$80 million: Chemist Warehouse’s Jack Gance buys Toorak megasite – realestate.com.au

Melbourne has recorded one of the most expensive residential sales of all time with a sale of more than $80 million in Toorak to Jack Gance, one of the founders of Chemist Warehouse.

The double plot on Lansell Rd was put up for sale by Andy Zhang, head of development company V-Leader – which is currently trying to sell a stagnant office tower in a high-profile corner of Melbourne’s CBD.

The deal was brokered by Ross Savas and Nick Kenyon of Kay & Burton, both of whom declined to confirm the buyer’s name or price.

RELATED: Possibility for an $80 million mega-mansion in Toorak

Arrotex Pharma boss billionaire Dennis Bastas confirmed as buyer of Coonac mansion worth more than $100 million

The Chemist Warehouse family’s secretive purchase of a $20 million+ Toorak home

However, industry sources in Toorak have listed Chemist Warehouse co-founder Jack Gance as the buyer.

Mr. Gance was among those who made big bucks from Chemist Warehouse’s $30 billion-plus merger with Sigma Healthcare earlier this year.

Industry sources have put forward prices from $80 million to $88 million, in line with the advertised guide, while others have suggested the price could have topped $95 million.

In that range, the combo deal would be the second or third largest ever signed for a residential property site in Melbourne.

The largest is a more than $100 million sale of former Essendon boss Paul Little’s Toorak estate, Coonac, which was completed earlier this year and brokered by Mr Savas and colleague Gerald Delany.

The house is likely to be sold to another pharmaceutical industry billionaire, Dennis Bastas, who heads Arrotex Pharmaceuticals.

The extensive site, composed of two houses, is one of the larger land holdings in Toorak.

---

Mario Verrocchi, Sam Gance and Jack Gance celebrate the merger of Chemist Warehouse with Sigma Healthcare. Photo: The Australian / Nadir Kinani.

---

Crypto casino richlister Ed Craven bought another Toorak mansion on St Georges Rd for just over $80 million in 2022, through Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello.

Although sales of Lansell Rd are likely to exceed this figure, it represents a pair of properties put together by Mr Zhang over a six-year period covering 6,340 square metres.

That makes it a similar size to Mr Craven’s purchase, but well below the approximately 1.08 hectares of Coonac.

Records show that Zhang bought the first of the two homes in 2015 for $17 million, and the second in 2021 for $22 million.

If it sells for more than $80 million, it will represent an increase in purchase prices of more than $40 million, effectively doubling expenses.

Jack Gance and his wife Evelyn are no strangers to the high-end Toorak combination sale, with the couple purchasing adjoining homes on Yar Orrong Rd between 2018 and 2019 for a combined sum north of $30 million.

The homes are also on the same street where Sam Gance, another of Chemist Warehouse’s three founders, purchased a $43 million mansion in 2021.

Mario Verrochi, the pharmaceutical chain’s third founder, spent more than $20 million on another Toorak mansion earlier this year.

The Coonac mansion sold for more than $100 million earlier this year. Image: @melbournehousespotters

---

Construction is underway on a new mega-home on the property that Ed Kraven bought in 2022 for just over $80 million.

---

The properties were put up for sale in September, with Mr Savas touting it at the time as combining exceptional scale and being free of heritage issues.

Speaking in the aftermath of the sale, Mr Savas said it reflected the “remarkable strength of demand for Melbourne’s best addresses” and indicated there had been interest from both local families and international buyers.

“Melbourne continues to be seen as a safe, globally desirable destination for long-term residential investment, and this sale strengthens the city’s ability to attract interest at the highest level,” Mr Savas said.

“The kind of research we have received shows that these types of opportunities have universal appeal across continents and generations.”

Earlier this week, experts and Toorak agents raised concerns that high-priced sales of some Toorak homes had been affected by Victoria’s endless stream of government interventions in the property market, with some pointing out that homes requiring development or major renovations were putting off affluent buyers due to the cost of land tax.

Sign up for the Herald Sun weekly property update. Click here to receive the latest news from the Victorian property market straight to your inbox.

MORE: Toorak takeover: Rich young players fuel Melb’s luxury market

Toorak’s $50 million estate in Besen was quietly sold in one of the biggest deals of 2025

Did the Victorian government block the Myer family’s $105 million Toorak sale?