Advertising executive David Droga has emerged as the buyer of Tamarama’s Lang Syne coastal property. Andrew Quilty
It is understood the Accenture executive was represented by Simon Cohen of buyer’s agent Cohen Handler.
Forbes’ Jacobs and Cohen both declined to comment on the buyer’s identity, given the non-disclosure agreement surrounding the sale.
Global advertising executive David Droga has purchased Tamarama’s iconic headland propery.
Outgoing owner Dimity Griffiths recently sat down with AFR Weekend, fondly recalling her time living at Lang Syne where she arrived from Sydney’s north shore as a newlywed with a suitcase.
Her husband, late radio comedian Harry Griffiths, bought the 1924-built property from bootmaker George Wolf in 1959 for £9750.
Owner Dimity Griffiths is leaving Lang Syne after 63 years of coastal living. Louie Douvis
Incoming owner Droga is high-profile global advertising executive who rose to creative director at OMON agency at just 22. Since then, his meteoric rise through the global advertising industry has included a stint as creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London, where Advertising Age dubbed him “the world’s top creative director”.
In 2006, Droga founded his own agency, Droga5. In 2019 global giant Accenture acquired the agency in a deal valued at $US475 million, according to Forbes. Droga was appointed CEO and creative chairman of Accenture Song in 2021.
Airtree co-founder lists $16m ‘slice of Amalfi’
In nearby Clovelly, a slightly more affordable pocket of Sydney’s coastline has hit the market. Craig Blair – who co-founded venture capitalist outfit Airtree – and his wife, marketing consultant Melanie Caffrey, have listing their Gordons Bay home with a $16 million auction guide.
The upsizing couple are heading two suburbs north along the coveted coastal strip, having purchased the former Bronte home of Cygnet Capital’s Darien Jagger and wife Katie – resetting the suburb record to $30 million in the process.
Airtree’s Craig Blair and wife Melanie Caffrey have listed their Clovelly home for $16 million
Now, the duo have put their Dods and Zuccon architect-designed family home of the last decade up for auction. The couple picked up the six-bedroom abode on exclusive Battery Street for $5.7 million in 2013, in what’s bound to be a savvy buy given radio personality Jackie O Henderson recently purchased a nearby knockdown for $13.25 million from JPMorgan Chase managing director Kierin Deeming.
The Blair-Caffrey listing offers a rare turnkey slice of what is fast becoming one of Sydney’s most exclusive enclaves, with the azure inlet between Coogee and Clovelly is attracting a veritable who’s who.
Melanie Caffrey and husband Craig Blair have listed their family home of the last ten years.
“It is like Amalfi or Positano, especially with all the boats on the bay,” Caffrey told AFR Weekend.
Gordons Bay has been attracting a slew of high-profile residents, like celebrity chef and restaurateur Matt Moran, Oscar-winning director Emile Sherman (of The King’s Speech fame) along with comedian Tim Minchin and wife Sarah, who picked up an art-deco mansion for about $6 million in 2016.
Other notable neighbours include former F45 gym investor Mark Marano, who picked up a Gordons Avenue home for $12.85 million in 2020, former Virgin Group co-CEO and Wesfarmers executive David Baxby, along with finance heavyweights Jarden co-CEO and former Citi investment banker Aidan Allen and Crescent Capital’s Nathanial Thomson.
The three-level home comes with six bedrooms and six bathrooms.
For Caffrey, the coastal home has proved the ultimate base for her and Blair to raise their three children – aged 18, 16 and 13.
“Backing on to Gordons Bay there’s the snorkelling trail, the kids love to stand-up paddleboard and surf off the [local surf break] Bommie,” Caffrey said. Her husband, who grew up in Armidale, northern NSW – values the freedom of living so close to nature.
The property overlooks Gordons Bay between Clovelly and Coogee in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
“Craig will hydrofoil out in the bay, and take the kids for a fishing trip in the tinnie, or out to Wedding Cake Island,” Caffrey said.
“I think Gordons Bay is a little hidden gem, you can only access it by foot. We’re one of a handful of properties that back onto the reserve and at night you can’t hear any cars, just birds, crickets and bats.”
Architect Celia Carroll worked alongside Caffrey to transform and upgrade the property with a new kitchen and revamped bathrooms. The three-level, lift-connected home features six bathrooms, separate guest accommodation, internal atrium courtyard with 12-metre mosaic tiled pool, heated floors and chef’s kitchen opening to an ocean-view terrace.
The 740-square-metre landholding comes with garden design by Will Dangar and 360 Degrees’ Daniel Baffsky.
Craig Blair and Melanie Caffey’s son Jude paddleboarding across Gordons Bay.
Listing agent Sotheby’s James Ball (of recently merged Ballard Property) said Gordons Bay was regarded up there with Tamarama and Bronte as one of the best locales in the eastern beaches.
“It’s such a tightly held enclave, it’s very difficult to buy into – particularly anything that fronts the ocean,” Ball said. “There are houses on the water side of Gordons Bay that would be between $30 million and $40 million – but they’re unlikely to trade because you can’t repeat what they’ve got.”