Preston Market owners threaten to shut it down over planning war

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Preston Market appears dead unless the government can broker a compromise after traders were informed their leases would not be renewed as part of a long-standing fight over the future of the land in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Part owners Salta Properties issued the ultimatum in an email to all stallholders on Tuesday, warning the market would close from January as a result of development rules Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny proposed for the site last month.

Kristian Gandolfo (left) runs the Mariluci deli and Domenic Mollica (right) is from M n M Fruit at the Preston Market.Credit: Jason South

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 effectively block the owner’s plans to add 2200 apartments up to 19 storeys high.

The owners would progressively move most of the market onsite, but stalls with local heritage protection would remain. They argue that traders would have to close for two years to allow for construction if the stalls weren’t shifted

“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,” Sam Tarascio snr told traders in what he described as the worst possible outcome.

“It appears the process might end up prioritising obsolete buildings over the long-term retention of the vibrant Preston Market – which is you the traders, not the buildings,” he said in the email, which has been obtained by The Age.

Stalls at the Preston Market.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Kristian Gandolfo, whose family business Mariluci deli has been at the Preston Market for seven years, had planned to sell to provide for his parent’s retirement. Instead, they may have to move into a shopfront they have in Reservoir, which Gandolfo said would cut foot traffic and revenue by as much as 80 per cent.

“I’m kind of sick to my stomach,” he said. “I never thought it would come to this.”

Gandolfo said the owner’s proposal was the only way stallholders could continue without closing, even temporarily, for construction.

“Why hasn’t anyone been able to come to a compromise which puts the traders as the priority? It’s just disheartening.”

But George Kanjere of the Save the Preston Market action group said the owners were being disingenuous in their concern for traders and the viability of the market.

“Essentially, they’re throwing a bomb into the community and causing a crisis,” Kanjere said.

He said the owners should not have absolute control to turn an important community space into a “ghost town”.

An advisory committee from the Victorian Planning Authority found some development was appropriate to relieve housing shortages, but that heritage had not been adequately protected.

An artist’s impression of the renewed Preston Market, as proposed by the site owners, who will now need to go back to the drawing board.

Proposed planning rules, expected to be enforced in coming months, would require the market to be preserved. But that cannot force the owners to maintain leases to actively operate a market.

“Ultimately, planning can do only so much to ensure a vibrant market or secure its long-term operation,” the committee report, released in April, said.

First-term local member Nathan Lambert this month told a community meeting that Darebin Council should consider compulsorily acquiring the market.

Sam Tarascio jnr, managing director of Salta Properties, on Tuesday said developers had spent five years saying that the current market needed to shift. Otherwise, he said, traders would never return if the market needed to close for construction.

“The existing infrastructure is past its useful life and renovating would result in significant disruption to the site and not be safe for customers or traders,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

“We want to take all of the best parts of the current market and replicate them in something new that means the traders, who are the market, can continue on for the long term.”

In a statement, a Victorian government spokeswoman said the new planning controls and a heritage overlay would protect the market for future generations.

“We’re ensuring the Preston Market remains an important focal point for the community of Melbourne’s north.”

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