James Packer is buying into a Potts Point development across the road from his sister, Gretel

James Packer. Picture: Ana Badillo/The Australian

James Packer seems to have acquired a deepening taste for real estate since the sale of his stake in Crown Resorts last year. First it was townhouses in the Geelong suburb of Corio, with plans soon evolving for an entire residential community (its working title has a peculiarly evangelical tone to it: “Edenville”).

Now it seems Packer is trying his hand at an upscale apartment development on Macleay St in Sydney’s Potts Point – and by that we mean the “Paris end” of Macleay St, as the locals have dubbed it.

The project is only a short glide along the harbour from Packer’s two-storey apartment in Barangaroo’s Crown Towers building, which the billionaire will eyeball for the first time upon arrival this weekend. Assuming the apartment is ready, of course; as of last month there were still tradesmen scattered about making sure the paint had suitably dried.

Gretel Packer owns an $8.75m apartment in the nearby Macleay Regis.

Currently in Saudi Arabia for the recent Formula 1 grand prix, we hear Packer’s taken a 10 per cent stake in the redevelopment of a building called The Chimes. Conveniently, it happens to be located across the street from the Macleay Regis, where his sister, Gretel, owns an $8.75m apartment. On Wednesday news filtered through that she had bought a second pad, adjoining her own, for about $9m. Sibling rivalry at play?

Melbourne developer Time & Place has been working for more than two years with The Chimes’ owners and City of Sydney Council to acquire units in the existing block. They’ve placed caveats on others.

It seems there’s one company that owns many of the apartments in the building, and our inquiries suggest Packer and former Crown executive Todd Nisbet acquired a 49.9 per cent stake in that entity using their own corporate vehicle, Packer’s share of which is 20 per cent, ­giving him roughly 10 per cent of the total project.

The consortium is expected to spend $85m demolishing the building and replacing it with 45 apartments (including two penthouses) in a nine-level complex sporting commercial space at street level.

Price is right

Meanwhile Packer and Melbourne property developer Tim Price have done business in the past, notably a 2021 deal with Crown Resorts that went largely unnoticed.

Price’s Time & Place quietly paid what was then Packer’s casino company $6.6m for a block of land in the Crown precinct that sits alongside the developer’s existing site and has since evolved into a $410m residential and hotel project.

The conduit between Price and Packer appears to be Nisbet, the point man responsible for all project development at Crown. Nisbet’s private NDVR Capital is also an investor in The Chimes, along with Packer’s unfolding property play in Corio. They were contacted for comment.

And it’s not just commercial opportunities that Price is juggling. Earlier this month he sold his Kew mansion acquired for $10.37m a couple of years ago, in a deal that’s yet to settle.

He’s also in a battle with Stonnington Council over a building proposal first lodged in 2021 to develop a Glen Iris block into two townhouses. It’s been the subject of much back and forth, with the council’s decision pending.

A budget buster

The Albanese government looks to be milking as much coin as possible out of its corporate affiliates ahead of the annual trudge to Canberra for budget night on May 9.

The Federal Labor Business Forum is hosting an inaugural “standing networking dinner reception” with what promises to be the entirety of the Labor caucus. It’s $1500 per ticket and will be hosted by Ed Husic, with guest appearances from Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.

We assume that by “standing” the organisers quite literally mean guests will be paying for the pleasure of staying vertical for three hours. This while trying to establish whether or not their industries have been rogered in the fine detail of the budget papers. What a gas!

Back in October, when Labor handed down its first budget (the “mini-budget”, as it was known), the cost of a networking drink with Reid MP Sally Sitou and fellow backbenchers was a bargain at $500, while $1500 bought a seat at the regulation dinner.

Ed Husic in Question Time. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

That was held at Canberra’s National Arboretum and went down an absolute treat; dinner was served at almost 10pm and the noise was so appallingly loud that few could hear the Treasurer deliver his speech in parliament, beamed live onto screens inside the venue.

The price to relive that dining experience, this time hosted by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, has been bumped up to $5000 per ticket, and guests are being taunted with an anxiety-inducing threat that seating is limited.

“The event is intended to be more intimate than previous years,” the invitation notes. “Please consider this invite in conjunction with the Standing Networking Dinner Reception.”

Somehow all Labor MPs – including cabinet ministers – are supposed to be in attendance at the networking dinner. They’re also expected to appear at the budget dinner being held at the same time.

Unless we’re missing something, it looks like someone in the FLBF camp is doing a wee bit of overpromising. That’s the perennial problem with budget evenings, regardless of who’s in power: you expect nothing and still feel disappointment.

48 hours of pain

It’s been a rotten 48 hours for at least one New Century short seller. Looks like they were left scrambling to close out their position before Sibanye-Stillwater’s takeover passes its 90 per cent ownership target, expected any day now.

Margin Call understands about 1.7 million shares were traded between Tuesday and Wednesday at prices in excess of Sibanye’s offer of $1.10 a share for the mining and metals business. Much of that volume seems to have been placed by a single position being squeezed. How else to explain the anomalous spike in shares being purchased on Tuesday at prices ranging from $1.14, $1.18 and all the way up to an intraday high of $1.20.

The irony is that the short sellers were on the money. The company’s share price tanked last month to a record low of 77c. If not for the intervention of Sibanye, further drops were expected to follow due to heavy rainfall hampering operations in north Queensland. An update released last week stated that extremely high rainfall had paralysed the company’s Century Mine operation and Karumba Port Facility, affecting production forecasts.