Panoramic views … Joe Coffey and Gail Elliott’s apartment at Bondi Beach, which sold for $7.25.
Entrepreneur Joe Coffey and his partner Gail Elliott, a fashion designer and former model, sold their luxurious three-bedroom apartment at Bondi Beach for $7.25 million two days before Christmas through McGrath agent Steven Chen.
In late October the property had been listed for sale with price hopes of more than $8 million. The apartment last traded for $6.75 million when the couple bought it off the plan. Occupying half of the third level of The Bondi (designed by architects PTW with interiors by HPG), the apartment has 246 sq m of internal living space and 245 sq m of wraparound entertainment terraces.
With a north-easterly aspect and panoramic ocean views, the apartment has large open-plan living spaces, a media room (fitted with bespoke joinery), a state-of-the-art Calacatta marble kitchen and a huge main bedroom with a dressing room and an ensuite featuring a freestanding bath. Coffey and Elliott, who founded the Little Joe by Gail Elliott fashion line, would like to develop a house in the Bondi Beach area.
Lilley’s Tamarama apartment block.
Lilley’s pad
Chris Lilley, the 37-year-old comedian, television producer, actor and writer, who created and played multiple roles in his mockumentary television series Summer Heights High,Angry Boys and We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year, quietly snapped up an apartment in a prominent beachside building at Tamarama last year.
The McClellands Kogarah Bay home which fetched $1.73 million.
Lilley paid $1.45 million for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with an open-plan living area that opens onto a balcony with ocean views. In a distinctive blue-painted building at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Dellview Street, the apartment, which has parking for two cars on title, last traded for $1.01 million in December 2003.
For about 2½ years, the property had been on and off the market with various agents. In January 2010, it was listed with an asking price of $1.7 million. Records reveal the apartment sold in July through Debbie Donnelley, a principal of goodyerDonnelley Real Estate.
Dynastic shift
At Kogarah Bay, the waterfront home of former Labor senator Doug McClelland and his wife Lorna sold at auction in December for $1.73 million through McGrath St George agent, Sasha Tasic.
The couple sold their long-held family home in Carlton Crescent because they intend to downsize to an apartment in the same area. With 180 degree views across Kogarah Bay, the four-bedroom, two-storey residence stands on a 796 sq m block with level lawns, swimming pool and boat ramp.
Doug McClelland is the father of Robert McClelland, the federal member for Barton. During the Whitlam government, he was minister for the media, and served as president of the Senate from April 1983 until January 1987 when he tendered his resignation.
Flea bitten by downturn
On the far NSW south coast, one of last year’s most interesting property sales was the hinterland retreat of Michael “Flea” Balzary, a co-founding member of the rock band, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Set in the Mogendoura Valley, about 10 kilometres from the coastal village of Moruya, the 218 hectare property traded for $1.4 million.
Named Koorabel Park, the property sold about 16 months after it was first listed with price hopes of $2.1 million through Moruya Tuross Real Estate. Last traded for $1,795,000 in 2004, Koorabel Park is a beef cattle farm with a four-bedroom homestead, cattle yards, a barn and other outbuildings, including two which were part of the old Mogendoura cheese factory. Balzary owns another south coast retreat in the seaside hamlet Congo.
Second time around
The South Coogee home of Irish-born hotelier and racing identity Donnacha Reidy, and Jacqueline Clow, which failed to sell at auction in December, is on the market again at more $3 million through Ballard Property agents Clint Ballard and Bill Bridges.
On an 408 sq m block in Cairo Street, the Cape Cod-style home has northerly views of Wedding Cake Island and the ocean. The house had been renovated since it last traded for $2.35 million in July 2008.