Vodka baron cops $7m discount selling luxury Hawkesbury River retreat

As 2024 limps to an inglorious end, vodka baron Julian Moss knows better than most just how the market is faring compared with those heady days of early 2022.

Almost three years after Moss listed his luxury Hawkesbury River property Lambourne Estate with hopes of $14 million to $15 million it has sold for more than $7.5 million.

The Lambourne Estate at Lower Portland on the Hawkesbury River was on offer for $14 million to $15 million.Credit:

Presumably, that’s not quite how the campaign was meant to pan out, but the more than $7 million discount off the guide did at least get the deal done.

Willu Property’s Beth O’Brien said gag orders prevented her disclosing the result, but she did concede it sold at the upper end of her latest $7 million to $8 million guide.

It went unsaid if the buyer was also meant to be kept a secret, but thankfully a caveat let that out of the bag too, so congratulations to Birchgrove-based lawyer Richard Villari and his wife Evelyn on their good buy.

ASM Liquor co-founder Julian Moss with his former wife, singer Harper Mead.Credit: Steve Lunam

Moss is a former IT recruitment businessman who co-founded liquor producer Artisan Spirit Merchant in 2011, and which launched its vodka label VDKA 6100 a decade ago amid much fanfare, thanks to help from Hollywood superstar Robert De Niro in terms of design and branding, and financial backing from local lad James Packer.

Moss won’t be doing too badly from his Lower Portland property.

He bought it in 1996 for $950,000 from veteran stockbroker Brent Potts, and the 14 hectares has offered all the high-end extras you could want from a home, such as a tennis court, pool, boat shed, pontoon and equestrian facilities.

Great trades

There was no big-ticket discounting on the Mittagong property Glen Lorne that was sold by Tanya Gregory mid-year. Settlement reveals a $19.2 million sale price to a company owned by Title Deeds regular and commercial property boss Joshua Berger and his wife Michelle, and of which their daughter Danielle Brossard is the sole director.

Glen Lorne is the Tina Tziallas-designed residence in Mittagong bought by the Berger family.Credit: Domain

The purchase explains why the Bergers are selling their Kangaloon property, The Bails, just three years after they paid $6 million for it to wine merchant and author John Baker.

Gregory bought the 60-hectare property Glen Lorne in 2018 for $6.5 million from the Hindmarsh family and commissioned the newly completed residence by architect Tina Tziallas before she listed it with James Hall, then at Christie’s.

The only higher sale result locally is the $20 million deal of 2022 for the nearby Fonthill property bought by developer and Deicorp boss Fouad Deiri.

The Bergers are usually found at Bondi Beach, where the FiveX owners bought a penthouse in The Bondi in 2016 for $7,575,000 from former Ramsay Healthcare chief Chris Rex. The apartment was listed last year with $18 million hopes, but never sold.

The sale of Glen Lorne should give comfort – if not a decent price comparison – to former Queensland grazier Victoria Horne, who has quietly listed her historic Invergowrie property at nearby Exeter.

Invergowrie was built in 1936 for Sir Cecil Hosking, and previously owned by former Liberal leader John Hewson.Credit: Savills

James Hall, now at Savills, has pitched Invergowrie to high-end shoppers directly, offering an impressive catalogue of images that showcase the lavish restoration overseen by designer Greg Natale in the five years Horne owned it.

The Tudor revival residence was built in 1936 for steel pioneer Sir Cecil Hoskins with Paul Sorensen gardens, and was previously owned by former Liberal Party leader John Hewson, who had it on the market for a decade before he sold it in 2019 for $6.2 million.

The historic Exeter residence Invergowrie has been lavishly restored by designer Greg Natale.Credit: Savills

Horne, the wife of former army officer-turned-private contractor in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan Steven Horne, has more recently bought an apartment in the Sirius building at The Rocks for $14.75 million.

The 9.3-hectare property comes with the six-bedroom main residence, two guest houses, tennis court, indoor pool, gym and the option to buy the adjoining two blocks of eight and 16 hectares as well.

Still in the Southern Highlands, finance entrepreneur Simon Tripp and his wife Brenda have swapped out life in Terrey Hills for Mittagong, forking out $5.05 million cash for Glenbrae Cottage.

The Tripps sold their Duffys Forest equestrian estate Jabilusa a year ago for $14.5 million, setting a suburb high in the process.

Selling a secret

Claire Tregoning has quietly listed her Byron Bay house for $2.3 million to $2.5 million.Credit:

Claire Tregoning, co-founder of activewear brand P.E Nation with Pip Edwards, has quietly listed her Byron Bay house just 18 months after she bought it for $1.5 million.

Claire Tregoning co-founded activewear label P.E Nation with Pip Edwards.Credit: Steven Siewert

It was a fairly unglamorous 1970s house when Tregoning picked it up, having sold her Avalon Beach home for $6.45 million and moved up the North Coast as part of the syndicate of mates behind the Sun Ranch luxury guesthouse.

The three-bedroom house had a cosmetic redesign throughout before it was listed on the First National website as of Friday with a $2.3 million to $2.5 million guide by Su Reynolds.