The property known as ‘Leura’ located in Bellevue Hill has a $70m price guide.
The big old rambling mansion, Leura, has price hopes that would blow Bellevue Hill’s price record off the Richter scale — but the agent selling it says there are already “a couple of serious people on it”.
The owners, Chinese-Australian businessman Wilson Lee and his wife Baoyu Wu, want $70m — nearly $40m more than the $30.8m they paid for it in late 2015.
And $70m would also be $12m higher than the $58m achieved for the current suburb record-holder and Bellevue Hill’s other big old historic mansion, Rona, in 2018.
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Consider, also, the difference in block sizes: Leura is on 4300 sqm, whereas Rona is on a substantially larger 5700 sqm.
But as Ray White Double Bay’s Michael Finger, who is selling the property for the third time — initially $7.3m in 1986 — is optimistic that the $70m price guide can be achieved.
“We’ve got a couple of serious people on it,” he said, adding that they are local buyers.
There are plans for a revamp of the outdoor entertainment area and cabana.
He said that prices had “literally doubled” since 2018 when Rona sold and that in the current market, there’s nothing else like Leura available.
“You try and replace it,” he said. “I challenge anyone to find a house with virtually 180-degree views from the Harbour Bridge to the North Shore, all the way through to Middle Harbour.
“We just don’t have it.
“And this is a big house — eight bedrooms, nearly 4300 sqm block of land … it’s irreplaceable.”
Landscaped gardens.
There are also eight bathrooms, a ballroom, tennis court and swimming pool.
Other sources said they believed the current owners, who live in Shanghai, have never even lived in the house and that the old house has sat empty for years.
But Finger denied this. “Family have lived there,” he said.
“The owners have spent some time there, but not an enormous amount of time.”
He said Covid had prevented Lee and Wu from returning.
“A really good view”.
The other sources also said the house was “really old and run down” but “it does have a really good view”.
Finger conceded the house had been “let go a bit” because the owners had planned a major renovation — a development application was approved in 2017 for $7.5m worth of “additions and alterations” designed by Weir Phillips Architects.
Preliminary work had already been done. “A lot of decorative stuff and wallpaper has already been removed,” he said.
“The DA allows for significant work to the property but I’ve talked him out of moving back here and proceeding with that at this stage … let someone else do the work!”
The planned work involved rewiring, airconditioning, modernising the interiors and outdoor entertainment area around the pool and cabana as well as a six-car garage.
Inside Leura.
Finger confirmed the owners had signed him up for a forthcoming auction but he was trying an off-market campaign first.
It took him three months to sell it last time, but he didn’t expect it to take that long this time round.
“I don’t think so — especially something as unique as this.
“Like Rona, there’s a real history here.
“Some people like the history.”
The historic estate was designed by government architect Walter Liberty Vernon, who designed Sydney’s Central Station, in the 1890s.
“Leura was a side job for him,” Finger said.
Historic.
It was built for Thomas Knox, who headed the agricultural company or stock and station agency Dalgety in Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to Lee and Wu’s purchase at auction in late 2015, the Federation Queen Anne-style mansion was owned by Christine and Ken Allen of the Business Promotional Products company.
They’d bought it in 1986 for $7.3 million from property developer Bill Shipton.
The post Bellevue Hill’s Leura shoots for suburb record with $70m price guide appeared first on realestate.com.au.
The big old rambling mansion, Leura, has price hopes that would blow the suburb record off the Richter scale — but the agent says there are already “a couple of serious people on it”.
The post Bellevue Hill’s Leura shoots for suburb record with $70m price guide appeared first on realestate.com.au.