Daniel Grollo’s Melbourne penthouse for sale after Grocon collapse

Daniel Grollo’s luxury penthouse, taking up a whole floor of Melbourne’s Eureka Tower, has been listed for sale in the fallout from the Grocon collapse.

Daniel Grollo’s apartment on level 80, Eureka Tower, on Melbourne’s Southbank.

Daniel Grollo’s luxury penthouse, taking up a whole floor of Melbourne’s Eureka Tower, has been listed for sale in the fallout from the Grocon collapse.

It is being sold under instructions from KordaMentha as administrator of Grocon ET 80 Pty Ltd, which is subject to a deed of company arrangement.

Offers close March 15 for the 80th floor apartment that had been home to building tycoon and his former wife, Kat.

Veteran Kay & Burton agent Gerald Delany is conducting the expressions of interest marketing campaign in conjunction with Sutherland Farrelly agent Grant Sutherland.

Their indicative selling range is $10m to $11m.

The Grollos paid $6.25m for their shell in 2007. The four-bedroom apartment has multiple living and dining zones, study, fitness room, five bathrooms, and eight car spaces.

There are exquisite stone, marble and timber finishes, plus hi-tech home automation along with Wolf, Subzero, Boffi and Miele appliances. There are mosaic frescoes by French artist Mathilde Jonquiere.

The couple tried to sell their whole floor space with an $8.2m asking price in 2011.

It’s set in the iconic 300m high-rise with a 24-hour concierge, residents’ pool, gym, sauna and cinema.

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$5.1m at The Event

The top price among 21 prestige listings at Ray White’s The Event on Friday night was $5.1m for the penthouse in the Moroccan Esplanade complex at Surfers Paradise.

There had been over 6000 views of the listing on realestate.com.au as it was offered for the first time in 18 years.

The renovated two-level penthouse in the Moroccan Esplanase at Surfers Paradise fetched $5.1m.

The renovated two-level penthouse, complete with crystal chandeliers, had a full floor master bedroom with marble stone bathroom, multiple walk-in robes, laundry and kitchenette.

It was offered through Ray White agent Anthony Cheeseman, having last sold in 2004 at $3,225,000 when bought by its Victorian vendors. It first sold in 1997 to New Zealand buyers at $2.2m after being developed by Jim Raptis.

The auction also saw Katie Page’s M3565 penthouse at Main Beach – described as “world class” – passed in on an $8m vendor bid, with auctioneer Andrew Bell unsuccessfully seeking a $500,000 advance for the next bid.

“The most discerning buyers live in the building,” Bell said.

Over 50 were watching the auction room proceedings via Zoom, including the CEO at the Sarina Russo group, Kathleen Newcombe along with an attendee just giving the name Sarina. There was also a Clive Palmer briefly in attendance.

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Clearance rate rising

There were 1160 homes taken to auction across all the capital cities last week, up on the 884 at the same week last year. Of the 885 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 74 per cent have been successful, up from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 68 per cent, which revised down to a final clearance rate of 66 per cent.

Tim Lawless at CoreLogic noted this was the highest preliminary clearance rate across the combined capitals since mid-November. Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 83 per cent with 194 offerings, followed by Canberra 82 per cent and Brisbane at 81 per cent.

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Brisbane targeted

Sydney buyers seem to have stepped up their acquisitions in Brisbane following the border opening. One secured a $2.72m five-bedroom, architect-designed home with a rooftop terrace and 270-degree views in Hawthorne, in Brisbane’s inner east. Another Sydney buyer spent $1.775m in Red Hill, seeing off four other bidders.

97 Philip Street, Hawthorne, in Brisbane’s inner east.

The 97 Philip St, Hawthorne offering saw 11 registered bidders when auctioned Saturday by Ray White agents Brandon Wortley and Matt Lancashire. There had been 7100 views of the property on realestate.com.au during its extended marketing campaign. The young Sydney couple had not seen the house until the auction morning. “They have just moved up from Sydney and were thrilled that they could finally start looking at houses in person,” Wortley said.

“I would say that about 50 per cent of the interest was from interstate buyers.

“There is so much confidence in the Brisbane property market at the moment.”

The developer Brent Thompson from Siera Group, had paid $1.385m for the 810sq m double home building block in 2019, securing $3.1m for the Tim Stewart-designed neighbouring house. The weekend auction was a 374sq m block, and while having the same attributes, the neighbouring house on a 436sq m block did gain some width.

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Bellevue beauty

The weekend’s top auction sale came when $12m was paid for a Bellevue Hill house. The three-level, 2013-built house comes with a lift connecting the levels to its six-car garage.

The Warren Rd house, which last sold in 2014 for $6.808m, was offered through Ray White Norwest agents Allen Yan and Kate Le who kicked off its marketing in November. There were six registered bidders. After the opening $10m bid, the reserve was adjusted to $11.8m.

35 Warren Road, Bellevue Hill.

Sydney was host to 326 auctions last week, up just 73 over the previous week, and higher than the 270 this time last year. Of the 254 results collected so far, 70 per cent have been successful, up on the prior week. The same week last year, 76 per cent were successful.

Melbourne was the busiest location with 393 homes auctioned, up from 140 over the previous week, and similar to the same week last year. Of the 320 results collected so far, 68 per cent were successful, up over the prior week. At the same time last year, 80 per cent were successful.

Melbourne’s top notified sale was $1.884m in Templestowe, with a higher undisclosed sale in North Balwyn. The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 1 Romilly Avenue, Templestowe had a $1.38m to $1.48m price guide through Ray White. There was also a $3.6m Phillip Island beachfront holiday home sale at Cowes through O’Brien Real Estate agent Joshua ­Dunstan that had been listed with $3.3m hopes.

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Gaines downsizes

Elizabeth Gaines, the departing CEO of Fortescue Metals, and husband Kevin Manuel seem set to downsize in Perth’s Cottesloe, as they oversee plans to build at their recently acquired 81ha escape at Wilyabrup, near Honeycombs Beach.

The couple sold last week in Cottesloe, with the five-bedroom home fetching $7.35m through estate agent William Porteous. He knows the house, which comes with office, gym and lift, as it had been the home of his daughter, Olivia Porteous until its sale for $5.7m in early 2018 to Gaines.

The couple have spent $2.15m elsewhere in Cottesloe for their city townhouse.

Their $1,804,000 Margaret River purchase is a building block with a large dam, a pretty winter creek, and views of the Indian Ocean, that was marketed as offering “a wonderful rural lifestyle opportunity like no other in the wine region.”

It boasts a mix of pasture and bushland, Stocker Preston agent Louis De Chiera’s marketing said.