Council set to sell commuter/shopper carparks at Woy Woy

Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has slammed Central Coast Council for determining to sell a commuter carpark and its share of a shopper carpark at Woy Woy to the proposed new owner of Deepwater Plaza without any community consultation.

Council agreed to sell the commuter carpark in Blackwall Rd and its option to purchase 220 spaces in the plaza carpark at its February 28 meeting.

A report to the meeting said Council currently leases the commuter car park at 93 Blackwall Rd, with 700 car spaces, to Transport for NSW (TfNSW).

The lease returns a peppercorn ($1/year) and runs until 2065.

TfNSW has indicated that it seeks to retain commuter car parking under a lease agreement, and does not wish to procure the site, the report said.

Council also has an option to purchase part of the shopper car park at 52 Railway Rd, currently owned by Dexus (the current owner of Deepwater Plaza), which is exercisable for a peppercorn fee in December 2032.

Dexus is in the process of selling the plaza to Raptis Investments, with Raptis approaching Council in November seeking to purchase both the option over part of the shopper car park and the commuter car park.

The report said Raptis is prepared to commit to retaining both the commuter and shopper car parks.

“Council has no direct need for either of these car parks,” it said.

“The offer provides a unique opportunity to retain or enhance both commuter and shopper parking in Woy Woy CBD, while simplifying management and ownership arrangements.”

Council won’t reveal how much its parking spaces will be sold for but says the most recent valuation of the entire area by the Valuer General is $3,300,000 inclusive of GST.

The report said Raptis is an established owner and operator of regional shopping centres and has a conditional and time-limited contract to buy the property.

“Raptis has identified exercise of the Option Deed as a major risk to the future value of the shopping centre,” it said.

“Raptis has indicated in a series of contacts with Council that it is agreeable either to extinguishing the Option Deed or, in combination, extinguish the Option Deed and at the same time purchase the commuter car park.

“The offer from Raptis represents a unique opportunity to rationalise car parking arrangements in Woy Woy CBD on a basis that is significantly cash positive to Council.”

Peninsula chamber of Commerce President Matthew Wales said it was “quite extraordinary and deeply disturbing” that council could make such a major decision with public consultation.

He said it was not until the agenda was made public four days before the meeting that anybody had any idea the sale was in progress.

“It is also extraordinary that there is no disclosure over the sale or how that is to be determined except for some obscure comment about nett value to Council,” Wales said.

“The question here is, how is the sale being valued?

“Does it take into account the value to the purchaser for the option agreement?

“Does it take into account the money that was previously provided to Council by the Federal Government to build additional levels on the carpark eight or nine years ago?

“These are very serious questions that need to be answered by the Council and we find it extraordinary that they could make such a decision without any transparency in the community.

“One thing which deeply concerns Chamber is the long-term future of the commuter component of the carpark and whether or not there will be any safeguards that would prevent Raptis charging commuters for the right to park in a carpark that is currently free of charge.

“Without details of sales agreements how can we know any safeguards are in place?”

Wales said with the cost to build multi deck carparks approximately $200,000 per space and 700 spaces in the carpark, the actual worth of the carpark to Council and to the community was around $140M.

He said if the matter had come before an elected Council there would have been “a very robust debate about this sale and that would have been fully transparent”.

Resident Mark Ellis also opposed the sale during the public forum prior to the meeting and said the proposal should be sent out to the community for consultation before any decision is made.

Ellis said carparks were “assets integral to the communities they serve” and that millions of dollars had been injected into the carpark as a community asset.

“We are told there have been consultations with Raptis and With Transport for NSW; when was the community going to be told?” he said.

Ellis said if the carpark were to be privately owned there would be nothing to stop the private owner from demolishing the carpark and extending the plaza or putting in units down the track.

There had been no evaluation and no consultation, showing an “absolute disregard” for the community, he said.

Terry Collins