A Call to action - Rozelle Village

[Cultured_Bogan]

What an awesome project this is.

Cant wait for this big stinking turd in the middle of migetville to be developed. **All that awesome traffic jams and wear and tear on the roads that will have to be being fixed coming out of our pockets.**

I hope they make it twice as high and wide and make zillions of dollars and then do it again next suburb all the way to canada bay because we deserve it.
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You're talking as though Victoria Road is currently an unimpeded dream route to the city. The traffic is abhorrent already and hopefully developments like this put pressure on the government to do something about it. Another few hundred cars in the area is not going to compound the issue regarding traffic flow. The flotilla of cars heading in from the west however…

 

[Yossarian]

Good contribution…


Ironic


Just because you dont agree…...??

Not because I don't agree… Because it was just sarcastic without discussing the issue.

Once again you miss the point.

 

[innsaneink]

Who says Donny Brasco needs to discuss the issue?
He made his point…in his own way, not your way....so in fact you have no point - or anything - that I could miss.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Who says Donny Brasco needs to discuss the issue?
He made his point…in his own way, not your way....so in fact you have no point - or anything - that I could miss.

LOL… Why does it not surprise me that you support that sarcastic rhetoric...

fo-rum (noun): a public meeting place for open discussion

 

[Adman]

Love how you guys start quarrelling over another nugget's forum post.

I wish I had your problems lol

:stuck_out_tongue:


 

[Yossarian]

Who says Donny Brasco needs to discuss the issue?
He made his point…in his own way, not your way....so in fact you have no point - or anything - that I could miss.

I endorse CB's comments above. You never seem to see the irony when you post this sort of stuff…

 

[Guest]

And before this degenerates into another personal argument, please stay on topic.

 

[jirskyr]

I reckon we should all just adopt the Evocities, funded by the state and federal governments, and move to Armidale or Wagga.

Nice low density housing, no issues with shadows, not much noise and plenty of backyard space for bbqs. Take your woollies though.

 

[genoshan]

From someone who lives on the lovely south coast - If you live in the city / metro area, what else can you expect ? There is no more land to build housing, so naturally to cater for the high population and poulation growth these kinds of retail/ residential buildings are going to become more common.

I personally choos not to live in a high density area. There are pros and cons to this. If i lived in the city I could earn 200k plus. Choosing to live south I halve that, but I also have a big block of land, ocean views at 1/2 the price you city folk would pay.

Pros and cons …

 

[weststigers4life]

If it was a 4 storey development, that's all the shadow would bother…
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Lower scale developments were put to council on a number of occasions, but each time they found a reason to reject it. I think everyone should take a look at a speech by Linda Voltz in Legislative Council from earlier this week:

"BALMAIN DEVELOPMENT

The Hon. LYNDA VOLTZ [6.37 p.m.]: On 7 June Elizabeth Farrelly wrote an article entitled "Developers show their stripes all over town" in which she lamented the "truly outrageous applications" that will be approved. As an example she singled out the Balmain Tigers redevelopment. According to Farrelly:
Rozelle Village started at 10 storeys, linked to the then metro-to-be. By 2010, when it was first refused, it was 13 storeys. Now, though the metro is long-dead, the proposal has been accepted as "state significant" under Part 3A.

To keep Ms Farrelly in the loop, the "Rozelle Village" did not start out as a 10-storey development linked to the metro-to-be. I first saw the plans for this site in late 2006 after the Tigers had been in extensive consultation with Leichhardt council for over two years. The Tigers approached Leichhardt council as the first step of the redevelopment to get the advice and opinion of the council as the elected representatives of their local community. The Tigers were advised by Leichhardt council that they would need to purchase more land and to purchase adjoining properties around the club then submit a development that essentially encompassed almost the entire block.

When I first saw the plans for the redevelopment I was attending a lunch at Balmain Tigers, alongside Jamie Parker, who then was Mayor of Leichhardt and is now the member for Balmain. On seeing the plan I expressed my doubts to the Tigers that Leichhardt council would ever pass the designs, not because they were bad but because Leichhardt council is a serial offender in regard to rejecting just about any development for the most spurious of reasons. My fears were based on a long association of dealing with the council over State issues.
<26>
One site in particular sticks out—the new Water Police site. Despite the site being industrial, the State Government spent millions on redesigning the site, outsourcing maintenance, and converting two-thirds of the site to parklands, all at great expense to the taxpayers of New South Wales, in consultation with the council. That was only to see the plans rejected by council on the basis, as quoted to me by one councillor at the time, "The local government elections are two months away and everyone is voting against it because we know the State Government can call it in".

Tigers representatives informed me of their ongoing consultations with the council and how they had followed the advice of the council in regards to the development. They pointed out that they had purchased properties at the recommendation of the council, and the club followed a very engaged, consultative approach with the council. This represented the club's philosophy that it is part of the community. As Jamie Parker was present during this conversation I put it to him that the minute he had a couple of complaints he and his ilk would do a runner and knock back the development. He reassured me that the plans were fine and they just needed some tweaking. At the time Jamie Parker's reassurance made me think that I may perhaps be wrong and that because the Tigers had so engaged the council and were such a part of the community the miracle may happen. However, some time later it came as no surprise to me that, true to form, after four years of consultations the Leichhardt Municipal Council rejected the Tigers redevelopment.

And there we have it in a nutshell: anything that is a bit difficult will never be decided by the Leichhardt council because it relies on the State Government to make the hard decisions. The Leichhardt councillors are the Pontius Pilates of the local government system. The Tigers development had nothing to do with the metro-to-be. The development predates the metro considerably. The club had undergone extensive public consultation and actively sought the advice of the council. As a result the club carried huge debts that ended up threatening the viability of a foundation rugby league club and one of the last bastions of working-class culture on the Balmain peninsula. The Tigers set about redesigning the site, which by that time had to go before a joint regional planning panel [JRPP].

The club had its plans ready to go again when the New South Wales Government announced the CBD Metro. Faced with a choice between compulsory acquisition of the Tigers site, which the club needed, or working with the government, the Tigers had to work with the State Government to accommodate the metro. The metro, which has been consigned to the dustbin of history, never happened and the Tigers were left high and dry with a redesigned plan, after another 12-months delay, and had to begin yet again. Finally a plan was to be put to the joint regional planning panel. And what did Jamie Parker and the Leichhardt council do? They presented a new road traffic plan to the joint regional planning panel one day before the decision was taken without informing the Tigers of the new traffic plan or having the decency of allowing the Tigers to see it. Apparently the idea of community consultation is a one-way street at Leichhardt.

If Elizabeth Farrelly wants to know why the Tigers site seems to be one "where developments once considered dead—have lately bounced back", I advise her to seek out Jamie Parker and the Leichhardt council and ask them some hard questions about their original advice to the Tigers and their actions since."

That is exactly why this site hasn't been developed.

Goes to show how spineless & inept Parker & Leichhardt Council have been in this debacle dating back to 2006.
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[dermo]

And I can remember when we played the Cowboys at Leichardt oval a few years back and Parker got on the mic before the game claiming how much he loved the club…

 

[Juro]

When I think of Jamie Parker, it takes me back to my uni days. He was at Macquarie Uni on the day I started, loud speaker in hand, spruiking whatever political slogans were popular in the day. And he was there on the day I left, 5 years later, doing exactly the same thing. I thought he was going to be a student for life, never contributing meaningfully to anything.

Shows what I know…

 

[innsaneink]

Not consistent over storeys

Dear Sir,

Shocker? Maybe, but I’m shocked by TWT’s inconsistency.

Why is your 26-storey tower a “shocker” (TWT 6/6) and ours isn’t?
Closer to my part of the world at Victoria Rd, Rozelle, there are plans for not only one 26-storey tower, but a 32-storey one on the same site.

That’s the project the back page of your very own paper (‘One Eyed Tiger’) was urging everyone to support only last month.

“We all need to get our actions into gear now to counter the loony Greens who are attacking the project,” you said on May 16.

Perhaps you could import some of Leichhardt Council’s Greens to help your campaign against the Civic Centre.

Heaven help us, there are enough loonies over here. But what if they joined forces with their natural allies, the Women’s Lib Labor clique?

Just imagine the “shocker” fate that would then befall the citizens of Ryde.

RUSSELL EDWARDS
Drummoyne

http://www.weeklytimes.com.au/

 

[Yossarian]

Anything would have to be better than the current Ryde civic centre. That is one seriously ugly building.

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

HE IS the instantly recognisable face of the "Bring the Tigers Home" campaign and has been hailed as the saviour of the NRL team's struggling club.

But a series of deals with Ben Elias has plunged the Balmain Leagues Club into inextricable debt, after it handed all its assets to its former star Test hooker.

Mr Elias has been lobbying heavily for the controversial $300 million Rozelle Village development on the club's former site, which is now before the state government's independent Planning Assessment Commission. Despite strong opposition from residents who argue that three towers, one as high as 32 storeys, are a gross overdevelopment of the site, more than 7000 letters of support for the proposal have been sent to the commission. This has been largely due to the efforts of Mr Elias, who has been greeting fans at matches and urging them to sign his petition.

What Mr Elias has failed to tell fans is that he owns a 50 per cent stake in the company behind the development, and stands to make millions if it goes ahead. And that company, which bought the club's property for $1 plus the clearing of a $23.5 million debt, is earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from crippling fees charged on loans to the club, which is back in the red to the tune of almost $9 million.

A company solely owned by Mr Elias, Fordmont Pty Ltd, continues to hold half the shares of Rozelle Village, 16 months after he resigned as a director of Rozelle Village.

''Mind your own bloody business'', Mr Elias told the Herald when first asked about Fordmont's continued involvement in Rozelle Village two weeks ago. Earlier this week, he said: ''I have nothing to say to you about Rozelle Village.''

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

Late yesterday he responded to questions from the Herald with a statement saying he had disclosed his position to the club's board and members.

The president of the club, David Trodden, has declined to be interviewed by the Herald.

According to documents obtained by the Herald, while Mr Elias was still on the club's board in March 2009 his company Balmain Development signed a heads of agreement with Mr Trodden and the club's then chief executive, Tim Camiller, to take over the proposed redevelopment of the club. In contravention of the Registered Clubs Act, there was no public auction or open tender for the project.

At that time, Mr Elias's company was being financed by Harry Triguboff's former son-in-law, Alex Lankry. Mr Lankry has told the Herald he agreed to finance the redevelopment in partnership with Mr Elias, who had no capital, in return for a 70 per cent stake in Balmain Development. But after sinking more than $400,000 into the club, Mr Lankry said, he told Mr Elias he would provide no further funds because the share transfer hadn't happened.

While Mr Lankry sought legal advice over how to salvage his investment, Mr Elias sought capital elsewhere, from Kemmori ''Alex'' Yasumoto, a Japanese property developer who made his fortune erecting serviced apartment towers in Hong Kong. The Australian link was the Double Bay real estate agent Ian Wright. Together the two men own Pacific Link Investment, the company behind Pacific Balmain, which now jointly owns Rozelle Village Pty Ltd with Mr Elias's company, Fordmont.

Pacific Link had the capital-raising capacity, Mr Elias had the connections and trust of the club, vital for the redevelopment deal.

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

Just six days after resigning as a club director, Mr Elias signed a deal with Pacific Link under which he pocketed more than $600,000 for what had been previously spent on the stalled development, a sum Mr Lankry alleges included his money, which he is still trying to recoup.

Mr Elias's job, according to the agreement, would be to broker a deal with the club, which was now bleeding $100,000 a month through previous risky property acquisitions and declining patronage of its poker machines.

A week after the Pacific Link deal was signed, Balmain Development became Rozelle Village Pty Ltd, with Mr Elias and Mr Wright its sole directors.

By late May the club was on the verge of agreeing to hand its assets and debts to Rozelle Village, in return for a guaranteed new home in the redevelopment in the form of a 15-year lease and a 15-year option.

But by this stage Rozelle Village not only stood to make millions from the residential and commercial redevelopment of the club site. The company was negotiating with the state government, which had announced plans to build a $5.3 billion, seven-kilometre CBD Metro between Central and Rozelle.

Rozelle Village stood to make as much as $30 million over five years by leasing part of the development's underground space to the metro project. Mr Wright urged Mr Elias in an email to speed up the negotiations with the club. The deal was eventually endorsed at a members' meeting on August 26.

''Really there is no alternative,'' Mr Elias told the meeting. ''The only option if the proposal is voted down is to close the leagues club doors.''

The Daily Telegraph enthused: ''Balmain's favourite son Benny Elias has saved his greatest contribution to the club until his retirement.'' The paper quoted Mr Elias saying he was ''proud to be contributing to a project that was so close to his heart''.

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

One resident, Mark Wallis, recalls he was one of only a handful of members uncomfortable with the Elias alliance.

''I was shouted down and booed when I disagreed with what the board was telling us, then David Trodden snatched the microphone off me. The message the board was giving was that Benny was acting in the club's best interest and that of course we should trust him … we were told he was a white knight.''

Members were permitted to see a copy of the call option on display at the club but the board banned anyone from making copies and taking them away to read the fine print. Consequently, few of the members would have been aware that the deal with Rozelle Village would immediately plunge the club back into debt, despite handing over all its land to the company.

Under the terms of the agreement Rozelle Village would immediately lend the club $4.5 million over three years to continue operating, with interest charged at commercial rates. And there was another loan, not mentioned in the agreement put before the members on August 26, but approved by the club's board three months later. Mr Elias and Mr Wright would lend the club $3.1 million to help with moving costs when it made way for the redevelopment.

According to correspondence obtained by the Herald sent to Mr Trodden, and Mr Camiller by Rozelle Village's then project manager, Moss Akbarian, the loan was initially presented by Mr Elias and Mr Wright as a gesture of goodwill from Mr Yasumoto, with his philanthropic credentials fully cited and his passion to see the club and the community it served thrive.

However, the club learnt it was to be charged market rate interest plus 2 per cent on the loan. The club would also be obliged to pay Mr Elias and Mr Wright a $180,000 ''application fee'', plus an additional $230,000 ''administration fee'' every year for the duration of the loan. On top of that, the business partners would receive an additional $310,000 from the club, should it suddenly become miraculously flush with funds and pay the loan out early.

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

''These fees were introduced by Ben Elias on the basis that the relocation loan to the club was unsecured and the club should not get away with paying the normal interest rates,'' Mr Akbarian's letter of explanation to the club states.

The Herald understands there was discussion over reversing the loan fees, but it is unclear if this ever happened. If the terms of the relocation loan were adhered to, the club by now has paid Rozelle Village almost $1 million in administration fees alone, on a $3.1 million loan attracting commercial rates of interest.

From what can be gathered from the club's 2011 annual report, very little if any of the $4.1 million operating loan has been paid and the club has capitalised the loan's interest. As of last October, the club had unsecured non-current loans of more than $8.5 million owing to Rozelle Village and for 2011 incurred a $2.2 million loss.

On the surface, it appeared by then that Mr Elias had ceased his business relationship with Mr Wright and Mr Yasumoto, having resigned as a director of Rozelle Village in December 2010\. He appeared to be lobbying for the development on behalf of the club once more.

Last September Mr Elias refused to comment when asked if he was still involved in Rozelle Village, saying only that he was turning his business interests to a truck stop development in Toowoomba with his good mate Mick Doohan, the grand prix motorcycle champion.

But Mr Wright has told the Herald and The Australian Mr Elias was ''not involved at all'' in the Rozelle Village company.

 

[Balmain_Supporter]

As of close of business yesterday, Mr Elias's company Fordmont remained the 50 per cent owner of Rozelle Village.

In a statement received by the Herald late yesterday, Mr Trodden said all club-audited finances, including loans and repayments, had been documented and distributed to members in a transparent process. ''Ben Elias's relationship with Balmain Leagues is not a business one - he is one of our greatest players and most hardworking supporters,'' he said.

''I have been heartened by the continued support from the many thousands of fans and the community who have independently expressed their support for the development which will bring the Tigers home to Balmain.''

Mr Elias responded in writing late yesterday to a series of questions on his involvement with Rozelle Village: ''I am a former director but left this position over 12 months ago to pursue other activity.''

He had made a full disclosure ''of my former position'' to the club board and members at the meeting which overwhelmingly voted in favour of the redevelopment. Yet according to ASIC documents, Mr Elias did not stand down as a director of Rozelle Village until almost four months after that meeting.

''I am committed to seeing the Tigers return to Rozelle and openly encourage all fans to support the development,'' he said.