1 week ago
3
Australian lifestyle entrepreneurs have been busy making real estate moves in holiday markets this week.
World-renowned surfboard innovator and designer Hayden Cox and his wife Danielle have listed their Palm Beach home with a price guide of $16 million.
The Cox family purchased the Palm Beach block in 2020.Credit:
The couple are ready to farewell Alaia, which took three years to build in the midst of the pandemic. It was largely designed by the pair and constructed by local builders Zac Seymour and Paul Silverman of Beaches Building as well as a raft of other specialist contractors.
Purchased under Danielle’s name for $2.955 million in 2020, when the family returned from Los Angeles, the north-facing block has been completely transformed.
An internal lift connects the four levels of the six-bedroom, five-bathroom house, fitted with luxury features including a resort-style outdoor living space that has a heated wet-edge pool and wellness and recreation floor with an infrared sauna, a cold plunge bath and a reformer Pilates bed.
Hayden Cox founded renowned surfboard company Haydenshapes.Credit:
Hayden, a self-taught board shaper, founded Haydenshapes in Mona Vale after trying to fix his own broken surfboard. His journey inspired him to develop world-leading carbon-fibre surfboard technology, patented as FutureFlex.
His company has since gone on to develop apparel and even furniture.
Their home is selling through Peter Robinson of LJ Hooker Palm Beach in an expressions of interest campaign that ends 7 October.
Entrepreneur’s Ewingsdale record
Meanwhile, activewear fashion designer Lorna Jane Clarkson, of Lorna Jane, and her husband Bill have emerged as the $10.975 million buyers of wellness retreat SOMA near Byron Bay.
The couple have reset the Ewingsdale record for the 8.59-hectare property, bought through a corporate entity of which Bill is a director. Lorna is ranked 68th on The Australian Financial Review Rich Women list, with a valuation of $303 million, largely because of her eponymous sportswear brand, as net profit jumped to $21.3 million in financial year 2024 and revenue hit almost $200 million.
One of Byron Bay’s leading wellness retreats is now owned by Lorna Jane Clarkson of the eponymous activewear brand. Credit:
As a result, her wealth more than doubled this year in line with that profit at Lorna Jane, which she started 36 years ago, according to the Financial Review. The couple plan to continue to run the property as a retreat.
SOMA was created by meditation guru Gary Gorrow and his business partner Peter Ostick. They purchased the property for just $1.8 million in 2016 when the pair embarked on their business venture, creating one of the Shire’s most iconic and photographed properties.
Bill Clarkson and Lorna Jane Clarkson, owners of activewear business Lorna Jane.
Architecturally designed in 2018 by Rieky Sunur and George Gorrow (Gary’s brother) the 13-bedroom, 13-bathroom property is a modernist retreat that incorporates green design principles and draws on its surrounding environment.
The property, which has a potential earning capacity of more than $1.8 million a year, features a heated infinity pool, a firepit and a geodesic yoga dome. The home also was filmed as the primary location for Nicole Kidman’s Nine Perfect Strangers.
It sold through Will Phillips of Sotheby’s International Realty Byron Bay, who declined to comment when contacted.
It’s not the only property the couple own in the region, as Lorna paid $14.1 million for a hinterland acreage, known as Coorabella, in Coorabell in 2021.
Sustainability in the Southern Highlands
Former Allianz boss George Sartorel and his wife Kathy have listed their Southern Highlands retreat for $14.5 million to $15.5 million.
Nestled in the heart of Kangaloon, Pepper Tree Creek Estate spans 30 hectares of rolling green hills, which have been immaculately kept since the Sartorels purchased the acreage for $6.7 million in 2019 under a company of which they are both directors.
And they have transformed the historic property into a modern luxury in that time. Established in 1862, the original stone cottage has been meticulously restored using stone quarried from the property.
The six-bedroom estate is split across the main homestead and the charming guest accommodation known as The Old Dairy, which has been transformed into a self-contained one-bedroom cottage.
Insurance boss George Sartorel and his wife Kathy have transformed the Kangaloon acreage.Credit:
They also added substantial solar power infrastructure that services the entire estate, effectively enabling sustainable off-grid living. It’s in addition to efficient water management systems on the estate, in keeping with the couple’s effort to maintain self-sufficiency and environmental harmony.
It’s quite the feat and one might wonder if it’s inspired by George’s time in the insurance industry, which is seeing first-hand the cost of climate change’s impact on properties and insurance premiums. He has had an extensive career at Allianz, serving as chief executive for the company in the Asia Pacific, Italy and Turkey, and was the former chair of the Allianz Asia Advisory Council. He now serves as a director of Insurance Australia Group.
It is being sold through Sarah Burke and Michael Coombs of Atlas Lower North Shore.
The couple will still have their Woollahra residence, which they purchased for $15.05 million in 2023.
Most Viewed in Property
Loading
