The glamorous home near Byron Bay of personal trainer to the stars James Duigan is still for sale after passing in at auction on a bid of $14.8 million.
Seventy locals gathered in the affluent pocket of Newrybar to watch the auction of 225 Broken Head Road unfold on Saturday.
The luxurious eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom property with ocean views sleeps up to 16 and has been rented out for $3500 to $8000 a night since building works were completed in November.
A barn was converted into a bedroom wing consisting of six bedrooms and dubbed the “Pyjama lounge”. An enormous extension created an entertaining area and an original two-bedroom cottage was renovated as an additional sleeping private bungalow.
The vendors are Duigan and his wife Christiane, who reportedly had price expectations of about $20 million. James is known as a wellness guru and personal trainer to celebrities such as Chris Hemsworth and Elle Macpherson.
Auctioneer Nigel Long commenced the proceedings with bidder number one raising his paddle at $12 million under the heat of the sun.
After three minutes of discussions with selling agent Amir Mian, of Amir Prestige, the bidder increased his bid to $13 million. After five quiet minutes, a vendor bid of $14 million was placed. That bidder then increased his bid to his final offer of $14.8 million.
An announcement was made that negotiations would be taken offsite privately as there were five other people who were able to bid but outside the auction terms of no finance and no cooling-off period.
The crowd, which had included Emma and Tom Lane, of the Oroton fashion empire family, who are selling their own stylish hinterland retreat The Range, then dispersed.
Selling agent Amir Mian said the property was the most viewed listing auction on Domain.com.au.
“At the moment, we’ve got five parties who tried to secure it before the auction. We’re doing proper negotiations now. So bidding has stopped at $14.8 million. And we’re looking at offers now we’re negotiating. We’re not far. We’re getting close,” he said.
The block last traded for $2.415 million in 2019, records show.
Source: smh.com
