Model Jen Hawkins and her builder husband Jake Wall have settled their Whale Beach property for $30 million, ending a five-year construction project that locals dubbed the “Taj Mahal of Whale Beach.”
The couple originally intended to live in the oceanfront Rayner Road home, but a Christmas Eve 2021 caveat on the title revealed a put and call option* to an unknown buyer.
Cotality records show the property officially exchanged in April 2024.
The mysterious buyer, Rayner Property Pty Ltd, became the project’s co-financier and has NAB finance for the purchase, according to realestate.com.au.
The original 2020 development application was costed at just $3 million for the clifftop residence on its 3,073 square metre block.
The finished home includes a gym, yoga room, sauna, theatre, bowling alley and wine room.
The grounds feature an outdoor bar, infinity pool, spa, shell-shaped sunken lounge and basketball half court.
To build it, Jen and Jake demolished Rocca Bella – a three-level 1950s residence that had been home to opera legend Dame Joan Sutherland for nearly four decades.
The couple paid $6.95 million for the property in July 2020.
The construction was undertaken by Jake’s company, J Group Projects, but the build hasn’t been without controversy.
Reports emerged of complaints from neighbours and disruption to the community, with images showing utes and trucks blocking the narrow street. Some owners claimed online their driveways were blocked for hours.
Since demolition and construction began in 2021, a string of neighbouring properties have sold.
In February, 23 Rayner Road sold for $5.2 million, while 21 Rayner Road sold in 2023 for $4 million. At least five other properties on the street have also changed hands.
Two more Rayner Road properties were listed for sale in October – an 1,733 square metre oceanfront block and a four-bedroom home.
Rayner Road has only about 30 homes, with nearly half boasting oceanfront views.
Rayner Property Pty Ltd also owns the property next door, where another J Group Projects build is underway.
Jen and Jake retain acreage at Erina on the Central Coast, purchased for $3.7 million in 2022, and a Terrigal property bought for $6 million in 2021.
*A put and call option is a legal agreement used in property deals that effectively locks in a future sale. It gives the buyer the right to purchase a property at an agreed price within a set timeframe (a call option), and gives the seller the right to require the buyer to proceed with the sale under the same terms (a put option). When used together, the arrangement ensures the transaction will go ahead at a pre-agreed price and within agreed conditions, often before formal settlement occurs.