This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CHATSWOOD Golf Club is in for a major overhaul, after the club struck an agreement with a Folkestone joint venture that will most likely see the developer acquire the project once plans are approved.
In partnership Watermark Retirement Living, Folkestone intends to develop a new clubhouse with parking and a seniors’ living community on 14,000sqm of golf course land currently used for its clubhouse and car park.
Folkestone said the project “will be a suitable acquisition” for its Seniors Living Fund No.1, alongside its nearby Watermark Castle Cove development.
It said this would be consistent with the fund’s mandate to invest in, and develop, high quality retirement living communities in Sydney.
The Chatswood Golf Club is located 11 kilometres north-west of Sydney’s CBD on the lower North Shore, a location Folkestone believes has a shortfall of developments catering for seniors.
“There is currently a shortage of quality seniors living accommodation on Sydney’s lower north shore as demand rises due to the ageing population,” the group’s senior living chief executive Stuart Nicholson said.
“The Chatswood Golf Club site is an ideal location for a seniors living community, given its outstanding views across the golf course and Lane Cove National Park, and its accessibility to the golf course, public transport(bus and rail), and the commercial and retail hub of Chatswood,” he added.
The new clubhouse will provide shared facilities for the Chatswood Golf Club members and seniors living residents, including a restaurant/bistro, bar, health and wellness centre, pool, gym and a cinema, to go with the new clubrooms, pro shop and golf simulators.
The golf course itself will be upgraded, with course layout improvements, water management.
The first stage of plans will be submitted to the Department of Planning in June, and construction is slated to begin in 2018.
On the southern side of the CBD, developers have lodged plans for a controversial $100 million development to relocate the Kogarah Golf Club and course to the Arncliffe Chinese Market Gardens.
Two years ago the Strathfield Golf Club in Sydney’s south-west suburbs sold off 2.2 hectares of land for a return of $50 million.
Alan Hall-Watson, treasurer of Chatswood Golf Club said the proposal for their site was a collaboration of 18 months’ work with Watermark.
“Integrating a high quality seniors living community, will support the future success of the Club by providing more services and amenities, as well as an improved golf course,” Hall-Watson said.
Australian Property Journal
