Former Illawarra golf course hits the market

A large 40-hectare site at Maddens Plains, which was formerly the site of the Illawarra Golf and Country Club, is on the market for sale.

The land at 87 Princes Highway features a golf course, existing club house, and several functional sheds, plus two houses previously occupied by the caretaker and greenkeeper.

It has not been used as a golf course since the early 2000s.

The property was bought in the 1980s by Japan’s Harunori Takahashi, who was Australia’s biggest foreign investor at the time.

Takahashi managed to secure a rezoning for an enlarged resort with hundreds of apartments and hotel rooms, before he was convicted in Japan over the collapse of community banks.

In 2002, the property was bought by Sydney investors, who entered into an agreement with the Melbourne developer Links Living.

In the mid-1990s, Links Living proposed a large-scale development on the site for serviced apartments, a hotel, short stay villas, a nine-hole golf course and driving range. Yet the development never eventuated.

Simon Kersten, managing director of Colliers International Wollongong, said he was now selling the land on behalf of a receiver.

Mr Kersten said the property was zoned “RE2 – Private Recreation”, which allowed for a wide variety of uses, enabling it to function as a sporting club, function centre or recreational business.

Mr Kersten said the property, which has been on the market for three weeks, has attracted strong interest.

The property is for sale with expressions of interest closing on Thursday, November 6.