Socialite Heidi Onisforou pulls Potts Point penthouse from auction
Increased market optimism hasn’t paid off for everyone, with socialite Heidi Onisforou forced to pull her Potts Point penthouse from auction.
Socialite Heidi Onisforou pulled her Potts Point penthouse from midweek auction, signalling that the post-election property market optimism isn’t yielding sale outcomes for everyone. It had been pulled from its March auction too.
The luxury apartment was heading to auction this time with a $6 million price guide through Ray White agent Gavin Rubinstein.
MORE: Homes are getting sold only half renovated
Fire damaged cannabis farm for sale
Melissa George’s pad in LA up for sale again
The fourth-floor Macleay St offering had been initially marketed with ambitious $9 million hopes last September with another agent.
Styled into something resembling a New York-style warehouse, Onisforou had paid $4.4 million in 2016 when she was downsizing, following her then-record $13 million terrace sale on nearby Challis Ave.
She bought the apartment from late kitchen fit-out king Barry Griffin in a pricey off-market acquisition.
It had been traded just the once prior at $1.7 million in 2001 after the building’s conversion from office space by plumber John Keith.
After Onisforou modernised the 270sqm space above Zinc cafe, she then embarked on a Victoria St, Potts Point, terrace renovation.
The terrace has now been listed for a June 1 auction with some confusion in its price guidance, with published reports varying from $5.45 million to $6.5 million-plus.
Officially BresicWhitney agent Maclay Longhurst says $6 million.
Onisforou paid $4.1 million for the unrenovated 1880s Victorian Italianate terrace in 2017, when it was bought from lawyer Ezekiel Solomon.
Victoria St’s highest terrace sale was $5.75 million in 2016 when Emma Van Haandel, the owner of boutique PR agency EVH, and her husband Joel Williams bought historic Hordern House from rare-book dealers Anne McCormick and Derek McDonnell.
The latest sale in the neighbourhood was the $13 million-plus deal by hotelier Justin Hemmes of the tightly held Challis Ave commercial corner premises. Tony Benjamin, whose family make their fortune in Queensland bulky goods outlets, has been much more of a regular diner at Fish Shop since his mystery purchase.
The landmark building, Wirrara, features four large apartments and two retail shopfronts.
Hemmes’ late father, John, had bought the property for $1.428 million in 1988. The property is part of the Santa Fe row of 1905 Queen Anne-style terraces, which includes the Holiday Lodge Hotel building, also owned by Benjamin.
SIGN UP TO THE NSW REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER
Richardson and Wrench Elizabeth Bay selling agent Jason Boon said that the historic Wirrara sold at a premium as Benjamin “just wanted a trophy building”.
Originally published as Socialite Heidi Onisforou pulls Potts Point penthouse from auction