The Preston Market development saga continues, as part-owners Salta Properties, who want to redevelop the market into an apartment complex issued an ultimatum in a letter sent in mid-May to all traders warning that the market would close early next year, as a result of development rules Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny proposed for the site in April.
Minister Kilkenny plans to expand heritage protections at the 53-year-old market and allow some mid-rise development, which could be up to 14 storeys and accommodate 1200 apartments. That would stumey the owner’s plans to add 2200 apartments up to 19 storeys high.
An unlikely new alliance
The letter by Sam Tarascio Snr, the executive director of Salta Properties, states that “as a result of discussions between market owners and traders” the owners have “instigated the reintroduction of the Preston Market Trader Group (PMTG).”
“The PMTG will be a way to provide you all the opportunity to collaborate and influence the new market’s direction…”
He asks that the traders support the development to “secure your long-term futures, your livelihoods, and the value you have in your business.”
Clearly under a continual cloud of uncertainty, some of the traders are concerned and have aligned with the market owners with the view of securing a space in any new development.
Under the owners’ plan, most of the market would be progressively moved to the redeveloped site, but stalls with local heritage protection would remain. In the letter, Tarascio Snr says that all traders would need to close for two years under the government’s proposal.
On April 3, Kilkenny announced new plans that will adhere to the SAC findings on heritage preservation, but there is discussion that even with a heritage overlay the whole market may not remain as it is is now.
HR Practitioner Con Lambros, a key member of the Save the Preston Market told Neos Kosmos that he believes that the businesses choosing to side with the owners, can’t all be promised a spot in the new market.
“I can tell you now all the Southside businesses will go, and there’ll be a select number of greengrocers and butchers. And that’ll be kind of it.”
“So, this carrot that he’s dangling is not good at all. And some of the traders who have supported the letter have said ‘we’re not his cronies but we’ve got nowhere else or nothing else that we can aim for.”
Many of the traders have signed an open letter pleading with the government and the community to “stand by the traders” and the developers and government to find a suitable compromise. One of those traders is the Greek owned Athina’s Deli, who took to Facebook and said, “we deplore and detest threats to shut our Market and anyone who manipulates us and attempts to use us to their own ends.”
The fight continues
The Save the Preston Market group visited the office of the planning minister last Thursday demanding the full retention of the market.
The group posted on its Facebook that there was security at the minister’s office so they made their demands known from outside.
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Nathan Lambert, the Member for Preston tabled a petition to save the market in parliament last week with 13,000 signatures making it is the largest petition tabled in the last three years.
Darebin Council also have an online petition with close to 16,000 signatures.
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“Given the strict rules under the Retail Tenancies Act, this will mean notices to vacate will be issued shortly to ensure these are effective on or about your current lease expiry dates,” the Salta Properties executive told traders.”…the current SAC Report recommendations and Darebin Council’s position…would result in you needing to close your business for long periods of time.”
“This is not acceptable and would most likely lead to permanent closure of the market,” writes Tarascio Snr.
Lambros says that Tarascio Snr has been absent from the market for seven years and has now re-emerged “upset about the delays and is putting pressure on the tenants.”
“Basically, what it [the letter] has done is put pressure on all the traders to say ‘the only future that you have is with me and I don’t intend on keeping the market open’,” Lambros told Neos Kosmos.
“The traders are fantastic people, and we support them, and we support their livelihoods. We don’t, however, support the demolition of the market. So, we support whatever action the traders think is right for them, and unfortunately, in our view, they’re being used as cannon fodder because they can’t see any other option and the planning decision hasn’t been made.”
One the key demands of the Group is for the government to buy the market confirming its heritage status.
“That’s the ultimate outcome which would be great for everybody, significantly the traders,” Lambros said.
In the letter, the owners said that the leases all run to January 2024 the latest, with no guarantee of after that.
“The traders, as I said, deserve a livelihood. But what they’ve been promised by Salta Group has got no bones to it.”
“They don’t have any leases in their hands. They don’t have any plans in their hands. What the owner of the market has said to them is if you support me and we push this through, I’ll get you a spot. Now when I’ve spoken to traders, I’ve asked ‘have you got a new lease? Have you got drawings of where that spot will be? What does it look like?’ They don’t have any of that.”
Tarascio Snr writes that the existing market buildings are no longer fit for purpose and are unable to be repaired to the standard of a modern market without a two-year closure, and any attempt to retain the buildings, as the SAC findings recommend, would mean permanent closure.
Ongoing structural issues
Lambros believes this is part of a bigger issue for the market, having said the landlord will “close the market” because there’s “asbestoes”, “sewage problems” and more.
“Those problems have been in existence for 20 years of ownership. Traders have complained about these problems for a long time.
“I find that really poor (closing for two years) given that stage construction happens at shopping centres and places all the time. So, you can stage your construction, you can move your traders around as you fix problems, but that’s not the intent. The intent is for his original plan to demolish at least 80 percent of the market so he can maximise on the building of apartments.”
“The really sad thing for the traders is that the same landlord who hasn’t treated a lot of them right is the same landlord who is promising salvation.”
As Neos Kosmos reported in May, the owners of the market supposedly promised stallholders the market will not close during development.
One anonymous stallholder told Neos Kosmos that “the actual owner of the market gave me his word that they would not close the market during the building.”
The same thing was said in 2016, when the plans first arose about redevelopment said Lambros.
Clearly, there are now multiple fronts emerging in this clash between traders, developers and community, and it seems for now that a resolution that will satisfy all is still far from sight.
