‘Ghost mansion’ in Toorak Melbourne bought by mysterious crypto magnate Ed Craven for record price
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‘Ghost mansion’ in one of Australia’s most ritzy suburbs snapped up by a mysterious crypto casino magnate for eye-watering record price
- A little known businessman has smashed the record house price in Melbourne
- Ed Craven, aged 27, co-founded crypto gambling platform Stake.com in 2017
- He bought mansion in Toorak for $88million which has was empty for decades
- His company has quickly grown to an estimated worth of more than $1billion
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A little known businessman has smashed the property price record to buy a ‘ghost mansion’ that has stood idle for more than three decades.
Ed Craven, 27, splurged a rumoured $88million on the unfinished house in St Georges Road in the ritzy Melbourne suburb of Toorak, obliterating the city’s previous record sale of $52.5m paid for Stonington Mansion in Malvern in 2018.
The crypto magnate bought another Toorak mansion for $38million in March, but his latest purchase dwarfs that, being the third-highest property sale ever in Australia.
Mr Craven co-founded crypto gambling platform Stake.com in 2017 and the company has quickly grown to an estimated worth of more than $1billion.
Crypto magnate Ed Craven (pictured), splurged a rumoured $88million on an unfinished house known as the ‘ghost mansion’
Mr Craven had already bought another mansion in the suburb just five months ago (entrance to the $88million mansion pictured)
His latest pick up, which measures about 7,200sqm, was last sold for $5million in 1991 by property developer David Yu, who put it on the market in 2020.
He bought the property from then-Hoyts boss Leon Fink, who had half-built a French Renaissance-style mansion on the site.
Mr Yu left it untouched in the following 31 years, but reportedly turned down several offers for it.
He had planned to subdivide the huge block into nine lots in 1992, but that was rejected by the local council.
Toorak is home to the heads of some of the biggest companies in the world.
Chemist Warehouse boss Sam Gance paid $43million for a house on Lansell Road in 2021.
Tech entrepreneur and Kogan.com founder Ruslan Kogan is also a local after paying $38.8million to live in the area.
Mr Craven’s company, Stake, operates internationally with hundreds of employees, the majority based in Europe.
The block on St Georges Road, Toorak (pictured), has a half-built French Renaissance-style mansion on the site, but has been idle since 1991
It sponsors English football clubs Everton and Watford, UFC in Latin America and Asia.
The $100m purchase by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes of the 1.12 hectare Fairwater harbour-front mansion in Sydney in 2019 remains the highest price paid for a house in Australian history.
The second-highest price ever paid in Australia is the $95m paid by gold miner John Li to buy a house called Edgewater in the Sydney suburb of Point Piper in 2020.