Property owner Chris Zakos promises to invest in enticing upmarket businesses to Freshwater
The high number of businesses that have moved out of Freshwater in the past couple of years have left the suburb looking like a ghost town. But now there are big plans to turn it around.
Manly
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Freshwater is to be revived with a bold ‘splash the cash’ plan to bring quality restaurants, boutiques and even a beauty salon to the high street.
It follows confirmation this week that the suburb will be also getting a new supermarket, nearly two years after the IGA located in the Freshwater Village shopping centre closed.
Property owner Chris Zakos, who is behind the upgrade of a strip of Freshwater shops and offices, told the Manly Daily he was going to be “spending some serious money to bring it back to life”.
“I will spend what I have to spend to bring something unique back into Freshwater,” he said.
He said he was currently upgrading a number of his properties on the strip to attract high quality tenants.
Among his wishlist is a New York style deli and bar, a Chinese restaurant similar to Mr Wong’s, a steak house like the popular Black Stump and a good quality Italian on the corner.
He would also like to see a boutique and a beauty salon.
Mr Zakos said he was keen to find tenants who have a passion for what they do.
“If they are the right people I will bend over backwards to deliver what they want,” he said.
A new 23 apartment called Oceans Freshwater in the high street is also due to be completed next year.
It includes two owner occupier retail spots that have already been snapped up, showing that there is confidence in the suburb despite a number of businesses vacating.
Meanwhile, the owners of the Supamart IGA retail network have confirmed that their supermarket will begin operation in Albert St in the near future.
Co-owner of the network, Andrew Karellas, said that while a firm date is yet to be decided, he can now tell residents: “We are coming”.
The supermarket’s future had been murky due to a protracted legal stoush between the developer of the “Freshwater” residential and commercial building, which accommodates the 1200 sqm supermarket site, and its builder.
Shoppers were left frustrated after the old IGA in the Freshwater Village Plaza, run by different operators, closed in October last year leaving residents with nowhere to get fresh groceries.
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