Student accommodation king’s new $15m estate

Southern Highlands estate, Williams Crossing. Source: Supplied

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Stephen Gaitanos, one of the co-founders of Scape, Australia’s largest student accommodation provider, has emerged as the $15.2m buyer of the Southern Highlands estate Williams Crossing.

The 40ha Glenquarry property has a large New England-style home with an attached four-bedroom guesthouse and a self-contained apartment above the four-car garage.

An observatory rises above the master bedroom with views of the countryside.

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Stephen Gaitanos has emerged as the $15.2m buyer of the Southern Highlands estate, Williams Crossing. Picture: Supplied

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The main home features a two-storey drystone fireplace handmade from locally-quarried stone and an oversized hardwood mantle from old Sydney wharves.

Its exterior mixes timber with basalt stone under copper roofing.

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The study with a meeting room is located in a separate wing.

There’s a mudroom with a custom-built dog bath. The grounds feature a swimming pool and 100-year-old trees separating the paddocks, which could support 100 head of cattle.

It sold to Varsity Agricultural Services Pty Ltd on delayed settlement terms through Drew Lindsay Sydney Sotheby’s International, having been initially offered with $20m expectations in early 2023.

The property last sold for $2.8m in 2007 when bought by the Studdy family, who built in 2015.

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The main home features a two-storey drystone fireplace handmade from locally-quarried stone and an oversized hardwood mantle from old Sydney wharves. Picture: Supplied

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Braesyde ranks as the top Glenquarry sale when $22.59m was pocketed by pokies matriarch Gretel Ainsworth in 2022 for her 48ha property.

The prior record price was $11m in 2020 when Andrew Pridham expanded his farm with the 120ha acquisition of the Essington estate. There had been a $6m record paid in 2010 with the purchase of the 18ha Runnymede estate by David Baffsky.

According to PropTrack, just four houses have been sold in Glenquarry over the past 12 months.

The Hunters Hill-based Gaitanos and his business partner Craig Carracher raised $1.5bn last year as they target developing 10,000 built-to-rent apartments by 2030. It already has 16,000 beds in 33 buildings across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

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