Ex-BoQ boss George Frazis asking $8500 a week for Bondi Beach penthouse
Former Bank of Queensland boss George Frazis has listed his two-level Bondi Beach penthouse for lease at $8500 a week.
Recently departed Bank of Queensland boss George Frazis has listed his two-level Bondi Beach penthouse for lease.
Frazis is seeking $8500-a-week tenants for the space atop The Bondi on Campbell Parade.
It comes with 234sqm of internal living space plus 180sqm of external space on the north side of the building designed by architects PTW. Its ninth-floor rooftop comes with outdoor kitchen, spa, enclosed dining area and sunken lounge area.
“This stunning penthouse apartment is an outstanding executive address of true international appeal,” the marketing by Di Jones leasing agent Bridgette Barker suggests. It is available furnished, but at an additional undisclosed cost.
It was bought for $8m in 2015 from accountant Anthony Bell when Frazis was at Westpac.
The career banker, who took the top job at BoQ in September 2019 having also worked at NAB and St George, had previously owned a few doors away at the Beach House complex.
His axing from the BoQ job after just three years came with its chairman, Patrick Allaway, advising shareholders the board had made it clear to Frazis it had wanted a different style of leadership over a “prolonged period”.
Frazis’s career and residency plans are not yet known, but he is directing his mail to accountants Ecovis Clark Jacobs. He left BoQ’s new Sydney office with a $1.1m termination payout. Allaway is the bank’s executive chairman as recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles seeks to find a replacement.
The Bondi complex’s other penthouse has been just listed for sale at $18m by FiveX commercial property boss Joshua Berger and his wife Michelle.
It was bought in 2016 for $7.575m from former Ramsay Healthcare chief Chris Rex and his wife Lynette.
The apartment also has end-to-end views of the beach from Ben Buckler to Icebergs, but on the less desirable southern side of the building.
Auction market slow
National auction activity was 26 per cent lower last week than the same week in 2022. Of the 938 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 67 per cent were successfully sold, steady on the last week of January, but lower than the 72 per cent for the same time last year.
“Considering final auction clearance rates finished last year around the low 50 per cent range, it looks like auction markets have reset a little higher through 2023, although clearance rates remain well below long-term average levels,” Tim Lawless at CoreLogic noted.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty noted the numbers heading to auction were set to pick up steadily over the first half of February, “albeit not at the speed seen during the same time last year”.
“The year-on-year slowdown in auction activity is unsurprising. Conditions have moderated and would-be vendors are displaying greater caution and, in some cases, eschewing auctions in favour of other selling methods,” Flaherty said.
There are 578 auctions scheduled in Sydney this week, up 12 per cent year on year, and 574 auctions scheduled in Melbourne, down 28 per cent year on year.
Stylish sandstone
Adelaide again recorded the nation’s highest preliminary clearance rate at 79 per cent last week, followed by Canberra at 71 per cent, according to CoreLogic.
There were around 130 Adelaide auctions, amid plenty of fresh private treaty offerings and sales.
The top notified sale was at St Peters, where $2.2m was paid for the four-bedroom 1890 home at 10 Sixth Ave through Toop & Toop. The sandstone-fronted villa was marketed as having an “eyelash veranda with iron lace detail”. Inside were polished Baltic floorboards.
Richard and Dimity Thwaites, former franchisee owners of LJ Hooker Kensington, have listed their St Peters home of almost three decades. The 1900 sandstone trophy home has been listed through Sally Cameron of Toop & Toop Real Estate with a $3.75m price guide.
The Winchester Street offering is being marketed as being “on one of the quietest of St Peters’ exclusive plane tree lined streets”.
Set on 975sqm, the five-bedroom, three-bathroom abode features marble fireplaces, parquetry floors and a cellar.
One of Adelaide’s most viewed properties was a fire-damaged semi in Elizabeth North that fetched $170,000 having come with a price guide of $159,000 to $169,000.
There were more than 18,000 views of the listing on realestate.com.au that sold through Dominic Cirillo at Ray White. The property last sold for $103,000 in 2004.
$8.9m tops nation
The Gold Coast had the nation’s top weekend auction result when $8.9m was paid at Palm Beach for a beachfront home. The tri-level Tuscan-style home sits on a 597sqm holding. The Jefferson Lane building block had been sold at $975,000 in 1995 when offloaded by Equititrust merchant banker Mark McIvor. It was offered through Troy Dowker at Kolloshe Broadbeach, who announced it on the market at $7.6m. There were seven bidders seeking the home.
Sydney’s top-priced offering was pulled from auction, suggesting Luke Hogan and Frazer Watson of McGrath have more work to do to secure its sale. With an unchanged $10.9m guidance, the Graylind Place trophy home has been rescheduled for February 18 auction.
Set on 625sqm, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house has harbour views.
Tudor Lodge, the historic Fairfax Rd, Bellevue Hill house, was sold at an undisclosed price but apparently at a smidgen over its $7m hopes, through Michael Pallier at Sotheby’s International.
History on market
Brisbane’s top weekend sale was when unrenovated New Farm home Doralma fetched $3.42m. The 1910 home has been in Brisbane historian Judy Magub’s family since its construction. The 123 Oxlade Dr home saw action from three of the five registered bidders at its Ray White auction.
There was a $2.15m sale when a Queenslander-style home at 105 Towers Street, Ascot was offered for the first time in four decades. The Place selling agents Drew Davies and Jonathan Tesese had seven registered bidders, after around 50 buyer groups had inspected the two-bedroom home.
Barangaroo offer
Carole Meers, widow of pub baron, philanthropist and former Sydney lord mayor Nelson Meers, has decided to list their luxury apartment in Crown’s One Barangaroo tower. They paid $17.5m for the 71st-floor three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment shortly after its early 2021 completion. It has views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.
The apartment comes with a $21m asking price through Erin van Tuil at Knight Frank Residential. The 220sqm internal space, with 15sqm balcony, comes with $13,052 quarterly strata fees.
Meers, the subject of ill-timed Sydney Morning Herald articles since his death last year, was the lord mayor between 1978 and 1980. His wake was held at his beloved Sydney Town Hall. Carole has decided she will reside in their longtime apartment in the Renzo Paino-designed Macquarie St, Sydney complex.
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