Russell Crowe lists Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf apartment
Actor Russell Crowe has quietly listed his Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf apartment as his matrimonial settlement with Danielle Spencer moves to its conclusion.
The vast harbourfront apartment has been an off market listing over the past month.
Already the buyer feedback is that it will be hard pressed to fetch the $25 million Australian apartment record, but Crowe is said to be realistic and wants it sold.
The Oscar-winning actor and Danielle were married in 2003 and separated in 2012.
The home of Crowe and Danielle Spencer set a record apartment price in 2003 when it cost $14.35 million.
No other apartment comes close in size with some 1000-square-metre at the tip of the Finger Wharf.
The offering includes a 35-metre marina berth and seven car spaces.
Estate agent John McGrath, a former Sydney Boys High classmate of Crowe, has had select agents from his agency take buyers through over the past few weeks.
Buyers agents have been approached to present qualified buyers.
Crowe is only the second owner of the modern apartment on the tip of the heritage shipping wharf.
He bought it from the Nutrimetics founder Imelda Roche and her husband, the property developer husband Bill Roche.
The Roche's had bought it off the plan in 1998 for $9.8 million from the Walker Corporation.
Crowe previously owned the historic Elizabeth Bay residence Berthong, which he sold in 2003 for $11.5 million and which has been recently listed with $37 million to $40 million hopes.
In 2011 Crowe and Spencer spent $10 million on the Rose Bay trophy home, Te Puke after a four-year search.
Along the way they inspected the $50 million-plus Altona on the harbour in Point Piper in 2007, as well as unsuccessfully seeking pricey inland residence Le Manoir at Bellevue Hill, which fetched $23 million in 2009.
Spencer was always keen to spend more on the family home, while Crowe, prefered to keep his substantial Woolloomooloo apartment as a bolthole and limit the purchase.
Te Puke, a 1909 house updated with a 1927 Arts and Crafts-style additions, has been Spencer's home since their separation four years ago.
Crowe retains his 320-hectare property in Nana Glen, near Coffs Harbour.
The recent relationship Danielle has with her beau, Ad Long has triggered the decision to sell much of their property portfolio.
Crowe has also signalled he intends listing his Kingsford block of investment flats which have been the home of his former band members.
Crowe is expected to secure a Sydney base once the apartment is sold.
Before construction of the overseas passenger terminal at Circular Quay, the finger wharf was the main berth for overseas passenger liners.
It was rescued from demolition in 1991 after plans for a 440-berth marina were ditched.
Built between 1910 and 1914, the wharf, at 401 metres long, is the longest timber-piled wharf in the world.
This article first appeared in the Saturday Daily Telegraph
