A bathroom with a view in the Omnia ‘Royal’ penthouse, which has sold for $14.25m.

Exclusive: Billionaire Gretel Packer had offered more than $22m to buy two neighbouring penthouses to create a super penthouse atop Potts Point’s Omnia building, sources have confirmed.

However the daughter of the late media tycoon Kerry Packer missed out, with
Darling Point downsizers paying $14.25m for ‘Royal’ penthouse and its neighbouring “Noble’ penthouse still for sale at $12m.

CBRE’s Ben Stewart, who is selling the Omnia apartments, refused to confirm today Ms Packer had been negotiating to buy the two apartments, however the offer is being openly discussed among in-the-know local agents.

But there’s no doubt that if Ms Packer — who now has a wealth of $2.3 billion after her brother, James, split the family estate in 2015 — had been able to create the super-penthouse it would have been one of the largest in all of Sydney.

Related: Inside Darling Point’s $35m mansion

Sizzling sales across Sydney’s east

Gretel Packer at the celebration of Ros Packer’s 80th birthday at Chiswick, Wollahra, last year (Picture: Dylan Robinson) and the Omnia building where Ms Packer offered more than $22m for two neighbouring penthouses.

The ‘Royal’ penthouse in the northeast corner of the Greenland development, is over two levels and has 285 sqm of internal space, with the top floor master suite opening out to a 150 sqm rooftop terrace to make a 450 sqm apartment.

And the ‘Noble’ penthouse has 265 sqm of internal space plus a115 sqm balcony, making for a 380 sqm apartment.

On the internal space alone, Tuesday’s sale of the ‘Royal’ to the Darling Point downsizers equated to $50,000 per sqm, one of the highest prices paid for an apartment outside the Sydney CBD.

The Darling Point couple who bought the Royal penthouse also bought a two-bedroom apartment, several floors down, for their adult children, resulting in a combined sale of just under $16 million.

Ms Packer is known to have a passion for Potts Point property, beating a dozen bidders at auction for one of the suburb’s Art Deco treasures, the Macleay Regis penthouse at 12 Macleay St, in October 2017.

The Omnia building (above) and the staircase connecting the two floors in the Royal penthouse

She’d paid $8.75m for the 350 sqm spread in the Macleay Regis, which had views from the Harbour Bridge to The Heads. It was a premium price given the $6m guide.

Others interested in that had been former Prime Minister Paul Keating and actor David Wenham, who lives in the Macleay Regis.

It was apparently a “must-have” for Ms Packer, even though she resides in the Edwardian home ‘Winston’ in Bellevue Hill, next door to the Rona estate, that she bought in 2000 for $11.25m.

Since it’s company title, it can’t be rented out. There’d been suggestions she might move in herself in the future — but perhaps she’d thought Omnia a better prospect.

The master suite opens to a rooftop terrace in the Omnia ‘Royal’ penthouse

Her daughter, Francesca Packer Barham, bought a two-bedroom apartment in the Encore building in Elizabeth Bay in 2016 for $2.1 million.

There are plenty of apartments lower down in the Omnia building that have come up for resale.

Raine and Horne Double Bay’s Jean-Michel Rudsdale is selling a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in there with a $2.3m guide. It has views to the city, Bridge, and Opera House.

It’s one of the best value apartments in there,” Mr Rudsdale said.

“A lot of the other two bedders are looking for high twos — ours is on a higher floor with incredible views.”