The sale of Cultural Centre to developer leaves community in “complete shock”

Mr Viner, what is your involvement with the Italian Forum?

I have owned a commercial lot since 2013. For many years, I served in the Executive Committee to the commercial strata up until June 2022.

Realising there was no sustained effort to market and promote the cultural spaces of the Forum to the public as well as the Forum generally, about 12 months ago, I established the Italian Forum, Leichhardt community Facebook group.

Were you aware of the sale of the Cultural Centre to a so-called 'mystery developer'?

Do you have any concerns as to the way this sale was conducted?

After the car park owners purchased the car park circa 2019, there were rumours these owners had much larger plans.

tached to the Cultural Centre and the Piazza, I am surprised this process was undertaken without any public or community consultation or involvement.

You have been advocating for a restructuring of the Forum for some time. Is this the best option for the Forum, in your opinion?

The Forum complex (in its entirety as opposed to the Cultural Centre and the Piazza) is governed by a Strata Management Statement between the Commercial Strata (1 vote) Residential Strata (1 vote) Carpark (1 vote) and Co.As.It. (2 votes - 1 vote for each of the Cultural Centre and the Piazza). This document was drafted when the Forum was built over 20 years ago so it is outdated and urgently requires updating.

The fate of the Italian Forum Cultural Centre and Piazza is still up in the air, following the acceptance by not-for-profit charity Co.As.It. of an unsolicited offer by Redstone, a private development company believed to have been “established to manage the revitalisation project at the Italian Forum.”

The land for the site on Norton Street, Leichhardt was donated to the Italian community by NSW Premier Neville Wran in 1988. Co.As.It. purchased the Ital- ian Forum Cultural Centre and Piazza in 2014 “to ensure that this Italian connection continues to be fulfilled.”

Former member of the Italian Forum’s commercial strata committee and business owner, Nick Viner was interviewed by Allora! Originally trained as a lawyer, Mr Viner worked as a property solicitor for many years both in London and Sydney before becoming a buyer's agent and currently operates a business located at the Italian Forum in Leichhardt.

Recently, Mr Viner was also refused sale of tickets for himself and his guests to the Italian National Ball, Co.As.It.’s flagship fundraiser event, under a new disclaimer published on the charity’s website.

The prestigious charity gala is organised under the auspices of the Italian Consulate in Sydney and will be held on Saturday 27 May 2023 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

We thank Mr Viner for his time to answer our questions.

However, these rumours seemed to disappear, perhaps due to Covid. More recently, there were rumours that Co.As. It. was trying to sell the Cultural Centre and the Piazza and one of the board members of Co.As.It. confirmed this to me at a Christmas function at the end of last year.

However, as far as I was concerned, this was hearsay and at best, a demonstration of Co.As. It.’s intentions only. The news received last week that the property had actually been sold to a developer was a complete shock. Given the public covenant at- continua a pagina 17

There are many instances of ambiguities and lack of clarity within this document and this is one of the reasons why it is often impossible for the parties to agree to any particular resolution or course of action. Inaction may suit one of the key stakeholders more than the others. And this often explains why nothing gets done and the Forum has been left to decay. This is in spite of the best efforts and commitments of many people that are quite frankly embarrassed by the current dilapidated state of the Forum.

I have been advocating for the urgent review of the Strata Management Statement in accordance with legislation that requires its review every 5 years.

But a formal and substantive review process has so far only been supported by the Commercial Strata.

My understanding is that upon any redevelopment of the Forum, this will automatically trigger a review of the Strata Management Statement. Therefore, this aspect of the sale should be good news for the future of the Forum.

Along with the overhaul of the Strata Management Statement, the Cultural Centre and Piazza must be used in accordance with the public covenant. Indeed these community assets should be the major draw card to the Forum and indeed the whole of Leichhardt attracting foot traffic to regular concerts, shows, exhibitions and events.

In my view, the decline of the Forum and Norton Street go hand in hand and in fact, the revitalisation of the Forum and the hosting of events in accordance with the covenant will lead to a rejuvenation of the southern end of Norton Street.

Do you believe that Redstone would be able to fulfil the requirements of the cultural covenant? What about the idea of developing the airspace above the cultural centre?

My biggest concerns at this stage are that if the General Manager of a Government funded registered charity finally admits in 2023 (as suspected by many in 2014) that running the Cultural Centre and the Piazza in accordance with the public covenant are not their “bread and butter” then how can we be led to believe that running these community assets will be the bread and butter of a developer?

Coasit has informed the community through a press release published on La Fiamma that the revenue made from the sale of the Forum will be reinvested in Italian language and aged care services. What's your opinion on this?

I have no opinion on this. It may be worth noting that before their purchase in 2014, Co.As. It. circulated a business plan for their custodianship of the Cultural Centre and Piazza. Sadly, there are many unfulfilled promises in this document.

One of these was that any profit generated from running the Cultural Centre would be made available to subsidise community events which could take place at cost only. It is possible this may have happened in the early years.

However, more recently, I have been contacted by local community not for profit operators who have confirmed that they have been unable to access the Cultural Centre either because the facility is booked out by the tenant, ACA and/ or they are being charged fees in the order of $4000 per day which is beyond portunity to have opened on the occasion of that event in order to benefit from the additional foot traffic for their businesses. what the local not for profits can afford.

The press release also notes that the new proprietor has granted “Co.As.It the availability to use the Forum for twenty days a year for cultural purposes and to maintain its active presence through events and activities aimed at the community.” Should these 20 days be available to the community at large or just to Coasit?

In my view, this is designed to give lip service to the public covenant but I foresee 2 issues: Will the developer seriously be interested in being bound by this?

In the whole of 2023, Co.As. It. has used the Cultural Centre for a public event just once and nothing for the Piazza. It is possible they may have used the facilities up to 20 times but this would have been over the space of about 3 years, not 12 months so I don’t see this as a serious commitment.

In any event, the covenant requires the facilities to be available to the community “at all reasonable times”. This is surely more than 20 times per year!

A successful restructure must firstly consider how to amend the Strata Management Statement in the interests of all stakeholders. Secondly, there must be a suitable plan for the management, use, promotion and marketing of the Cultural Centre and the Piazza in accordance with the public covenant.

You have informed the community that you have been refused the sale of a table of 10 for the upcoming Coasit's Italian National Ball. What happened?

As soon as I became aware of the announcement of this year’s Italian National Ball, excitedly, I booked and paid for 10 tickets for myself and guests on my credit card. The following day, I was informed on behalf of the General Manager of Co.As.It. that my request had been declined and I would be given a refund. No explanation was provided. I asked for an explanation but so far have not received any.

Can we still talk of an Italian "National" Ball endorsed by the Italian Consulate when it seems that Coasit can discriminate on who can attend and who cannot, without giving any specific reason?

Furthermore, under the Strata Management Statement, the Commercial Strata is required to pay COASIT the sum of $60,000 annually for the cost and promotion of cultural events taking place inside the Cultural Centre.

It has never been made clear where this money is spent. As far as I am aware, only one public event has taken place inside the Cultural Centre in 2023. Maybe it cost $60,000!?

But it would have been good to know and allow commercial retailers and restaurateurs an op-

Coasit has also stated that "a transparent and open community consultation process will begin in the coming weeks to solicit participation in the draft vision of the restructuring plan." What do you think about this consultation process happening after the sale and what do you see would be the priorities for a successful restructuring plan?

Lip service, as I already said. Why wasn’t the community involved before the sale? What difference will it make now? This doesn’t appear to be a serious commitment.

I don’t know the answer to this but I am extremely upset about it. I may not have Italian heritage but I come from London, a former Roman colony by the way and I am a massive supporter and advocate of Italian culture. In the absence of anything being organised by anyone else, last year I organised a successful event to mark the Festa della Repubblica inside the Italian Forum Piazza. I cannot understand how a registered charity which refuses access to a supposed “National Ball” can be the self-appointed gate keeper of what is or isn’t Italian and of who is or isn’t allowed to attend this charity function. I would still very much like to attend this event and am hoping that common sense prevails.