Grosvenor Lane shopkeepers worried Coles development will drive them out of business

By Grahame Lynch

Grosvenor Lane retailers are worried that a proposed excavation of the council carpark by a future Coles development will put them out of business.

As has been reported, Coles owns the present Woolworths site in the lane and intends to take it over for development when the current lease expires late next year. It has flagged plans to excavate the existing council car park in the lane in order to build an underground extension of the current basement parking facility in the supermarket building. A plaza would replace the overground carpark.

With much acrimony, North Sydney Council voted last month 6-4 to grant Coles “owners consent” to incorporate the council carpark and surrounding lanes in a future development application.

Local retailers and landowners converged on that and a subsequent council meeting to express their opposition to the Coles plan and Council’s approval of its use of community land. They were particularly critical that Council granted the consent ahead of the results of a new Neutral Bay planning study, currently underway be- cause the current councillors cancelled the last one on the grounds that it enabled too much high-rise.

Dimitri Janakis, who says he is the “third generation” owner of Blue & White Dry Cleaners, told the meeting that: “From dawn to the late hours of the night, families are working long hours, dedicating their life to give Neutral Bay residents the best possible experience. It blows my mind that we are putting the future of Neutral Bay in the hands of a supermarket giant that hasn’t spent one day serving the community of the village. Why are we rushing this? What is the point of the planning study?”

Janakis added: “There is no doubt that the car park needs to evolve but we have an opportunity to do something amazing without losing the soul of Neutral Bay, the small businesses. Successful, long-term and generational businesses are draw cards for the area. Olympus Sports, Mr. Gordon, Cosmo’s Florist, Chaos Cafe, Inform Pharmacy, Priceline by Ivan Lulic and Chargrill Charlie’s have been here forever, just to name a few.”

Janakis predicted that what he estimated would be a “three-year excavation on our public land will destroy us to create more parking for a supermarket.”

Cosmo Nati, who owns the neighbouring florist concurred with Janakis. “Parking is crucial, not only for my business, for all the small businesses surrounded by me. Loading zones as well, how do we receive stock,

how do our couriers get in and out?

There are over 100 small family businesses in Neutral Bay Village that have been operating for many years, creating jobs for people. People are working seven days a week just to make a living, to keep their doors open,” he said.

“Where else can you park your car on a ground level and have access to a variety of stores, such as a liquor store, the butcher, books, a fish store, Baker’s Delight, an alteration shop, the patisserie shops. My concerns are the demolition site for two to three years, where will customers park? How will they get access to all our stores? We all have leases in place for four to five years. Will there be no public access to anywhere? So putting a car park underneath, you know what’s going to happen? Will there be access for us at the southern side to get customers through? I don’t think so. Coles will have, probably by then, in two to three years time, they’ll have a pharmacy, flowers, dry cleaners.”

What Coles Says

Coles has conciliatory words for concerned shopkeepers, pointing out that it hasn’t even finalised its designs or plans as of yet.

Tim Atkins of Titanium represented Coles at the Council meeting, telling those present: “In November 2024, the Woolworths lease expires and they’ll be vacating the existing supermarket that forms the heart of Neutral Bay, currently. Coles have two options, one is to repurpose the exist-

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TPG to vacate North Sydney for Barangaroo

TPG Telecom is pulling up stumps on its North Sydney office tower and moving to new premises in Barangaroo at Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

The migration will take place in August and is described as greatly benefiting “TPG Telecom's current and future employees who will have access to best-in-class facilities, ease of access and collaboration spaces to support the telco’s flexible workforce.”

TPG leased seven floors of office space totaling 10,000 sqm at the tower on the corner of Pacific Highway and Berry Street in North Sydney: a tenancy dating back to 2016 when its subsequent acquisition Vodafone moved into the space.