Robert Lane, of the high-end accessories retailing Oroton family, has expanded his Manly home, buying the apartment next door in the Grande Esplanade for $2.79 million.
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The Lane family patriarch bought his Sydney pad overlooking Sydney Harbour in 2000 for $2,575,000, and has added the two-bedder next door after a sales campaign by Belle Manly's Luke Burgess.
Lane's son Ross Lane, who was appointed to Oroton's top job earlier this year, is another Manly local, having sold his Fairy Bower residence to Seven chief Tim Worner for $9.5 million last year to buy his brother Tom's nearby beachfront home for $9 million.
Tom Lane hasn't been idle either. The Byron Bay identity and owner of The Farm at Ewingsdale recently bought a 44-hectare property in Coopers Shoot for $3.8 million.
Manar from heaven in Potts Point
Who knew so many of Sydney's well-to-do wanted a home renovation project? Certainly the blank canvas of Victorian charm and 3.5-metre-high ceilings that is the penthouse of the Potts Point Manar building is widely touted to be drawing an impressive list of well-known shoppers.
From Hollywood to the AFR Rich List, they have come to admire the 260-square-metre spread with its original finishes, three bedrooms, two car spaces, views north over the harbour and a price guide from $6 million. Bring your own kitchen and bathrooms.
Records show it is owned in a company name headed by Victoria and Andrew Isles, of the A. Royale & Co family business, which bought it in 2009 for $2.25 million from former lawyer Russell Keddie.
The Isles own two other, smaller apartments in Manar, one of which they bought two years ago following their sale of a nearby apartment for $4.85 million to printing magnate Michael Hannan and his wife Elaine.
They join an interesting line-up identities who have called Manar home, including late art-curator Nick Waterlow, stockbroker Tim Allen, PR queen Heidi Virtue, celebrity agent Harry M. Miller, SBS presenter Jenny Brockie, TV presenter-turned-farmer Patrice Newell, and former weather man Alan Wilkie.
Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay, has the listing honours.
Castlecrag project in the works
Adriana Gardos, daughter of the late Tenix founder and philanthropist Carlo Salteri, and her husband Robert Gardos might need a good builder given the double block of waterfront reserve they have bought in Castlecrag.
It was a $7 million deal for the rundown house on Edinburgh Road and a vacant block next door, which records show were owned by Gardos' brother Paul Salteri and his wife Sandra.
Bronte market heats up
Westpac executive director Connell Burke and his wife, interior designer Helene, had set an October 14 auction on their Bronte home but clearly opted out of that appointment this week when a buyer offered $6.43 million for the property.
The architect Michael Folk-designed residence last traded in 2008 for $4.7 million, and underwent a major renovation two years later.
Set on Hewlett Street, it is two doors from the $9 million home of cricketer Shane Watson and his wife Lee.
Listed withAlexander Phillips, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, it had a guide of $5.75 million before it sold.
Bronte's other high-end offering is the Bayview Street home of Michael Trocherie-Rey, founder of food and beverage chain Wine Connection.
The French expat bought the six-bedroom property, next door to the former home of the late Heath Ledger, in late 2015 for $7.6 million.
Renovated since, it returns to the market with a $9.5 million to $10.5 million guide, again through Alexander Phillips.
Rushcutters Bay pad takes the prize
Buyers at this Saturday's auction of the Rushcutters Bay apartment of Terry McGrath and Jackie D'Sylva might need to dig deeper after the Kitchen and Bathroom Designers Institute of Australia awarded them Kitchen of the Year last weekend.
The owners of the Anne Fontaine boutique bought the Marina One apartment in 2014 for $2.13 million from rugby league legend Brad Fittler and his partner Marie Liarris.
At the time they had not long completed renovating their apartment in Wharf Terraces, Woolloomooloo, when former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon and his wife Dawn paid $3.6 million for it.
The Dixons sold late last year for $4.3 million. The Bowral-bound rag-traders have listed it from $2.75 million with Noel Jenkins, of Morton Real Estate.