By Vanda Carson and Kate McClymont
WOLSELEY ROAD in Sydney's Point Piper, one of the top 10 strips of real estate in the world, can also lay claim to more feuds per square metre than most others.
One feud raging through the neighbourhood, which has involved civil actions in the NSW Supreme and Federal Courts, has an alleged Molotov cocktail thrown in for good measure.
On one side of the stoush are the Tilley family - brothers Ben, Adam and Simon. On the other is BRW's rich-lister Ron Medich and his wife, Odetta.
Also caught up is Ron Medich's former associate Michael McGurk, who has been charged with firebombing the house at the centre of the dispute, a charge he intends to defend. It all started when Adam Tilley and his wife, Sally-Anne, bought the Medichs' $12.5 million waterfront pile on Wolseley Road in 2004. Mr Tilley had planned to demolish the home and replace it with a swanky, five-storey boutique apartment building designed by architects Burley Katon Halliday. Unfortunately, the development on the prime harbourfront land, which was in partnership with Mr Medich, was delayed by troubles getting council approval. Then the credit crisis hit.
The problem for Mr Tilley was he had borrowed $17 million from Mr and Mrs Medich. In May last year, just a month before it was due to be repaid, the Medichs reassigned the debt to Mr McGurk. Exactly why this was done remains unclear.
Then in November the home, once owned by the fashion designer Lisa Ho and her ragtrader husband, Phillip Smouha, was firebombed.
Mr Tilley, who runs the finance broker Hunt Pacific Finance, and his family were home at the time, but no one was injured. The Molotov cocktail triggered a small fire on the ground floor, which Mr Tilley put out with the fire brigade.
Mr McGurk, also a property developer, has since been charged with arson over the attack. He denies the charges.
No hearing date has been set for the matter.
Some time before the firebombing, Mr McGurk, 45, sought repayment of the debt from Adam Tilley.
Subsequently, Mr McGurk sued Mr Tilley, and his brothers over the $17 million loan. Those being sued included Mr Tilley's wife, Sally-Anne, 40, and his two younger brothers Ben, 43 and Simon, 44.
Ben Tilley - a former poker partner of Kerry Packer and good friend of James Packer - and Simon were drawn into the dispute because Adam put up investment properties the trio owned together in Edgecliff and on trendy Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont as security for the loan from Mr Medich.
Another property in Paddington owned by Adam Tilley was also put up as security. Mr McGurk was seeking court orders allowing him to sell these properties to recoup the $17 million.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court action launched by Mr McGurk against the Tilley clan for the $17 million worth of mortgages has effectively been taken over by the Medichs, who have fallen out with Mr McGurk.
In separate legal action in the Federal Court, Ron Medich's property company is suing Mr McGurk's family company claiming several million dollars.
Mr Medich, 61, made a fortune with his brother Roy, developing industrial sites in Liverpool. Mr Medich is a keen punter who races a string of thoroughbreds. His wife, Odetta, 41, is one of the country's most generous patron of the arts. Her passion for contemporary art is reflected in their Wolseley Road house, around the crescent from the Tilley home. The Medichs bought their current home for $15.1 million in 2003.
Mr Tilley, who is maintaining the amount owed is closer to $14 million, is nevertheless optimistic the legal stoush will soon be over. He revealed yesterday he had offloaded the site for $20 million and would be able to repay the money shortly. He would not reveal the purchaser's identity, but said the home would be demolished when the sale was settled in the middle of August.
''There are settlement discussions continuing between the parties and we are hopeful it will be resolved," a spokeswoman for Mr Medich said.
The famous Point Piper street has been the setting for numerous famous feuds in the past. The Billionaire Frank Lowy and hotelier and developer Salvatore Paino waged a legal battle for years over the size of Mr Paino's balcony, a battle which Mr Paino eventually won.
The car wash king Anthony Sahade was embroiled in numerous disputes with his Wolseley Road neighbours including been unsuccessfully prosecuted over throwing stones at his neighbour's arborist.
It just goes to show having the country's ultimate address does not guarantee neighbourhood harmony.