http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/ex-tycoon-banks-on-2m-for-his-vault/story-e6frg6o6-1111116562810
IT’S a highly sought-after address in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs.
The asking price is about five times the highest amount ever fetched for residential land.
But you’d never enjoy your investment.
The property is a family vault in Randwick Cemetery. Owner Eric Jury wants to sell it for $2million, more than $130,000 per square metre – or almost five times the highest price for residential land.
Mr Jury, 81, was once listed as Australia’s 35th-richest man, owning property worth $150 million. Bankrupted in the 1990s after a complex dispute with the Westpac bank, he now lives in public housing.
For the sake of his family he is selling the vault.
Mr Jury said he paid about pound stg. 40,000 for it in the 1960s. Set among a group of vaults, his is surrounded by crumbling and neglected graves, broken blocks of marble, moss-covered stone angels and weathered crosses.
“I’m sorry not to be buried here,” he said. “But I have three beautiful grandchildren and I want to see them looked after.”
Mr Jury was well-acquainted with Sydney characters including crime’s “Mr Big”, Lennie McPherson, and nightclub owner Abe Saffron. He owned nightclubs such as the Associated Motor Club, which was investigated over organised crime, as well as the Blackmarket and the Clock hotels.
“I have had a bloody good life,” he said. “I am happy, very, very happy. When the bloke up there says it’s time to go, I will have no regrets. The banks and the lawyers aren’t going to take the money with them. No one is. You only get a lend of it while you’re on earth. That’s it.”
Australian Property Monitors head Michael McNamara said if Mr Jury did get $2 million for the vault it would be among the most expensive real estate in Australia. “At least the view can’t be built out,” he added.
NSW Lands Minister Tony Kelly said Sydney had a shortage of cemetery land. The Government is conducting an inquiry into more sustainable burial practices and is seeking public input. “As Sydney’s population increases so has the demand for cemetery space,” he said.
“Sydney will be out of public graves by the middle of the century and for certain ethnic groups and in certain areas that is already happening. Right now it is increasingly difficult for family members to be buried with their forebears.”
The Liverpool Catholic Club in Sydney’s west this week put the Catholic Lawn Cemetery on the market. The cemetery’s 10ha of parkland is used for about 100 traditional lawn burials each year.
Muslim Cemetery Trust secretary Wasim Raza said the Muslim community was interested in the land at Kemps Creek, a semi-rural part of western Sydney. “We have to accept that we’re not going to find a place that’s as close as Rookwood and we really do need an alternative,” he said. “Kemps Creek is still in reach of most Muslims and it’s not too far from the Sydney metropolitan area.”