Lowes owner scores $40m Covid ‘masterpiece’

A Sydney dream home that took six years to build during Covid has sold to the owner of Lowes Menswear for $40m.

A Sydney dream home that took six years to build during Covid has sold to the owner of Lowes Menswear for $40m.

A Rose Bay dream home that took six years to build during Covid has sold to the co-owner of Lowes Menswear, Jeffrey Mueller and his wife, Stephanie.

The buyer of the five-bedroom “architectural masterpiece” designed by Studio Johnston at 1 Rawson Rd hit the market at the start of May in an expressions of interest campaign via Biller Property’s Paul Biller and Ben Torban.

The sold sticker went up in July and since then the purchaser has been a mystery, until this week’s settlement records have revealed the Muellers paid $38,500,000 for the stunning home.

Jeffrey Mueller co-owns the iconic Lowes brand with his sister, Linda Penn, who is CEO.

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The property took nearly six years to rebuild.

The home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a lift, pool and four-car garage.

Don’t be surprised if the Muellers’ current residence in Serpentine Pde, Vaucluse, that records show was purchased in December, 1993 for $2.85m appears with the Biller Property team soon.

It’s likely to be highly sought after, being one of few properties in the neighbourhood with a tennis court.

The Rawson Rd property had previously been owned by company director David Pacanowski and his wife, Maxine, who bought an old-style five-bedroom home on the 679sqm block for $6,825,000 in late 2015 with the intention of rebuilding.

Jeffrey Mueller and Stephanie Mueller.

But the project took nearly six years and in that time, their life changed.

They lived in it for several years while they worked out the type of home they wanted, commissioned the architects to design it, got their approvals sorted — there was a Land and Environment Court battle — and then set to work.

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The new home was designed by Studio Johnston.

There are iconic Sydney Harbour views at every turn.

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At the time of the May listing, David said: “We built it to live in, but because it took so long — Covid also delayed us — and now our son has moved to Byron and we just don’t need such a big house.”

The home has five bedrooms and five-bathrooms, a lift, pool and four-car garage.

Biller said at the time: “This is a turn-key home with unparalleled elegance and craftsmanship with iconic Sydney Harbour views at every turn.”

It’s the views that David Pacanowski says he’ll miss the most.

“The views are number one ….and the finishes are just unbelievably good,” he said.

“The joiner quoted us three months but it took 18 — you won’t find a crooked join in the house.

“The staff we had here were brilliant; we’ve known the builder for a very long time.”

Would he do a massive construction job again? “Never say never, but it’s not on my mind to do another development,” he says.

At Lowes! Picture: Supplied

“Building through Covid was a nightmare and there’s so much red tape to go through — what you need to do is ginormous and time consuming and it costs a lot of money for a site to sit there for six years and not be used.”

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Originally published as Lowes owner scores $40m Covid ‘masterpiece’