Development plans lodged for Eros restaurant Bayswater Rd site, owned by John Ibrahim
The failure of multiple Kings Cross venues under the watch of missing owner Ussi Moniz Da Silva has taken a new twist, with John Ibrahim becoming involved. This is how Ibrahim fits into the puzzle and his $20 million plan revealed.
Wentworth Courier
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John Ibrahim has emerged as the unlikely saviour of a city night spot that was shut down last month.
The notoriously private Ibrahim has been revealed as the landlord of Greek restaurant and bar Eros, which was forced to close after previous owner Ussi Moniz Da Silva skipped town.
A luxury apartment complex, complete with a ground floor bar and restaurant, has been proposed site which was recently home to Eros restaurant.
The venue has shut down with the operator Ussi Moniz Da Silva reportedly having left the country. There is no suggestion Mr Ibrahim is linked to any allegations of unpaid wages and debts.
Staff, landlords and investors have chased unpaid wages, rent and taxes at Eros and his other venues Maali, Kings Cross Pavilion and Sinaloa.
In the days before Eros closed, the independent Liquor and Gaming Authority issued it a temporary closure notice.
It’s understood the ILGA issued a 60-hour closure notice on February 3, after police received information that members of an outlaw motorcycle gang were plotting to commit an act of retribution at the bar.
Sources close to the business have since said that Moniz Da Silva owed a substantial debt to the Australian Taxation Office.
When contacted, the ATO refused to reveal whether Moniz Da Silva was under investigation. citing privacy reasons.
Eros – and all of Moniz Da Silva’s other venues – then failed to reopen following the temporary closure.
However Eros, located on Bayswater Rd at Potts Point is set to reopen in the coming weeks after Ibrahim stepped in to help the new licensees.
Christina Jaucian – whose parents owned clubs in the Cross during the Golden Mile’s heyday in the 1980 and ’90s – and her husband Lance Alalaatoa are the faces behind the revamped venue.
Maali, which hosted the premiere party for Ibrahim’s new Paramount television show Last King Of The Cross in February, is also reopening under Jaucian and Alalaatoa – with the new name Chicane.
The venue will target a more up-market crowd than Maali, and promises to be a “safe place” – after reports “unsavoury” characters were often welcomed under Moniz Da Silva’s management.
King Cross Pavilion has also undergone a facelift and will go by the name KX Social. Moniz Da Silva now has nothing to do with the venues.
Meantime, a development application for 28-38 Bayswater Rd, Potts Point was recently submitted to the City of Sydney by Hamptons Property Services, with Sydney-based architecture firm Squillace behind the plans.
Cantabri, a company of which Mr Ibrahim is the sole director, bought the commercial blocks of 28-30 Bayswater Rd, 32 Bayswater Rd and 36 Bayswater Rd in January 2021.
Planning documents state the 1394sq m mixed-use development, which is valued at $19.7m, will include five one-bedroom, 11 two-bedroom and six three-bedroom apartments, along with ground floor retail space and a proposed bar and restaurant.
The development is set to retain the existing terraces and modify them into residential units, while the rest of the site will be redeveloped.
The upgrade will “enhance the residential offering to the precinct of Potts Point, due to its prime location in terms of access to local shops, entertainment, services and public”, the documents state.
Bayswater Rd, once a centrepiece of Kings Cross’ night-life heyday, retains an eclectic mix of mid-Victorian terraces used as restaurants, bars and clubs.
The current buildings on the site house the Thai Rock restaurant and restaurant and bar Eros.
Earlier this month Eros was ordered to close its doors to the weekend’s trade after the state’s liquor and gaming watchdog determined the venue posed a ‘significant threat’ to the public, after police received information that members of a bikie gang were planning an act of retribution at the venue.
Mr Ibrahim was a key figure in Kings Cross for decades, rising from humble beginnings as a young immigrant from Tripoli.
His colourful story has recently returned to headlines with the launch of Last King of the Cross, a Paramount+ international miniseries based on a namesake book written by Mr Ibrahim and published in 2017.
The development has been placed on public exhibition until April 5.
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