Russell Aboud, the executive chairman of the billion-dollar hedge fund Manikay Partners, and his wife Lucinda have extended the garden of their Bellevue Hill mansion by $6 million.

The 846-square-metre patch of dirt - set behind the Korean Consul General's official residence - has been a hot potato of sorts among many of the east's well-heeled home owners in recent years. It was previously part of the neighbouring Addenbrooke estate when owned by property developer Denis O'Neil, but didn't make the cut when he sold the family's long-held home to billionaire Bob Ell in 2013 for $28 million.

It wasn't until the following year that O'Neil off-loaded the redundant vacant block through Michael Pallier, of Sotheby's International, for $4.2 million to car dealership heir Scott Sutton.

Sutton looked set to move in with the big boys of Cranbrook Road after Woollahra Council approved an Xpace Design residence with a swimming pool and basement garaging in late 2015.

However, those plans were clearly reworked after Sutton bought a Harry Seidler-designed classic up the hill for $5.3 million.

Two years later, and still with DA-approval for a two-storey residence on the block of land, records show it has been sold in an off-market deal to Sutton's other neighbours, the Abouds, for $6 million.

The block of growing grass offered a decent return to Sutton who pocketed 43 per cent more for it in this latest deal than he paid for it three years earlier.