Property developer Richard Gu cops $1m loss on Bayview's Walker House

Best known for defaulting on the $19.8 million purchase of Cate Blanchett’s Hunters Hill mansion Bulwarra in 2015 due to capital controls out of China and again 18 months later on the Potts Point apartment of architect Deece Giles, Gu’s family company AXF Group has now copped a $1 million loss on the sale of Bayview’s landmark modernist residence Walker House.

The Melbourne-based property development-turn-mining investor company bought the architect Ray Fitz-Gibbon-designed property less than two years ago for $7.95 million, complete with a complex mortgage arrangement with strict terms more commonly found on shark loans.

After a sale campaign by LJ Hooker’s Claudio Marcolongo, updated records show it settled for $6.95 million to Sharon Angel, whose partner Peter Chapman is co-founder of corporate advisory Asia Principal Capital.

Gu launched AXF Group in 2005 as the Australian arm of Shanghai-based Xiangfu company headed up by his father Gu Qi Liang, making its name in Melbourne in a handful of landmark commercial deals before the company switched its focus to mining investment.

In a translated interview with China’s AC Media in 2012, Mr Gu, 34, said: “My first fortune as an entrepreneur in Australia was due to my father’s investment.

“My father Gu Qi Liang started from nothing, using park reforestation and real estate as his main business, successfully built the China Xiangfu Group and expanded overseas.”

In 2015 he moved to Sydney where in July he was caught drink-driving his Mercedes through the CBD, and returned a 0.141 breath test reading. According to reports at the time, on the night he was charged he launched into a tirade against police, saying: “I will kill you. I drank drove, who gives a f… charge me, who cares? I earn millions of dollars. I don’t care.”

Mr Gu pleaded guilty to the drink-driving charge in the local court and was given a $1000 fine, disqualified from driving for 12 months and given a six-month prison sentence that he was allowed to serve in the community under an intensive corrections order.

Dew scores new home ground

AFL coach Stuart Dew and his wife, former Seven presenter Sarah Cumming, have set a March 28 auction for their North Bondi house following their move to Queensland.

The couple relocated last year when Dew was appointed Gold Coast Suns head coach, leaving the two-storey house to the rental market for $1750 a week.

The Clyde Street property last traded for $1.4 million in 2012 when Dew was coaching at the Swans. Warren Ginsberg, of Ray White Double Bay, has a $2.4 million guide.

Pulling plug on Bondi Beach

PNAU frontman Nick Littlemore is set to sell his Bondi Beach apartment before he kicks off a US tour of his alt-electro band Empire Of The Sun later this year.

The art deco spread last traded in 2007 for $659,000 when bought by his brother Sam, who rounds out the dance music trio PNAU with Littlemore and Peter Mayes.

Records show Nick took possession of it in 2010 for $760,000 as his Sydney base.

The early guide is expected to be about $1.2 million through Ric Serrao, of Raine & Horne Double Bay.

Grand mansions up for grabs

Centennial Park’s grand mansions tend to be tightly held, but there’s a handful on offer this week. Joining the houses of businessman Danny Bhandari and property veteran David Ross on the selling market is the Federation residence of commodities trader Michael Betar and his wife Luciana for more than $7 million.

The couple bought the grand Federation residence in 2014 for $3.3 million from former actor Morna Seres (think A Country Practice and Water Rats) and wife of obstetrician Ian Hill.

A redesign by Graham Lemnell in collaboration with Luciana Betar has followed in recent years before it hit the market with Chris Helich, of Raine & Horne Double Bay.

Sleeping easy in Woollahra

The buyer of Woollahra’s $16 million Victorian manor Corinth from prominent art patrons Dr Gene and Brian Sherman has remained a mystery. Until now.

Respiratory and sleep medicine specialist Malcolm Ogborne is expected to take up residency in the landmark residence after it settles later this year,  having already offloaded his Paddington terrace which he shares with partner and Macquarie Global Infrastucture Fund chief executive Grant Smith.

The couple bought their Paddington Street terrace in 2005 for $4.04 million, and are expected to have doubled their purchase price in an off-market deal through The Agency’s Ben Collier, who sold them into the Shermans’ home.

And, still with the ever-revealing nature of caveats, Emery Severin, the recently retired chief of resins company Nuplex Industries, and his wife Sharman are the buyers of Ogborne and Smith’s Paddington terrace.

No sign yet what the Severins plan to do with the Woollahra home they bought 18 months ago for $3.85 million, but surely there’s a local who’ll buy it.

On the beach in Rose Bay

The Rose Bay beachfront apartment of the late Bloch dancewear founder Betty Wilkenfeld is up for grabs for $10 million to $11 million.

The four-bedroom spread is on the first floor of the Wintergarden building that was developed by the late Sid Londish on the site of the 1920s Wintergarden Cinema.

The beachfront block was home to Wilkenfeld since she bought the beachfront spread new in 1993 for $1.95 million, and was later joined in the building by the likes of property developer Roy Medich and venture capitalist John Grant.

Julian Hasemer, of 1st City Double Bay, is taking expressions of interest until March 28.

Glasson sells up in Elizabeth Bay

Film director and writer Rupert Glasson has put his historic three-level mansion in Elizabeth Bay on the market for $4.2 million to $4.5 million.

Glasson, whose film credits include indie thrillers Coffin Rock and What Lola Wants, bought what was once a backpackers in 2012, and added the Victorian twin next door that same year to be his permanent residence.

The Barncleuth Square mansion, long known as “the pink house” at the back of Kings Cross‚ has been renovated in recent years and returns to the market with Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay.

Tartak scoops up Strathfield pad

Robyn Tartak, of the Bingo Industries waste collection family, has snapped up the Strathfield home of Patricia Barrett, widow of the late bookmaker Harry Barrett, for $7.25 million.

The Tartak family are well-established Strathfield locals, having been based there long before family patriarch Tony Tartak founded the recycling and waste collection company in 2005.

The company is now headed by his son Daniel Tartak, 33, who lives in nearby Newton Road, and was ranked 16th on last year’s Financial Review Young Rich List with a worth of $180 million thanks to his 17 per cent share of Bingo’s stock.

Robyn Tartak’s purchase ends 22 years of Barrett family ownership, since it last traded in 1996 for $1.9 million from then Strathfield Car Radio boss Andrew Kelly.

Altons shuck $3.5m cottage

Nudie Jeans chief Bryce Alton and his wife Rebecca have offloaded their Victorian cottage for $3.5 million through The Agency’s Ben Collier.

The couple undertook a major renovation of the Paddington property they bought it in 2008 for $1.25 million.

The Altons are bound for the nearby Luigi Rosselli-redesigned terrace they also recently renovated following their purchase in 2017 for $6.2 million from billionaires Anna and Greg Goodman.

Bellevue Hill house shuffle

Fund manager Ari Droga and his architect wife Lisa had no sooner set a March 6 auction on their 1920s Bellevue Hill residence Allala than they sold to James Cooper, founder of ad agency Metropolis, and his former beauty queen wife Rachel Huljich.

Huljich is a former Miss World New Zealand and daughter of Kiwi businessman Christopher Huljich who sold a patch of dirt on the Point Piper waterfront in 1999 for $10.89 million to Aussie Home Loan founder John Symond, and on which the latter built one of Australia’s most expensive residences.

Cooper and Huljich’s new six-bedroom residence is a decent step up the property ladder from the three-bedroom spread in Darling Point they have been renting from an investment company of food blogger Stephanie Conley and family.

Elliott Placks and Ashley Bierman, of Ray White Double Bay, were keeping schtum on the sale result, but had made no secret of the $11 million guide and it is expected to have sold for more than $11.5 million. It was sold in conjunction with Michael Pallier, of Sotheby’s International.

The Drogas are  off to Bonnington, the nearby mansion they bought from art collector John Schaeffer last year for $20.32 million.

The Drogas bought Allala in 2005 for $6.5 million from hotelier David Thomas, who in turn purchased it from the family of Lucy Turnbull for $1.2 million in 1984.

Turnbull’s grandfather, lawyer and aviator Geoffrey Hughes bought it 96 years ago for £2650. It first hit the market last October with $14 million hopes.