Justin Hemmes buys a bit more of south coast Berrara hamlet
The Sydney pub king Justin Hemmes has bought up again in the small south coast hamlet of Berrara near Jervis Bay.
This one's a relatively small $780,000 transaction compared to his previous Shoalhaven holiday home purchases.
But it takes his total spend in the small village to over $11 million.
It's Hemmes fifth purchase in the sleepy coastal village that adjoins the Conjola National Park.
It is a non-beachfront 1,062 sqm block though the imposing double brick three bedroom home comes with views of the ocean.
The purchase is just across the road from his beachfront compound.
Hemmes started his property portfolio acquisitions in Berrara in 2006 with another non-beachfront when he paid $665,000.
It was 2007 when he spent $4.15 million on Halcyon, a historic four bedroom beach house on 3,000 sqm, located 200 kilometres south of Sydney.
The home was long owned by the Arbitration Commission president Sir Richard Kirby who sold for $425,000 in the 1990s having paid 400 pounds in 1952.
The home had hit the national front pages in the 1994 Christmas holiday when Kirby's house guests, Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his biographer, Blanche D'Alpuger, were first revealed as a couple.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had rented the home for $3,000 a week when it became a guesthouse in subsequent years when overseen restaurateur John Pegrum.
Hermes also bought the properties adjoining Halcyon mid last year for $6 million taking his beachfront holdings to nearly 8,000 sqm.
Its Colliers selling agents Gaby Rogers and Geoff Payne had marketed the property as a rare find.
Hermes also has a rural retreat further down the south coast, the $7.5 million Glasshouse Rocks estate retreat at Narooma.
It is a 60-hectare farm.
Hemmes became Merivale CEO in 1997.
The dynamic chief executive officer of family owned hospitality group Merrivale, resides in Vaucluse, living in the eight bedroom heritage gothic mansion bought by his parents, John and Merivale in 1974.
The Merivale group owns a growing portfolio of more than 65 restaurants, bars, pubs and hotels across Sydney, including the Coogee Pavilion, The Newport Arms Hotel and The Beresford.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
