Melbourne family who own two luxury pads in same block list one for $15m

What price views? Melbourne’s wealthy Jreissati family has relisted its empty shell apartment in the Eureka Tower with a price guide of $15 million.

The whole floor apartment on level 85 is a blank canvas and could require as much as another $5 million to be spent on a luxury fitout.

The apartment is an amalgamation of two that last traded for $2.5 million each in 2013, public records show, meaning the vendors paid $5 million in total.

Despite the bare concrete interiors, the Southbank property offers floor to ceiling views across Melbourne, eight car spaces and a storage unit. The building has a 24-hour concierge service, a 30-seat cinema, swimming pool, sauna and gym.

The home is owned by a corporate vehicle whose ultimate owner is Colleen Jreissati, the wife of Bensons Property Group founder Elias Jreissati.

Bensons entered voluntary administration in December and exited it on Thursday, with control of the company returned to directors and management. The developer said in a statement that work on its sites has continued during this period and it has a development pipeline of $1.5 billion or more than 1000 homes.

The Jreissatis own another apartment in the same Fender Katsalidis-designed building, which is not only complete, but luxurious, and no longer need two. This was previously listed for sale with price hopes of $25 million, but is no longer on the market.

They previously tried to sell the empty shell in 2022 with the same price guide.

A spokesperson for the family said in a statement: “As an unfitted shell, the opportunity for someone to create their own space on level 85 is a compelling offering. We feel buyers at this level would prefer a blank canvas so they can put their own stamp on their new home.”

RT Edgar Albert Park’s Gerald Betts has the listing and thought the sellers would be flexible to negotiate as the home is surplus to requirements.

“He doesn’t need it. The dream of fitting it out has changed,” Betts said when contacted by this masthead.

The Jreissatis have also been spending time at their Levantine Hill winery in the Yarra Valley and on the Gold Coast where their company has been developing a major apartment project.

The median unit price in Southbank is just $590,000. Melbourne’s most expensive residential sale is a grand Toorak mansion that recently found a buyer for a price reported to be as high as $150 million, but thought by many industry experts to be closer to $135 million or even $115 million.

The Eureka Tower vendors are no stranger to top-end Melbourne deals. They previously sold a Port Melbourne penthouse for $16 million in 2019 and Mr Jreissati said at the time it was a trophy asset that was “almost impossible to put a price on”.

He made headlines in late 2014 by listing the two finished penthouses to let the market decide which one he would sell after his three adult children left home.