Bubble tea queen buys best house in Dover Heights, sets $16.8m record

When entrepreneur Lili Shi was in her 20s she was gifted $70,000 by her parents to buy a house. She didn’t do it, but instead took up the franchise for a Japanese crêpe business with a friend, then added a bubble tea business a few years later.

Good thing too. Shi has since spearheaded the expansion of Taiwan’s Gong Cha bubble tea business throughout Australia, starting with one store in 2011 to what is now 145 stores. And this week she parlayed that success onto high-end property records.

The Dover Heights house that set a record in 2022 has been resold for a new high of $16.8 million.Credit: Domain

Shi has quietly purchased what is arguably the best house in Dover Heights, a contemporary five-bedroom, five-bathroom residence for $16.8 million, setting a suburb record.

The three-level residence last traded in 2022 for $14.25 million when sold by MYOB co-founder and Shack Homewares owner Lance Shofer and his wife Julie, setting what was then the suburb high.

Shi is coming from the Sutherland Shire where in 2015 – and with just a dozen Gong Cha bubble tea stores – she purchased a waterfront house in Kangaroo Point for $3.15 million. The five-bedroom house on Oyster Bay is currently listed with McGrath’s Hayden Duncan for $4.5 million.

Meanwhile, Waverley also has a new suburb record. The house last set a record of $11 million two years ago when it was sold by neurosurgeon Mark Winder to former Goldman Sachs senior executive and Zip Co board member Pippa Downes and her former partner, family law specialist and managing director of Barker Evans Nicole Evans.

The Waverley home of Pippa Downes and Nicole Evans has reset the Waverley house price record at $11.7 million.Credit: Domain

Two weeks ago it was listed by PPD’s Alexander Phillips with a $10 million guide, but sold well ahead of the scheduled August 24 auction. Phillips was keeping the result to himself, but not so an independent source who put it at $11.7 million, which not only recoups the purchase price but also the $700,000 stamp duty.

Bronte pearler

Ruby, Luca and Alessandro Autore, of the Tamarama-based Autore pearling family, have purchased two beachside semis in Bronte for $13 million.

Bob and Marie Easton bought the two semis opposite Bronte Beach as a package deal in 2015 for $7.5 million.Credit: Domain

The two houses were sold by former Accenture ANZ chairman and chief Bob Easton and his wife Marie after they were listed with PPD’s Phillips, initially for $15 million but revised to $12 million.

Ruby Autore founded the pearl jewellery house Autore Moda, part of her family’s Autore pearl business.Credit: Helen Nezdropa

Given gag orders on the result it was left to settlement to reveal the Autore family’s purchase, presumably offering a decent first address out of home for the children of Jane and Rosario Autore, founder of the pearl company.

The two properties last traded in 2015 as a package deal for $7.5 million.

Mosman reshuffle

Stock picker Rob Luciano is reshuffling more than just his fund management millions of late. Having recently sold out of two ASX-listed funds, VGI Partners and Regal Asian Investments, he has listed one of his Mosman investment properties for a $6 million guide.

The Mosman semi of Rob Luciano is listed for $6 million.Credit: Domain

The four-bedroom house last traded in 2016 for $2.58 million. He also bought its twin next door 20 years ago for $1.45 million.

Rob Luciano is the founder of VGI Partners, now part of Regal Partners.Credit: James Brickwood

Luciano, who founded VGI Partners before it merged with Phil King’s Regal Partners in 2022, still owns in Mosman. In 2020, he and his wife Samantha paid $18 million for a house on Hopetoun Avenue, having spent the same amount on a Palm Beach getaway in 2018.

Raine & Horne Mosman’s Brendan Warner, who sold Luciano his home in Mosman’s Golden Triangle, has scheduled it for auction on August 24.

Clontarf finish

Freedom Furniture chief Blaine Callard has sold his Clontarf home for $9.75 million, almost doubling the $5 million he paid in 2019.

The Clontarf home of Freedom Furniture boss Blaine Callard has sold for $9.75 million.Credit: Domain

This is the house that was built by the late oil baron Sir Walter Leonard after he bought the land in 1950 for £875.

It was sold by the estate of Leonard’s widow Lady Yvonne Leonard, who died in 2018 aged 96.

Callard isn’t going far. Records show he has purchased a five-bedroom house in the suburb next door, Seaforth, for $7.62 million.

Grand discounts

Chateau Narla in Bayview was discounted from $20 million to $14 million before it sold.Credit: Domain

The northern beaches estate Chateau Narla owned by Thompson Controls chief Glenn Botha has scored a buyer, albeit at a discount from the more than $20 million hopes of May last year.

Christie’s Darren Curtis and Belle’s Greg Griffin declined to confirm the sale, but pulled the marketing from property portals this week, having recently offered the acreage for $14 million.

The 10-bathroom mansion with tennis court and pool last traded in 2016 for $4.55 million.

Strata life

Curraghbeena House, the landmark home of the late lawyer Rodon King and his widow Gabrielle, is for sale on the Mosman waterfront.

Curraghbeena House on the Mosman waterfront comes with a heritage-listed boatshed and a harbour pool.Credit: Domain

Set at the end of Curraghbeena Point, it was three apartments until converted into a single residence by Alliance Airlines co-founder and chairman Steve Padgett and his wife Lorraine, who sold it in 2013 for $4.35 million to the Kings.

The Agency’s Dino Gatti has a $10.5 million guide.