Flight Centre’s Graham Turner and wife Jude extend Spicers Retreats service

Spicers Retreats, owned by Flight Centre co-founder Graham Turner and wife Jude, will launch a new private home rental service for cashed-up holidaymakers.

Flight Centre chief Graham Turner with his wife Jude Turner. Picture: AAP

Spicers Retreats, owned by Flight Centre co-founder Graham Turner and wife Jude, will launch a new private home rental service for cashed-up holidaymakers from September 1. The Turners, who are presently in London on business, are tipping some of their own properties, a luxury apartment at First Point in Noosa overlooking Main Beach that they purchased 20 years ago, and the Beach Shack on Belongil Beach near Byron Bay, into the portfolio. A third property in Queensland’s Glasshouse Mountains is slated for the collection that will include more than 50 private homes within the next 24 months, from Hamilton Island, to the Barossa to Port Douglas. The Turners want luxury residential property owners to include their opulent homes in their new collection, called Private Collection by Spicers.

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Turk relists, at a lower price

Business lawyer Peter Turk has dropped the price of his Killara mansion on Sydney’s north shore to $11m and has relisted it, this time with McGrath agent Glenn Curran. The 41 Stanhope Rd property on 3661sq m has a tennis court, pool and studio plus a 116sq m wraparound veranda. Curran is yet to set the auction date for the house, which hit the market last year with an asking price of $12m-$13.2m. Turk paid $1.55m for the six-bedroom, five-bathroom property in 1994, CoreLogic records show.

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Sprinter puts home in the running

Former Olympic sprinter Dean Capobianco, who is now the chief executive of Geoscape Australia, has listed his four-bedroom and two-bathroom Clovelly mansion in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with a price guide of $4.5m. The Agency’s Bethwyn Richards says the property is one of only a handful presently listed in the popular suburb. The auction of the contemporary-style Clovelly Rd house is set for August 28.

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Divine opportunity in Launceston

A City Baptist Church dating back to 1842, as well as an inner-city apartment and 31-space car park are up for grabs at a price of about $3.5m in the heart of Launceston. The Baptist Union of Tasmania is offering the large central land holding steeped in history fronting Frederick and St John streets via a tender closing on September 1. Shepherd & Heap Commercial agent Blake Shepherd is handling the campaign for the 3142sq m of land on two titles. He reckons townhouses or apartments could be developed over the large rear car park or the buyer could earn about $45,000 annually from the car park.

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Long Bay sentenced to continue

Little Bay residents spent last week gossiping that the NSW government plans to sell Long Bay Jail. The sprawling edifice occupies one of Sydney’s most spectacular sites. But a NSW Corrective Services spokeswoman said no decision had been made about the future of Long Bay. “Any possible redevelopment of the site would not begin until additional correctional capacity had been procured in Greater Sydney,” she said. Meanwhile, Harry Triguboff’s Meriton Apartments will continue to pursue plans to develop apartment towers on its Little Bay site.