Mystery community group snaps up Cloyne mansion

Historic Melbourne mansion Cloyne appears unlikely to be revived as a residential home, after it was sold for more than $6.5 million.

Despite speculation the iconic property at 12 Chapel St in St Kilda could again become a family home, a local community group swooped after current owners the Salvation Army put the substantial landholding and residence on the market.

The mansion, built by prominent barrister Sir John Madden in 1887, has more recently been used as a boarding house, a funeral parlour, a yoga school and a Salvation Army hostel.

Featuring 30 rooms, including a ballroom, the property sits on 3149sqm of land alongside Alma Park, with more than 60m of street frontage.

Cloyne features 30 rooms spread over two storeys in St Kilda.

The Salvation Army has so far declined to disclose who bought the mansion, though marketing agent Ed Wright confirmed a local community group was the successful purchaser.

The property was marketed by CBRE’s Wright, Josh Rutman and Mark Wizel, with Wright earlier speculating that it may end up in the hands of a private homebuyer.

“We’ve had a heap of interest. We’re getting interest from residential homebuyers, hotel operators, aged care, schools, offices, a heap of different interest,” Wright said last month.

“There are some serious high net worth private buyers looking at this to turn it back into a home.”

Cloyne mansion has been bought by a community group.

Wright says he received a number of underbids from private residential buyers, but they were unable to match the community group’s price.

“I can confirm that it’s been sold for $6.577 million,” Wright says.

Wright says the buyer may use Cloyne for not-for-profit purposes, though exactly what form its final use takes remains a mystery.