Title Deeds

Sun Herald

Sunday November 5, 2006

Jonathan Chancellor, Jonathan Chancellor edits the Title Deeds column published in The Sydney Morning Herald's weekend edition.

Millionaires' row roars on

THERE'S no stopping the Hedges Avenue juggernaut. After being passed in at $13.5 million last month, millionaire milkman Ken Lacey has subsequently secured $17 million for his Mermaid Beach mansion. Its sale takes the value of properties sold in the Hedges Avenue millionaires' row precinct over the past three months to about $100 million. The five-bedroom house, which has been on the market with a price tag of $20 million for almost three years, was built for the theatrical impresario Michael Edgley. It was then sold to Terry Page, the former Sydney bookmaker, early in 1989 for $2,525,000. Page sold it for $2.4 million in 1992 and it re-sold again at $2.25 million in 1995. Lacey and his wife, Madeline, bought it for $5.9 million in 2003 from John and Julie Wade, former nursing home operators from Sydney. They then spent $3.5 million on its renovation. "We totally gutted the place and everything inside is new from wiring to floor fittings to speakers to security," Madeline said on its initial listing. "We've done a lot of renovation. We modernised the pool and there is an entertainment area with a commercial bar." Mr Lacey, who made his money in Melbourne with Pura milk, has previously indicated the listing was because they wanted to spend more time in the United States where his son, Jade, performs rap under the name Lace Italiano. The American singer Diana Ross once rented the house, paying $20,000 for two weeks, calling it "the best little beach house in the world".

Cool at Kewarra

BACKPACKER tourism entrepreneur Christian Ainsworth's Kewarra Beach, tropical North Queensland retreat has been sold for $5.5 million. For reasons best known to Ainsworth, the house, with Coral Sea frontage, initially went on the market with a $12 million price tag. The Aristocrat Leisure poker machine family member built the house in 2003. It features a glass-walled indoor swimming pool, an outdoor resort-style pool, five bedroom suites and garaging for eight cars. The house has an enormous 1.2 million BTU air-conditioning system, a level normally used for four-storey office buildings. The 3300-square-metre property that overlooks Palm Cove between Cairns and Port Douglas was bought for $1.08 million in 1999. Ainsworth recently spent $12,375,000 on a Pialba holding on which he hopes to build a 500-bed backpacker resort to capitalise on the booming Hervey Bay tourism industry. No development application has yet been lodged. The 18,074-square-metre parcel had traded at $5 million in 2004 when bought by Greg Kempton's construction company in partnership with developer Kevin Seymour. It had traded at $840,000 when bought by Wayne Veivers, best known for his ownership of the historic Queensland cattle property Rewan, which in the 19th century bred horses for the state's police.

Hold the Gold

PATRICK Corrigan and his wife Barbara have withdrawn their Gold Coast house from sale some five months after its listing with a $5,495,000 asking price. Pat, known in the world of big-time art collectors, and his wife had thought about downsizing from the six-bedroom, six-bathroom house they built in 1995. The modern riverfront home on 1845 square metres at Sorrento comes with formal and informal living and dining spaces, billiards room, executive office and bar. Its outdoor entertaining areas have tropical landscaping plus pool, spa, floodlit tennis court and pontoon. They paid $900,000 in 1989 when they bought it from the Fairbrother group from Sydney. The same year the Corrigans sold their Vaucluse mansion, Kainga, a New South Head Road Federation house, for $6.1 million. Sydney's first electric chandeliers were features in the house. The last sale in Marseille Court was when Bartinon was sold last month for $6,665,000 by former Fraser Island tourism operators, Sidney Melksham and Angela Burger. The 6500-square-metre riverfront property previously sold for $4.25 million in 2001 when offloaded by Indonesian industrialist Alimin Soenario.

Brewing up a sale

TOSCANO Del Mare, a Mediterranean-style house on two titles with views across the Coral Sea at Townsville, has been listed for sale by Mike and Sandi Smith, a retired American business couple who had an interest in breweries across the world. After developing the Mr Beer company, which he then sold, Smith then pursued his interest in boat-building through his involvement in Perry Catamarans. He and Sandi now keep one of the Perry Catamarans in the Caribbean, which they use to cruise when they head back to the United States. Set on Castle Hill, the house has 948 square metres of living space over three levels. Its agent, Brian Christensen from PRDnationwide, Townsville, suggests its estimated replacement cost is between $6 million and $7 million, well above the expected selling price. It has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, gym, pool and a 3000-plus bottle wine cellar.

Seven to go

JUST seven units remain for sale in Marina Shores, nearing completion in the Whitsundays. It is on the shores of Shingley Beach, adjacent to the newly extended Abel Point Marina. There are 51 apartments in the complex, designed by architect Ken Down. Prices range from $500,000 to $1,690,000. When it was initially launched in early 2004, Colin Crossley's Crosstreat development group had prices ranging from about $400,000 to about $1.5 million.