Grand living on the Mornington Peninsula

Escaping to the Mornington Peninsula is the tightly held dream of thousands of Melburnians, lifting interest in top-end homes.

Mount Eliza’s Morning Star estate was sold for close to its $40m asking price.

Escaping to the Mornington Peninsula is a tightly held dream of thousands of Melburnians as they prepare for life in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic has flicked the switch to more flexible ways of working and with fewer days expected in offices and more time for leisure, traditional holiday haunts are taking on a new life.

The influx of tree changers, who can still be in contact with city offices via web connections and improved freeways, is expected to charge up the top end of the real estate market.

In one of the biggest plays on the peninsula, My Chemist Retail Group co-owner Mario Verrocchi has swooped on Mount Eliza’s Morning Star estate for close to its $40m asking price, giving him control of one of the state’s most substantial residences, which is billed as a kind of “Downton Abbey”.

The Morning Star estate was bought by My Chemist Retail Group co-owner Mario Verrocchi.

He is certainly not the only one.

Veteran Melbourne buyers’ advocate David Morrell, of Morrell and Koren, says the peninsula market is “white hot” at the top end as the COVID crisis refocuses discretionary spending. “People are learning they don’t need to come into the office and are going to be travelling overseas less as well,” he said.

Big sales keep coming. Kay & Burton Real Estate agent Tom Barr Smith recently brokered a $23m deal in which five titles were amalgamated to form a major property in the Flinders area of the peninsula. He says the area has risen as an alternative to classic holiday haunts Portsea and Sorrento.

But the Morning Star property move really had the market talking.

The stunning grounds at the Morning Star property in Mount Eliza.

Mr Verrocchi, head of My Chemist Retail Group, comprising the Chemist Warehouse and My Chemist chains, lodged a caveat on the property in September and it has now sold, breaking peninsula records in the process.

The property’s centrepiece is a grand Gothic revival chateau, built in 1867 by Francis Gillett on 156 acres with beach frontage on to Port Phillip Bay. It also has an active vineyard operation, stocked with French grapes, brought over by the Franciscan friars, who ran it as a home in the 1930s. The estate, sold by Judy Barrett, also has plans for a high-end residence overlooking the beach.

Morning Star was billed as one of the last of the great summer homes of Melbourne’s wealthiest families and most similar properties were long ago carved up for smaller homes, although some of Mount Eliza’s top estates have been kept intact.

Just two years ago Mingli Qin swooped on a trophy home called Pelican, located in an exclusive cul-de-sac enclave overlooking Daveys Bay Yacht Club in a $12.4m purchase, which was handled by Michael Keating International.

This Mount Eliza property sold for $12.4m to Mingli Qin.

That five-bedroom mansion, marketed via Jock Langley and Tim Derham, of Abercromby’s, is designed for entertaining and has a granite kitchen featuring a walk-in pantry, Paul Bocuse double ovens and a fitted wine cellar.

Langley says the way people are living is changing dramatically and more people are seeking an “out of town” lifestyle.

“Mount Eliza and the Mornington Peninsula have been a net beneficiary of that,” he says. “Now it’s a lot more flamboyant and it’s only going to continue to improve.”

One property feature buyers are chasing more often is a study and office, along with a holiday feel with a pool and cabana with a gas fireplace and barbecue kitchen, alongside a floodlit tennis court.

Not all once great estates are being kept intact.

The former home of the late Sir Reginald Ansett was bought by retirement village operator Charles Jacobsen in 2006 for $14.5m. Picture: Ian Currie

NZ-based retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare, which picked up the former Melbourne Business School site for $40m, which includes the historic mansion, Moondah, is now overhauling the property.

Ryman wants to build 272 apartments and add new wings to the mansion. But there is some hope that some great homes will remain in the area.

The nearby former home of the late Sir Reginald Ansett was bought by retirement village operator Charles Jacobsen in 2006 for $14.5m and has become a major family estate.

Perhaps this virus crisis will carry a silver lining for some of the peninsula’s finest properties.