New developer in talks with Rozelle Village over Balmain Leagues Club
Image: The developer's rendering of the revised proposal for Rozelle Village
A mystery developer is said to be in talks with key players about buying out developer Rozelle Village and proceeding with a new plan for the Balmain Leagues Club site on Victoria Road in Rozelle.
The potential development comes more than a month after Rozelle Village’s most recent proposal to build two towers on the site, at 24 and 20 stories high. The state government’s Planning Assessment Commission, however, rejected the proposal.
The new developer is believed to be interested in buying out Rozelle Village, which has been trying since 2009 to develop the now empty club site to no avail. Rozelle Village was formed after taking ownership of the leagues club’s mounting debt in return for the property.
The parties were in discussions last week, and an offer is believed to be on the table.
“The best outcome for the community now would be for the developer to cut their losses [and] on-sell the site to someone with a more realistic expectation of what can be achieved there,” Leichhardt mayor Darcy Byrne told the Inner West Independent.
Enter the anonymous developer, who, according to reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald last week, lives in the local area and has a personal enthusiasm for the project.
But Mark Wallis, head of the Rozelle Residents Action Group, which has long been opposed to the successive development plans, is sceptical.
“I cannot see any developer coming in and saying out of the goodness of their heart, “Listen guys, we’ll just wipe that debt, and guess what else? We’ll just spend another two million to build your new club as well.””
However, he would like to see the project in somebody else’s hands.
“I think if Rozelle Village are out of the equation, then I think we can have a much better chance of seeing something reasonable on the site.”
Cr Byrne is also hoping for a “much smaller, more sensible development.”
Rozelle Village’s sole director Ian Wright could not be reached for comment on the negotiations said to be underway, but he told the Inner West Independent in March that a low-rise development would not be viable.
“There is no point in a consent authority giving approval for a project that can’t be built,” he said.
