Plans approved for old Coffs Harbour funeral parlour on Little St, Park Lane

From a funeral parlour to a nightclub, see what the next chapter will be for this iconic building in the heart of Coffs Harbour.

From a funeral parlour to a nightclub, one of Coffs Harbour’s earliest CBD buildings with a colourful history will get a new lease of life.

Plans approved by Coffs Harbour council earlier this month will see the historic building on Little Street and Park Lane transformed into a mixed use – retail premises and serviced apartments.

The building currently contains a hairdressing salon, an art workshop, small office space and other vacant spaces.

It is not heritage listed but the works, estimated to cost $400,000, will retain historic elements of the building including the chapel elements dating back to when it operated as Coffs’ first ever funeral home up until the ’80s.

It then operated as a nightclub for several years under a number of different names, including Daisy’s and Caesar’s, until it was transformed again into an office space before its current use.

The ground floor will be occupied by a three-bedroom serviced apartment with kitchen, dining room, living room, two bathrooms, laundry, courtyard terrace, two car spaces, two shops and bin storage area.

The use of the shops has not been determined yet.

The first floor will be occupied by a two-bedroom serviced apartment with kitchen dining room, living room, laundry, lift and stair entry and two outdoor roof terraces.

The graffiti art along the laneway dates back to 2004 when the owners engaged an artist to paint the rear wall with a mural to reduce the tagging that was out of control. Several times in following years the owners engaged “graffiti students” to paint the wall.

The current proposal aims to continue this tradition with the inclusion of an art wall.

Coffs Harbour local Evan Moody has been part-owner of the building alongside his wife Catherine McKimm since 1991.

“We’ve had it for some time but in this day and age it’s quite hard to rent it out, so we thought it was time to do something different with it,” Mr Moody said in September last year just after the plans were first lodged.