Toorak's $50m Besen estate quietly sold off in one of 2025's biggest deals

News.com.au

26-05-2025

One of Australia's richest families has just pulled off a $50m power move, selling the late Toorak mansion of the late Marc and Eva Besen.
The sprawling Lansell Rd estate has changed hands in an off-market deal tipped to be one of Melbourne's biggest residential transactions of 2025.
Property documents confirm the Besen's four adult children, billionaire Daniel Besen, Sussan boss Naomi Milgrom, philanthropist Carol Schwartz and Besen Family Foundation chief executive Deborah Dadon owned the property.
Private slice of country paradise up for grabs
A well-placed source said the residence was a longstanding family base, steeped in private gatherings, philanthropic vision and commercial strategy although the buyer's identity remains a closely-guarded secret.
'In Toorak, this is as close as it gets to royalty changing address,' the source said.
'The Besens helped shape Melbourne through fashion, retail and philanthropy, selling the family home quietly like this is the end of a major chapter.'
Holocaust survivor Marc Besen, who passed away in 2023 aged 99, rose from wartime displacement to become a titan of Australian retail, steering the growth of Sussan with his brother-in-law John Gandel.
The pair later expanded into Suzanne Grae and Sportsgirl, while also snapping up Melbourne shopping centres like Highpoint, and Box Hill Central (formerly Whitehorse Plaza).
The family's final stake in Highpoint was sold to The GPT Group for $680m in 2017.
Dr and Mrs Besen legacy was also defined by their philanthropy, donating of tens of millions to institutions including the NGV, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Australian Ballet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Mount Scopus College, where the Besen Family Performing Arts Centre in Burwood still bears their name.
Prestige agents, Kay & Burton Stonnington's Ross Savas and Nick Kenyon were widely tipped to have handled the transaction.
Both declined to comment.
Industry Insider Property Toorak director Andrew Date, a prestige buyers agent, said the deal followed a familiar script for Toorak's ultra-prestige market.
'Off-market sales like this are all about discretion,' Mr Date said.
'Once you're operating in the $20m to $100m space, it's not about open homes, it's about legacy, trust and relationships.
'These families don't want media, they want privacy and control.'
The $50m sale is Melbourne's second-priciest residential deal of the year, behind only the $100m-plus acquisition of 'Coonac', the neighbouring Clendon Rd mansion formerly owned by Toll boss Paul Little and wife Jane Hansen, now in the hands of pharmaceutical magnate Dennis Bastas.