Animal Welfare League quietly sells Ingleside shelter for $6.6m
The Animal Welfare League NSW has quietly sold its former Ingleside shelter to a neighbouring property owner for $6.6 million.
CoreLogic records reveal the sale settled in March, more than a year after contracts were exchanged on the prime 2.02ha property at 11 Cicada Glen Rd. The league’s CEO has also confirmed the sale.
The CoreLogic records show the new owner is Cheer Holdings Pty Ltd, a company owned by Yunlong Zhang and Chuting Zhong.
They are also the directors of Citizen Wealth Industry Pty Ltd, which bought the property next door at 9 Cicada Glen Rd, in 2011 for $8 million.
This property was previously owned by Clair Jennifer, who founded Wombat clothing at the age of 19, was named Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001 and three years later sold her 54-store retail chain to the Packer family.
She bought No. 9 Cicada Glen Rd in 2003 for $2.7 million, and completely renovated the 2.02ha property, creating a complete lifestyle retreat with main house, 4-bedroom studio, self-contained entertaining area and manicured gardens full of cabanas, pools, fish, sculptures and a man-sized chess set. Celebrity gardener Jamie Durie was wowed when he visited the estate to feature it on Australia’s Best Backyards.
The Animal Welfare League NSW permanently closed the Ingleside Shelter in July 2017, and it has sat empty ever since.
In a Facebook post on July 31, 2017, the shelter said that following an extensive assessment by a professional contractor, it was determined that there were multiple compliance issues relating to waste water management and building codes.
“After much deliberation, the AWL NSW Board agreed that the only current course of action was to close the shelter,” the post says.
“An ongoing review of what is to be done with the Ingleside property is now being undertaken. We realise this news is distressing to many of our supporters, but with the greatest concern for human and animal welfare, for safety reasons the shelter can no longer continue to operate.”
The Animal Welfare League NSW Ingleside centre in a photo taken after it closed in July, 2017.
Animal Welfare League NSW CEO Mark Slater says the organisation had intended to take the property to open market, but an agent had found them a buyer without the need to undertake a campaign, which had been a cost-saving for the charity.
“It had been sitting empty prior to my tenure of CEO and we did need to sell it,” he says.
He confirmed the buyer was a neighbour who was happy to purchase the property to add to their holding.
The funds from the sale will be used for the ongoing operation of the league, and will also contribute to long-term plans to build a new centre for excellence at a site yet to be determined.
This article from the Manly Daily originally appeared as “Animal Welfare League NSW sells former Ingleside shelter to neighbour in quiet $6.6m deal”.
