Developer to launch audacious bid for the old Sydney Fish Market

A former development proponent of the Sydney Fish Market is staking an audacious claim to legal rights over the old site in a move that will create more drama for the government as it prepares to open new state-of-the-art premises next door.

Dominic Galati, an infant formula entrepreneur who was part of a joint venture proposing to develop the existing site a decade ago, has asked Premier Chris Minns through his solicitors to freeze the expressions of interest process for tenancies at the new site while matters arising from a decision by the NSW Court of Appeal last year are investigated.

Businessman Dominic Galati is angling to redevelop the former Sydney Fish Market site without it going to tender.Credit: Jessica Hromas

The court found that Galati had shares held in trust for him in a seafood company that had a 25 per cent interest in the Sydney Fish Market Pty Ltd.

He claims those shares were fraudulently stripped from him, and if his ownership had been recognised, he would not have let the Sydney Fish Market give up its first right of refusal to develop the site.

“We suggest that until these significant and concerning matters are properly investigated and, if necessary, resolved through the courts, that it would be entirely appropriate to ‘pause’ the current EOI process concerning the Sydney Fish Market site so as to avoid any further embarrassment or need for direct action,” Colin Biggers and Paisley partner Michael Russell wrote to the premier.

In a status update seen by the Herald, the firm said the objective was to use strategic litigation to “leverage an opportunity” for Galati to buy the old Sydney Fish Market site without a tender, where he could otherwise sue for damages.

The new Sydney Fish Market is due to open next year, but most of the subtenants are yet to sign the new lease.Credit: Kate Geraghty

An Infrastructure NSW spokesman said the government had no intention of pausing the EOI process.

“The claims made in the letter have been around for many years and will not stop the procurement of a development partner from proceeding,” he said.

The eleventh-hour bid to control the old site comes as the NSW government, the Sydney Fish Market and its existing subtenants continue to wrangle over the final shape of the new building at the head of Blackwattle Bay and the terms of the subtenants’ lease.

Former Sydney Fish Market chair Graham Turk at Blackwattle Bay, as the new building rises behind him.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Only two subtenants have agreed to move to the new site, raising the prospect of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded compensation if they can demonstrate that they were not being offered like-for-like premises. Their current leases do not expire until 2044.

A lawyer for the Sydney Fish Market has raised the alternative prospect of two fish markets operating simultaneously. The government has scotched this scenario because the fish market, which is the head tenant, has already signed a binding agreement to vacate its current site when the new building opens.

As tensions continue to rise, the Herald can also reveal that the longstanding former Sydney Fish Market chairman, Graham Turk, was asked not to attend the 2024 Seafood Excellence Awards that he developed 30 years ago. He had been nominated for the flagship “Star of the Sea” award, but his name was removed from contention amid a backlash over his characterisation of the retail tenants as “greedy” for holding out on signing the new lease.

Galati said he had advised subtenants not to sign the lease while his action was afoot because if it were successful, he would restore their right to develop the current site. The first step in that process is a court declaration that his shares in Felan’s Fisheries were fraudulently removed and that this was done to stop him from persuading the other subtenants to exercise their first right of refusal.

He claims the Felan’s Fisheries stake in the redevelopment would be worth $106 million, calculated from its 12.5 per cent stake on a $850 million valuation of the site by Ferriers in 2017.

“My ultimate goal is [to complete] what I was doing in the first place, which was trying to get the best deal for all the shareholders, including myself,” Galati said.

“I had the first right of refusal to buy the fish market until they orchestrated to get rid of me.”

Last week, barrister Perry Herzfeld SC provided an overview of what may be required to obtain orders for a preliminary discovery application in the Supreme Court.

Colins Biggers and Paisley advised in its status update that a court application for “insider” documents such as emails between the potential defendants, board papers, minutes and meeting transcripts would have the “added benefit of maximising exposure to the controversy for publicity and leverage”.

Galati, a former television boss, became interested in the Sydney Fish Markets in 2014 when Ultimo real estate agent Robert Deans asked him to find investors for an unsolicited development proposal.

The pair bought shares in Felan’s Fisheries to give themselves a seat at the table with the tenants and merchants who owned half the Sydney Fish Markets.

However, the Sydney Fish Market board responded by terminating Felan’s Fisheries’ lease, which forced the company to divest its shares in the Tenants and Merchants Pty Ltd.

The government later presented its own development proposal, which the Sydney Fish Market agreed to support in 2018.

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