Billionaire hotelier Justin Hemmes buys $7.5 million Dover Heights home for ex-partner
The billionaire hotelier Justin Hemmes, who has been looking for a home for his ex-partner, Kate Fowler, has quietly secured a $7.5 million Dover Heights abode.
The couple have been living in the expansive Hermitage family compound in Vaucluse following their separation last July after a four year relationship.
The purchase is just in the name of billionaire bar tsar.
Model Fowler, the mother of his two young daughters, met Hemmes on a boat in Europe in 2014.
Hemmes, who has recently broke into the $1 billion club due to his vast property empire, had been assisting Fowler in finding a suitable home.
Fowler had previously sought a Bellevue Hill offering but the couple who attended the auction last September were pipped when it sold for $6,575,000, some $575,000 over reserve.
The Dover Heights acquisition was from Nicki Smoli and her husband Neil Smoli, a non executive director at Aviate Group.
The Smoli couple bought the property run down in 2012 for $2.4 million.
The oceanfront cliff top masterpiece was then designed by Nicki's father, the architect Dennis Rabinowitz, in 2015 with the build taking 18 months.
The home has four bedrooms, including a master retreat with its own walk in wardrobe, ensuite and balcony.
It sits in 550 square metres of landscaped gardens complete with a heated pool and dining terrace.
Sydney Sotheby's Double Bay agents Barry and Mark Goldman sold the home after having a $7 million guide.
The purchase comes ahead of Hemmes being ranked 89th in the inaugural edition of The List — Australia’s Richest 250, published in a special magazine in The Weekend Australian.
He is one of 68 property identities who appear in The List, the biggest study of wealth in Australia ever undertaken.
Hemmes, who's parents, John and Merivale founded the Merivale fashion and property empire, owns the Coogee Pavilion, Ivy and the Newport Arms. He enjoys the ownership of 90 or so properties.
Late last year Hemmes dipped into the office market, purchasing the Sydney CBD building adjoining the Ivy.
It is believed he is seeking external investors, for the first time in Merivale's six decade year history, to undertake a $1.5 billion knockdown rebuild which will see the Ivy expand.
Ivy will be rebuilt within seven years and, while he has not finalised the plans for the precinct that for now at least contains 20 different venues and businesses, he is close to formulating his vision.
This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
