The appeal of Jan Juc’s surf coast is central to the sale of 105 Ocean Blvd, where a four-bedroom home is listed at $3.2m to $3.4m. Owners Paul and Amanda Donaldson are preparing to trade their beachfront setting for acreage nearby. It’s a change in the kind of space they want, rather than a move away from the region that has shaped their family’s routine.
Donaldson, AB InBev’s global vice president of strategy, divides his time between New York and the Surf Coast, where Amanda and their two children live. The Melbourne-raised executive oversees strategy at a brewer with more than 500 brands, including Corona, Stella Artois and Budweiser. That split between a global corporate role and a coastal family base gives the property a story beyond its floor plan, though the listing’s appeal still rests on the home and its setting.
A home shaped around the coast
The Donaldsons bought the vacant block more than a decade ago. Surfers had been using it as a carpark, given its proximity to local breaks. The earlier use says something about the site’s practical value: its connection to the water was apparent before there was a house on it. Amanda’s brother, builder Rohan French, built the three-level house to a design by Torquay architect Peter Winkler, with broad Southern Ocean views in mind.
A rooftop deck was a priority for Donaldson, who took inspiration from New York’s rooftop bars. He recalls the architect questioning the idea, but says the elevated outlook made it essential. He now sees several rooftop decks on the street. The feature has become part of how he reads the neighbourhood, while also giving this home a place to take in the coast from above street level.
The home pairs that upper-level vantage point with a pool, open-plan living and a hanging fireplace. The main bedroom faces the ocean, while the children’s bedrooms sit downstairs and the main suite is on the first floor. That arrangement gives the house distinct zones for family life and private space, with the ocean view reserved for the principal bedroom. The kitchen has a stone island, twin Fisher and Paykel ovens, a Miele dishwasher and a walk-in pantry; an outdoor shower serves the pool and surf crowd. These details point to a house set up for regular use after time in the water, rather than one whose coastal character depends on the view alone.
Natural agent Shaun O’Callaghan is handling the listing. The address is across the road from surf breaks that helped define the block’s earlier use, and the property’s indoor-outdoor features reflect the owners’ routine as keen surfers and anglers. This is more significant than it looks: the site’s history, the home’s layout and the owners’ habits all tell the same story about proximity to the coast. The asking range places that story in a high-value bracket, but the source gives no comparable sales or other evidence to judge how the price sits against the local market.
Two cities, different rhythms
The family initially moved to New York when Donaldson took up his AB InBev role, then returned to Australia when the pandemic hit. He later worked from home for several years. Now he can spend as many as 10 months a year in a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment, whose shared rooftop looks over the Hudson River. The apartment offers another elevated outlook, but the two homes serve different routines: one is tied to work in a major city, the other to family life beside the ocean.
For Donaldson, the contrast between the cities is less about the view than the pace of daily life. In New York, he says, work sets the schedule; in Jan Juc, weather and the ocean shape it. He particularly values winter, when a cold day in the surf ends beside the open fire. And yet, the arrangement has required the family to move between two very different settings, with the Surf Coast remaining home for Amanda and the children while Donaldson’s work takes him abroad.
That attachment makes the planned move notable: the family is leaving a home built around the coast, while staying close to the Surf Coast and seeking more space on acreage. The Jan Juc listing brings a distinctly personal design story to a tightly defined beachfront setting. A larger property inland may change the balance between land and sea, but the decision to remain nearby suggests the coast still matters to the family’s plans.
What the sale signals
The listing captures a common tension in coastal housing: a home can be closely tailored to a particular way of life, yet household needs change. Here, the owners are moving for acreage while remaining in the same broader area. That makes the sale less a rejection of Jan Juc than a shift in how the family wants to live within the Surf Coast.
If you’re working in this space, the distinction matters. Buyers may respond to the direct access to surf breaks, ocean-facing rooms and outdoor amenities, but those features won’t tell the whole story of value on their own. The asking range is a guide to the sellers’ expectations; without sale comparisons or further market evidence, it can’t establish what a buyer will pay. (And this is the part most people overlook.) A highly individual home can be compelling while still asking the market to recognise a particular combination of location, design and lifestyle.
A property built around one family’s routines. That’s the clearest thread running through the house’s history, from a block once used by surfers to a rooftop deck shaped by the owner’s preference and rooms arranged for coastal living. The next owner may use it differently, but the setting and design will keep those choices visible.