This civic centre is a hole in the ground. Council needs $113m to fill it

Ryde Council faces cutting services and selling off a suite of properties to meet an estimated $113 million shortfall for construction of its problem-plagued new civic centre, a confidential briefing document says.

“As there are no funds available council would have to cut existing services,” according to the secret briefing document given to councillors last month that also floated an option for selling part of the civic centre site to developers for apartments.

The Ryde Central site pictured last month. Credit: Steven Siewert

In a public statement on Monday, the council’s chief executive Wayne Rylands said “numerous important community works” were in jeopardy as a result of the funding shortfall which had left the council in a “precarious financial position”.

An extraordinary council meeting was called for next week to debate the project, including the possibility of selling the site to developers for apartments.

‘Who told you that?’: Sarkis Yedelian, the Liberal mayor of Ryde.Credit: Ryde Council

“Who told you that?” asked Ryde mayor Sarkis Yedelian when contacted by the Herald. The meeting was abruptly cancelled late on Tuesday.

“We thought maybe it was that urgent but it looks not that urgent,” Yedelian said.

But the council reported itself to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in March, saying that funds earmarked for the new development were wrongly transferred from a fund supplied by financial contributions from developers.

The Ryde civic centre site was identified for redevelopment more than a decade ago and the former council building was demolished in 2021.

The site, opposite Top Ryde City Shopping Centre, is still a large hole in the ground. Councillors are currently forced to meet in offices in the shopping centre, above the local library.

Ryland’s public statement did not explicitly mention cutting services to ratepayers. But the confidential briefing prepared by council staff dated October 17 and shown to councillors outlines options for meeting the estimated $120 million cost of the project.

Hoarding at the Ryde Central site, detailing it will “not include any residential apartments”.Credit: Steven Siewert

The council has so far set aside $7 million of the $120 million to complete the civic centre project, the briefing said. Seeking a loan from TCorp, the NSW Treasury financing authority, would commit the council to $9.4 million in annual repayments, it said.

The sale of the Argyle Centre, a dilapidated art deco community building in central Ryde, for private development is one property mentioned in the confidential briefing.

Other council-owned properties identified in the briefing for possible sale to developers include a car park in Coulter Street, Gladesville that services the suburb’s main shopping strip, a shopfront in Ryde that houses a battery store and a large vacant block in Anthony Street, West Ryde.

Councillors were told these assets would be expected to fetch between $55 million and $115 million.

Another option was to investigate the sale of the former civic centre site itself to developers with a proviso to include community facilities.

The site has long been the centre of a tussle between developers and community interests, with a plan for more than 600 apartments flagged as long ago as 2012. That was dropped after a backlash from residents and councillors who sought to keep the site in public hands.

A sign on the hoardings surrounding the site specifies it will “not include any residential apartments”.

The current unapproved plan has a public plaza, an auditorium and council chambers.

One long-serving Labor councillor, Bernard Purcell, had campaigned against including apartments on the site – but now believes they would be the only way to fund the project.

“Having a civic centre, an auditorium – that would be a better outcome than selling the site to the developers” he said. “Who knows what eyesore or Frankenstein we would have foisted upon us.”

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