The family of billionaire paper manufacturing magnate Huang Bingwen is whispered to have listed the Point Piper mansion Altona.
Their unconfirmed asking price is $150m.
They bought the eight-bedroom Wunulla Rd mansion for $61.8m in 2016 when offered by low-key vendors, the Wang family.
The Wangs had bought Point Piper’s former harbourfront party palace for $52m in 2013.
The iconic Victorian Italianate home sits on a 2400sq m holding with boatshed after a proposed subdivision sale of the tennis-court block failed to proceed following neighbourhood objections.
Altona – once dubbed a home of conspicuous consumption – ranks among Australia’s most famous trophy homes since featuring in a late 1980s TV production by the late expat presenter Clive James.
Previous owners include Deke Miskin, a teenage magazine publishing industry entrepreneur, and his wife Eve, who hosted many glamorous social events, as did the Handbury family during their earlier tenure.
Over the years, a who’s who have thought about owning Altona, including actor Russell Crowe, who looked at buying it in 2007.
Sydney’s priciest trophy home sale remains the $130m paid for Uig Lodge Point Piper in late 2022 by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson.
This year’s highest sale has been nearby Rockleigh at about $85m, having come with $100m hopes. The pale pink home on a 1284sq m Wolseley Rd harbourfront holding had previously traded when Philip and Valmae Rundle bought it in 1978 for $325,000.
There has been considerable family disharmony surrounding the estate. The nation’s priciest current listing remains the nearby mega-mansion Wingadal, which comes with $200m-plus hopes. The talk is offers will need to be substantially more than $200m for Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond to sell.
Symond plans to spend more time overseas, with the family having recently bought Roc et Mer, a retreat on the Mediterranean at Eze-sur-Mer for €13.75m ($A22.4m).
MEDIA EXEC TO WRITE A NEW STORY
Fiona Connolly, the longtime media executive who has worked at ARE Media, News Corp, Bauer Media and Consolidated Press, has put her Mosman home up for sale.
It comes with a $3.5 million to $3.85 million price guide.
The redesigned Federation-era semi is set for a June 15 auction through Scott and Jade
Thornton of the newly opened BresicWhitney Lower North Shore office.
There were 15 groups through its midweek inspection and 17 at its first Saturday opening.
Set on an elevated 265sq m Glover St block, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom abode spans two levels, with the top floor offering views of the CBD skyline and harbour glimpses.
The living spaces open to a private, landscaped back yard with mature hedges, level lawn, benches and a luxurious pool and spa.
The property traded in 2009 for $1.22 million, with approvals for its additions coming in 2010. There was a new kitchen installed last year.
Connolly and husband Brook Ramage, a health retreat industry pioneer, are considering their next move.
PropTrack calculates that the four-bedroom median in the area sits at about $5.194 million after 88 sales in the past 12 months.
The selling agents recently moved a four-bedroom Arts and Crafts semi for $4.7 million in the neighbourhood.
AVOIDING THE AUCTION SCRUM
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has sold his Queens Park investment apartment.
It fetched $1.12 million midweek prior to its scheduled auction through Edward Brown at Belle Property.
Hooper paid $970,000 in 2018 through Brown for the ground floor one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with garden in the 2006-built Brian Meyerson-designed complex on Bronte Rd.
SALE DELIVERS GOLDEN FILLING
Dentist David Penn has sold Fernleigh, his recently renovated 1920s Double Bay investment property, for $12 million.
Maylin Liu of Black Diamondz sold the Cross St abode in conjunction with Sotheby’s.
Penn purchased it for $7.75 million from dentist Angelo Sklavos after an bidding war saw its price soar above the $5 million guidance in 2021.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is on 367sq m.
LASER FOCUS ON PENTHOUSE
Chinese billionaire Gao Yunfeng from Han’s Laser Technology group has listed his two-level, 543sq m penthouse in the Andara building at Barangaroo.
The price guidance is $18 million to $19.8 million.
The apartment sits atop the low-rise complex designed by Richard Francis-Jones of FJMT, with interiors by BKH.
Gao bought with FIRB approval for $12.5 million back in 2016.
Got a property news tip? Email jonathan.chancellor@news.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as The Sell: ‘King’ Kyle goes for Graceland vibe with Glenorie renovation
Splashdown! Day of disaster for Aussies in women’s America’s Cup
The women’s America’s Cup dream of an Australian crew is over after just two days of racing, a disastrous touchdown, a broken start penalty and erratic conditions. How it played out.
Council awarded more than $600k in compo battle over park, golf club
A Sydney council has secured a legal win against the NSW Government after disputing the amount of compensation it would receive for land forcibly acquired for a major tunnel project.