Chris Zakos sells Freshwater retail strip in Lawrence Street to ‘gentleman’ developer
A prime retail strip in Freshwater has been sold to a mystery developer described as a ‘gentlemen’ by the site’s former owner. The deal is rumoured to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
Manly
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A row of prime retail in Freshwater has been sold in a shock move, with the deal rumoured to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
The 26 individual tenancies at 12 to 32 Lawrence St, are owned by well-known Freshwater businessman Chris Zakos, who has been renovating them for the past three years.
He confirmed to the Manly Daily he had sold the properties after getting an offer “out of the blue”, but would not comment on the rumoured price.
Mr Zakos said the buyer, who wanted to remain anonymous, was the single director of a company, a property developer and a family man, who had recently finished a quality development in the eastern suburbs.
He said he felt confident it would be good news for Freshwater.
“In the short term he will lease the properties out,” Mr Zakos said.
“In the long term he wants to demolish and rebuild.
“I’ve sold to a decent guy.
“It will be a quality development.
“I cannot be happier, he is a gentleman.”
Mr Zakos said the deal happened very quickly after the buyer made contact through a real estate friend.
The buyer brought his family to see the site on a Thursday, an offer was made late the following Monday. The sale is due to complete in mid-November.
Retail has suffered in Freshwater over the last couple of years, with some key players moving out citing concerns about the number of empty shops and the lack of a supermarket.
The Zakos family have had a long and successful history in Freshwater with Mr Zakos’ father Alex, who arrived in Australia from Greece aged 18, buying his first shop with a two-bed apartment above, in Lawrence St in 1947.
With his wife Maria they slowly expanded their portfolio as properties became available until they owned nearly the whole stretch.
They opened a number of businesses there including a fish and chip shop, fruit shop and butchers.
Chris Zakos, who grew up in Lawrence St, also opened a number of businesses including The Boomerang Milk Bar, MFC Supermarket, and the Harbord Tackle Supply, which employed 15 full time staff, closing in 1992.
Mr Zakos, who now lives in Seaforth, said Freshwater runs in his blood.
He said originally he had wanted to demolish the strip and rebuild.
However, he said despite spending more than $2m on architects and consultants, and years of negotiating with the council, he couldn’t get a deal over the line.
He said the council had wanted him to build a three-level basement car park as part of the rebuild, but he said a third level made the deal unviable, hence he decided to renovate instead.