Fund manager gets recommendation for approval for house next door to burnt mansion

Fund manager “Owen” Ouyang Chen, whose $24 million heritage home in Northwood recently burnt to the ground, is expected to gain approval to build his $4.8 million mansion next door given a recommendation to the local planning panel.

A bid by Chen and his wife, Xiao Hong Li, to knock down and rebuild the 1980s-era house they bought in 2007 for $5.688 million had been subject to a dozen objections from neighbours, as well as council concerns, over the bulk and scale of their planned residence, and the impact it would have on the heritage house next door.

A development application to rebuild Owen Chen’s 1980s house in Northwood is recommended for approval.

Those heritage concerns did not go away after Chen paid $24.1 million to buy the 1915 plantation-style house next door from the Rossi family last October. Council reiterated its refusal of his development application in July.

Two weeks ago – and just nine months after Chen purchased the Rossi family’s home of the past 60 years – that historic house was destroyed in an inferno with flames up to 20 metres high which is being treated as suspicious by arson investigators.

There is no suggestion the DA rejection is related to the fire and no suggestion the recent favourable recommendation was assisted by the fire.

Last week police appealed to the public for any information, releasing CCTV footage of an unidentified man fleeing the site shortly after the fire began.

The historic Northwood house long owned by the Rossi family burnt to the ground earlier this month less than nine months after it was sold to Owen Chen.

Chen’s bid for a review of the DA by the Lane Cove Local Planning Panel follows amendments to the application that include a reduced height of 1.53 metres, no rooftop decks, increased setback from neighbouring properties and decreased scale of the overall build.

Council’s previous heritage concerns that Chen’s development would have an unacceptable impact on his historic house next door were addressed in the revised application by the increased setback and reduced height. “This is considered to reasonably address the concerns of council’s heritage adviser,” planner Andrew Bland wrote in his recommendation to the planning panel.

The planning panel is expected to inspect the Northwood property on Tuesday.

The Rossi family owned their almost 5000-square-metre waterfront estate for more than 60 years before they sold it late last year.

It last traded in 1961 when the late family matriarch Mary Rossi purchased it for £16,500 on the recommendation of friend and fellow Northwood local, acclaimed artist Lloyd Rees.

The Northwood house as it was when it was sold late last year by the Rossi family.

Rossi and her late husband Theo were for decades well known among the old Catholic families of the lower north shore, given their 10 children. Rossi was also known for her pioneering work founding Mary Rossi Travel, championing the rights of women to work outside the home while raising a family, and as one of the first women in Australia to host her own television show, Woman’s World.

The 1915-built plantation-style manor with tennis court, orchard and boat shed was one of Northwood’s oldest houses before it burnt down, and ranked among the largest waterfront estates on the lower north shore before Chen bought it. Once consolidated with Chen’s estate next door it would create a more than 7500-square-metre parcel.

Chen’s business interests in Australia have mainly stemmed from his fund manager and Chinese-backed lender Acapital, which in 2012 became one of the first groups behind the Significant Investor Visa fund.

In 2016, Chen launched a bid to register the first Chinese bank in Australia, Aoyin, however, despite having raised $150 million from about 20 private investors, the proposed bank failed to gain approval after concerns were raised with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Aoyin was told it would not meet the “fit and proper” requirement of a bank licence because two of the Hong Kong investors, Kin Chung Chan and Shui Hing Fong, had previously been convicted of 12 charges of defrauding banks, for which they were sentenced to four years in jail.

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