Manly Corso: St Matthews Church build’s shocking $1m blowout
The completion of a retail redevelopment on Manly’s main shopping precinct has suffered further delays after a series of setbacks.
Manly
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A $12m church and retail development on Manly Corso dogged by ill fortune and delays is set to blowout by at least $1m.
Even then project manager Tim Evans said they may not be able to complete the original vision which includes an 180-seat auditorium and cafe above the row of shops next to St Matthews Church, until more money is found.
And, the timeline for the shops opening has been put back once again.
Mr Evans said when the project’s builders Clifford Constructions went into administration in April it “put a big hole in the timeline and costings”.
“The additional costs are in excess of $1m,” he said.
Mr Evans said the priority was to get the shops open and the Corso back to normal.
“We are hoping to get the shops ready by the end of August,” he said.
“The hoardings outside the shops should come down in two weeks, but the hoarding around the church will remain until mid October.”
In October 2018 when the building work began, Mr Evans said an optimistic target for the shops to be completed would be summer 2019/2020, but it would probably take longer.
The reopening of the seven shops was then put back until February, then April, then June and it’s now hoped they will be ready to open in August.
The new builders Rohrig, who have been working on the St Luke’s Grammar School development, have been appointed.
Mr Evans said they have not officially started on site yet, but are in discussions with the sub contractors.
He said four of the seven retail units have been taken and there’s interest in the other three.
He was unable to reveal which retailers had signed due to confidentiality.