Harvest’s new owners selling Byron Bay beachfront for $35 million

THE new owners of Harvest at Newrybar, Kurt Rettenmaier and his wife Leah, have listed their Byron Bay house for $35 million to focus on their new venture.

If the property achieves its asking price, it will be a new record for the suburb, surpassing the $33.5 million sale of another Belongil Beach home earlier this year.

The couple relocated to Brooklet, just a few minutes’ drive from Newrybar village where Harvest is located, last year.

“We have been going there for years and years; we love that little community,” Rettenmaier said. “Leah and I definitely have the energy to open it up again, bring it back and make it something special. I’d like to say it will be open by summer, but don’t hold me to it.”

The landmark restaurant, which closed before Christmas, was known for its commitment to a farm-to-table ethos — something the couple intends to maintain.

“It’s going to be all that and then some,” Rettenmaier said.

But the pair, who also co-founded the wellness platform Aeyia, have mixed feelings about selling their family home.

“That place is like paradise,” Rettenmaier said. “It’s been a really special spot for our family for the past 10 years. There’s a creek that backs onto the property, ocean to the front and no neighbours to the left, so it’s really private. To wake up in the morning and look out to Julian Rocks and see the whales and dolphins is pretty special, and the walk down to the creek that backs onto Elements is amazing.

“We had a lot of people from Sydney and Melbourne who wanted to buy it during COVID and we said we were never selling, but things change in life and we have different priorities. It’s time for a new chapter.”

Rettenmaier, a singer-songwriter and managing director of digital asset investment company Revolution Tech, moved to Byron Bay with his family at age 17 and helped them run a café opposite The Great Northern Hotel. He also completed a music degree at Southern Cross University in Lismore. Leah, a philanthropist, is the founder of non-profit organisation Future Dreamers.

The couple’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Childe St is listed with Kim Jones, who also brokered the sale of Tom and Emma Lane’s Copperstone Ranch in Bangalow for around $30 million earlier this year.