Property developer Phil Wolanski’s home is on the waterfront. He’s just bought the house directly in front for $12.5 million. Source: CoreLogic.

From the air, it’s not hard to see why property developer Phil Wolanski must have had many sleepless nights dreaming about owning the house sitting directly in front of his waterfront mansion.

Little surprise, then, that informed sources reveal him as the $12.5 million buyer of the non-waterfront Coolong Rd, Vaucluse home of Michelle Coe, the wife of the late Allco Finance Group founder David Coe.

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The Wentworth Courier broke the news on September 11 that Mrs Coe was selling the five-bedroom, five-bathroom home home on a 1185 sqm block. The guide was $12 million through Ray White Woollahra’s Randall Kemp.

The listing disappeared off realestate.com.au within the week.

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Phillip Wolanski; Managing Director of Denwol Group, at his offices in Sydney.

Mr Wolanski and his wife, Suzanne, bought their home — on a 1,176 sqm battle-axe block — for $6,010,000 in 1998.

The sources say it’s not immediately clear what Mr Wolanski plans to do. Will he do what property developers do — knock it down and create a huge family compound? Or will he simply land bank it, and wait for the right time to sell the combined 2,361 sqm waterfront site, the two blocks worth so much more as a package?

The Coolong Rd, Vaucluse, home of Michelle Coe has sold for $12.5 million.

Mr Wolanski need only look at the fruits of another Coolong Rd amalgamation — technology entrepreneur David Shein and his wife, Colleen, bought their neighbour’s block in 2000 to create a 3000 sqm waterfront holding, selling for $80 million to Menulog co-founder Leon Kamenev in 2016.

Although the Coe property was a golden opportunity for Mr Wolanski, there was some speculation in the street that London-based expat current trader, Ivan Ritossa, who owns the large waterfront residence, Coolong, on a 4100 sqm block next door, may also have been interested.

Michelle Coe’s Coolong Rd, Vaucluse, home had impressive harbour views but wasn’t on the waterfront.

Interestingly, the Coes had once owned that grand residence. But they sold it to Mr Ritossa and his wife, Marina, for $45 million — a suburb record at the time — when times got tough during the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Coes had bought the smaller property next door as a guesthouse for $4,275,000 from investor John Dalley in 1999. After the sold to Ritossas, they moved next door.

Mr Coe died of a heart attack while skiing in Aspen nearly seven years ago.