Bold beach project pays off

Buyers flock to a rare offering in an exclusive suburb.

The Kalypso apartment building in Tamarama

Launching an off-the-plan luxury beachside apartment complex in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lead-up to winter was not for the faint of heart but it appears to have paid off for a boutique development company planning a project in the Sydney suburb of Coogee.

Despite COVID-19 and the brakes it has put on the nation’s real estate market, seven off-the-plan apartments including the three-bedroom penthouse in the proposed 15-unit Anden complex planned for Oberon Street, Coogee, have sold for a total of about $16m since the project’s launch just four weeks ago.

The three-bedroom penthouse in the Anden complex in Oberon Street, Coogee features a wellness centre

“We released this in the middle of COVID-19, this is unprecedented,” said selling agent Ben Stewart, CBRE’s senior director of residential projects.

Mr Stewart reckons Anden, which is being developed by Sydney development firm Central Element, has been extremely popular because there is virtually no new apartment supply in the Coogee area.

He had initially envisaged it would be difficult to sell off the plan in such an uncertain property market but be said buyers in the Anden complex, all owner-occupiers, were local people flocking in from the surrounding suburbs of Randwick and Clovelly. “There’s lots of owner-occupiers and empty-nester buyers,” he said, adding that the complex had attracted a couple of doctors.

With more than 50 per cent of the boutique apartment complex now sold, CBRE said that despite COVID-19 the agency was seeing a strong interest in high-quality developments within blue-chip suburbs with limited stock that caters to the local downsizers.

Mr Stewart said there were eight remaining apartments available for sale in Anden starting from $1.18m for a one-bedder rising to $1.6m for a two-bedder and $3.7m for a three-bedroom unit.

Construction of the boutique apartment complex will start within two months, he said.

All apartments feature flowing living spaces that spill to sun-drenched terraces or private garden courtyards.

The three-bedroom penthouse in the Anden complex offers an attractive courtyard

The apartment interiors are by Lawless & Myerson and include Gaggenau Appliances, Astra Walker tapware, double vanities, oak timber flooring, natural stone, concrete and marble. Shared communal spaces include a communal garden and wellness room complete with Italian-designed infra-red sauna.

Inside the three-bedroom penthouse in the Anden complex in Oberon Street, Coogee

Meanwhile, developer Danny Avidan will launch his Kalypso apartment complex in nearby Tamarama by August or September, with marketing also through CBRE’s Mr Stewart.

Mr Avidan, a former lawyer and rag trader, is developing the $50m Kalypso complex comprising apartments, sub penthouses (with wine rooms and fireplaces) and a penthouse overlooking Bondi Bay and the famed Bondi to Bronte Coastal Walk.

The development is slated for a prominent site at 63 Fletcher Street, Tamarama, with apartment prices expected to start around $1.7m for the complex’s three one-bedroom apartments.

The three-bedroom penthouse in the Anden complex in Oberon Street, Coogee features an attractive facade

The four two-bedders will meet the market at about $3m each with design inspiration taken from the existing art deco building on site.

There’s also one three-bedroom apartment priced at about $5m but Mr Avidan is yet to cost the two sub-penthouses and the penthouse — one of which he is considering retaining himself.

Melbourne-based interior designer Miriam Fanning of MIM Design is doing Kalypso’s ­interiors.

Up-market Wolf and Subzero appliances are being used throughout the project while the walk-in pantries feature substantial laundries.