Sold in 24 hours: Mega off-market deal struck for rare river home
A Brisbane waterfront home that wasn’t for sale has changed owners in just 24 hours after a tech CEO made an offer too good to refuse.
A waterfront home that wasn’t for sale has changed owners in just 24 hours after the buyer made an offer too good to refuse in one of the biggest off-market deals of its kind.
Called “The Ripples” it is one of the last remaining private riverfront houses in Merthyr Estate on New Farm’s riverfront, among only 11 with their own pontoon on the stretch, and is changing hands for just the second time in 26 years.
Real estate agents Hamish Bowman and Joel Imeson of Hamish Bowman Properties sold the Griffith Street property in New Farm within Brisbane’s inner city for 85 per cent more than it fetched five years ago. It last sold just weeks before pandemic lockdown in February 2020.
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“The buyer actually identified that property and asked us to knock on their door,” Mr Bowman told The Courier-Mail. “It was a targeted approach, and we’d met the sellers in another property in Brisbane.”
The sale was completed “within 24 hours of engagement” for $10.35m compared to the $5.6m that the exiting owners had paid in 2020.
Mr Imeson said “the buyer is a local Brisbane entrepreneur who has done penthouse living for a long time and briefed us to find him a beautiful New Farm historic home on the river. He’s a CEO of a large global tech company.”
“He’s got a young family, and he’s in a penthouse, and just feels like the next step for them is a bit of grass, and were lucky enough to be able to afford Brisbane’s pre-eminent strip.”
Property records show the exiting owner is a member of Queensland building family the Gabriellis – of the A Gabrielli Constructions firm which began in Townsville over 50 years ago – and had done substantial work to achieve approval to develop the Spanish mission style heritage home.
Mr Imeson confirmed the sale “went unconditional Thursday evening”.
Mr Bowman said the new owner wanted that lifestyle specifically. “There are only 11 properties with a pontoon from New Farm Park to the start of the river walk on Merthyr Road, meaning they don’t have a river walk in front of them.”
Mr Imeson added “they’re direct waterfront, with a pontoon, which is fantastic for privacy and everything else”.
“The seller has gone and got development approval,” Mr Bowman said. “Keeping the basic structure, the heritage and integrity of the look, but it’s now being converted into a four level, architectural, riverfront masterpiece.”
“The absolute waterfront heritage listed home sits on 739sq m of land and has a development approval to convert the existing home into a stunning four-bedroom, four bathroom, 4 car architectural masterpiece spread over 4 levels.”
The new owner has already begun discussions with a builder to implement the Gabriellis vision for the site.
Mr Bowman said “we were able to use our expertise and knowledge to source that seller with a very particular brief in a short period of time, and we’re able to negotiate it quick, so that would allow the seller to move on and the buyer to get in. They’re going to start building sooner rather than later. We’ve already called the builder who’s quoted so that site won’t sit idle for long.”
The riverfront site has front row seats to stunning views across the city skyline and the Story Bridge, is a short walk to the city cat on one side and popular entertainment spot Howard Smith Wharves via the riverwalk.
Originally published as Sold in 24 hours: Mega off-market deal struck for rare river home