Around 1985, the descendants of Henry Willis attempted to subdivide the land around the Castle, to be used for construction of several town houses, and turn the Castle into a wedding reception centre. As the land earmarked for the town houses was previously donated to the Castle owners by the government to enhance the Castle grounds, it was felt that profiting from this was inappropriate. As a result, Willoughby Council rejected the rezoning required to build the townhouses. Permission to run a business from the Castle was also rejected. The Castle owners then sold the property for approx $4 million, via an onsite public auction.