Handbag queen’s huge $70m win

This Aussie fashion queen is eyeing off a mindblowing $70m payday.

Aussie fashion powerhouse Oroton is eyeing off a mindblowing $70m payday. Picture: Oroton

Tom and Emma Lane’s love affair with the Byron Bay hinterland began after they took their young family on an overseas holiday that “didn’t quite go to plan”.

Tom, grandson of the Oroton fashion label founder Boyd Lane, says: “Young kids and overseas travel, it doesn’t really work, so we decided we had to have a holiday destination in Australia.

“The fourth kid was still in Mum’s tummy, and we decided to give our kids a bit of what I grew up with — a mix of country and city life.”

That was 13 years ago.

Now the couple stand to make more than $70m in 18 months from the sale of two prestige properties redeveloped in their own “unique” way.

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An aerial view of Copperstone ... luxuries include a wellness centre with a sauna, stream room and ice bath, a tennis court, a pool house alongside a 25m mineral pool and a games room.

Emma Lane, pictured at the property.

Tom, born and bred in Sydney’s Manly, says they have a “business model”: buying properties, redeveloping them “with their own handwriting and ethical bent”, living in them for a while and re-selling them.

These have included The Farm at Ewingsdale, which sold for about $16m in 2020.

But even more notably, The Range at Coopers Shoot, for a North Coast record of $37m last year via Kim Jones of Kim Jones + Co.

And now comes Copperstone near Bangalow, a 19ha property bought for $3m in 2021 and built from scratch in the style of an Argentinian horse ranch, which has a $35m guide, also via Jones.

Lane says Copperstone is “better than The Range in many ways”.

“We’ve turned the dial up on materials, it’s also flatter land so it’s a more useable space; it’s set up as an equine property so there’s a beautiful set of stables and there’s two-and-a-half km of post-and-rail fence,” he adds.

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“You’re basically overlooking your own parkland.”

“We do things differently with the way we build and the materials we use.”

“You’re basically overlooking your own parkland, it’s very private but still very close to town, a little oasis!”

Luxuries include a wellness centre with a sauna, stream room and ice bath, a tennis court, a pool house alongside a 25m mineral pool and a games room.

The Lanes have called on Jones once again to sell it, who says it could potentially re-set the North Coast record.

“The guide is $35m but it’s better than The Range, so who knows?” she said.

The Lanes have more to come, with an 8.3ha property next door to Liam Hemsworth’s at Newrybar.

“We’re in the middle of designing that one ... we’d been looking at that property for 19 years,” says Tom Lane.

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It’s a little oasis.

“A lot of thought goes into how each home comes to life, that works for us and our guests.”

“We’re just fine-tuning it and getting ready to lodge the DA, with the idea to redevelop and sell it, unless someone comes along and says ‘we love what you’ve done’.”

Simply getting DA approval for a unique concept and not proceeding with the reno has worked for them before — on a project much further south, at Bowral in the Southern Highlands.

They bought a 42ha property known as Wirramirra, with a homestead, guest cottages, stables, pool and tennis court last July for $9.75m, got approval for an extension and sold it eight months later for $14.5m.

As Lane says: “We create something unique, very private, very bespoke.

“We do things differently with the way we build and the materials we use, a lot of it recycled, trying to avoid a lot of paint and chemicals and a lot of thought goes into how each home comes to life, that works for us and our guests.”

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Originally published as Handbag queen’s huge $70m win