Vaucluse mega-mansion expected after neighbouring houses sell for $56 million

Finding the right patch of land to build your forever home is an expensive business for anyone in Sydney, but more so for one trophy-home hunter who has paid about $31 million for a half-built house in Vaucluse.

The sale of former KPMG Consulting partner Michael Ibrahim’s property is all the more jaw-dropping because it is next door to the recently sold $25-million house of construction boss Peter Comino, and the widespread speculation is that the same buyer is behind both deals.

The identity of the buyer or buyers – and potential $56 million land acquisition – remains a closely guarded secret by agents, but a knock-down and rebuild are expected.

Prized Carrara Road is no stranger to property amalgamations, particularly among the nine houses on the harbour-front reserve.

Next door to the Ibrahim house is the vast nine-bedroom mansion that was once two properties bought in 1996 for $10.6 million by financier Andrew Ipkendanz. The houses were knocked down to make way for a Peter Stutchbury-designed mansion that was sold two years ago for $47.8 million to Sanity boss Ray Itaoui.

At the other end of the street is a landmark residence designed by Michael Suttor with harbourside tennis court set across two blocks consolidated by Kiwi businessman Colin Reynolds, and bought by stockbroker Walter Lewin in 2010 for $26.75 million.

Mr Ibrahim declined to comment on the deal but had already moved out of the house as DA-approved renovations were already under way.

Records show he bought the 1040-square-metre property in 2001 for $7 million from former horse breeder Dean Fleming, son of the late grocery tycoon Jim Fleming.

Like Mr Ibrahim’s sale, the Comino family’s home next door – set on a smaller 760 square metres – was also an off-market sale, negotiated by Laing+Simmons Double Bay’s D’Leanne Lewis, who declined to comment. 

One of the most expensive property amalgamations in Vaucluse was the $79.7 million spent in 2016 by Menulog co-founder Leon Kamenev for four houses on Coolong Road to build his forever home, although he is yet to secure approval for his preferred DA for the site.