Image: The Italian Forum in Leichhardt. Photo: Wikimedia commons.
By ERIN MODARO
Several strata managing agents of the Italian Forum in Leichhardt have resigned last week, putting in their notices of resignation on Friday August 26.
This comes amidst a flurry of concern over the decaying state of the once bustling Italian forum in the heart of Sydney’s Italian district. The forum has fallen into a state of disrepair, with shopfronts and restaurants standing empty, and the statue of Dante in the middle of the piazza running dry.
However, gradual decline has been encroaching the plaza for nearly a decade, after the previous owners of the forum went into voluntary administration in 2013. The following struggle to select a new owner for the plaza was riddled with controversy, after the pre-merger Leichhardt council picked favoured charity Co.As.It for ownership.
Debate ensued with the Business Management Committee (BMC), Leichhardt Council and Co.As.It over a business plan and a lowball offer of $2.4 million from Co.As.It, compared to other bidders offers of $2.8 million. A dispute between then Mayor of Leichhardt Darcy Byrne and the administrators of the site SV Partners went as far as the NSW Supreme Court.
Co.As.It lifted their offer to $2.8 million and was awarded the contract to the Italian Forum in November of 2014.
Currently, Co.As.It still owns and operates the forum.
Community speaks out about forum’s decline
Residents and community members spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about their frustrations with the state of the forum. Italian restaurant owner Gina Di Francesco told the Herald that people often come to the plaza and ask “what happened to this place?”.
Previous member of the forum’s commercial strata committee and business owner, Nick Viner, told City Hub that something needs to be done about management.
“In my view, the forum is in urgent need of an overhaul of the strata management statement that governs the BMC” Viner said.
“The current document is over 20 years old.”
Viner also sent a letter to Ryde MP and Minister for Customer Service, Digital Government, Small Business and Fair Trading Victor Dominello requesting him to investigate compliance with the covenant document, which details the owners commitment to use the cultural centre and piazza for the community and upkeep of the space.
Dominello reviewed the documents and after correspondence with the relevant bodies came to the conclusion that Co.As.It and the Actors Centre Australia were upholding their obligations, and declined to take action.
In May of this year, a tentative plan to reinvigorate the forum was begun at a meeting with the commercial and residential strata committees. However to date, no substantive renewal attempts have taken place. The Italian forum remains in a deteriorating state with many owners concerned about a number of issues, from health and safety to depressed property values.
