Is Clover to blame for turning Oxford Street from party precinct into a ghost town?

If underwear sales are any guide, there are grim times ahead for Oxford Street.

Tens of thousands of people crowded Sydney’s iconic gay strip to watch this year’s Mardi Gras parade, but Ken Holmes, the owner of Aussie Boys, estimates sales of jocks were down 30 per cent.

“My sales are down to two or three a day, about a tenth of what I used to do,” he said. “I’ve gone from three staff to just me, and that’s pretty grim.”

The Oxford & Foley redevelopment stretches along almost three blocks of Oxford Street in Darlinghurst. Credit: James Brickwood

Times are tough for retailers but Holmes said Oxford Street has been hit particularly hard by a major redevelopment that has turned almost three blocks into a construction site for years.

“It’s been disastrous,” Holmes said.

Hidden behind colourful pink hoardings, the Oxford & Foley development is meant to revive Oxford Street with new retail, commercial and creative spaces, including a Melbourne-style laneway lined with bars and restaurants.

But the $200 million project is stalled: construction workers have been locked out of the site and security guards are stationed along the street.

The delay has sparked rumours that the heritage buildings are crumbling, and that there has been dwindling interest in the redevelopment from potential tenants including Melbourne patisserie Lune, which has opted instead for Rosebery.

A spokeswoman for developer Toga said there had been “issues with the delivery of building works” onsite, and the company’s construction business had taken over the project.

Sales are significantly down at Aussie Boys on Oxford Street, which owner Ken Holmes attributes to the Oxford & Foley redevelopment.Credit: James Brickwood

She said the development was due for completion in the first half of 2025 – this masthead has previously reported it was scheduled to be finished in 2023.

“We are progressing works as soon as possible, following an interim period of one to two weeks for site takeover and onboarding,” she said.

Toga’s spokeswoman said there was strong commercial and leasing interest, with more than half of available space scooped up by tenants.

“Whilst Lune has sought another site due to construction delays, there is already strong interest in the available retail and shopfront space,” she said.

The City of Sydney granted investment house AsheMorgan a 99-year lease for three blocks of properties on Oxford Street in 2019. Three years later, the council approved redevelopment plans for the buildings by AsheMorgan with Toga.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she had been expecting the first block to open in August.

“I have been assured the decision to terminate its contract and appoint a new builder was not made lightly and was made in the interest of completing the project in the shortest possible time, with a focus on quality,” she said.

The historic heart of Sydney’s gay community is a ghost town compared with the bustling Enmore Road entertainment precinct, with more than 20 empty shopfronts between Hyde Park and South Dowling Street, in addition to the construction site stretching for almost three blocks.

Construction workers have been locked out of the Oxford & Foley site and security guards are stationed along Oxford Street.Credit: James Brickwood

Big Poppa’s is one of the latest businesses to close its doors, at least temporarily, after operating in the middle of a construction site for almost two years.

Co-owner Jared Merlino said it was no longer sustainable for the late-night restaurant and bar to remain open “now the timeline has blown out”.

“Foot traffic is majorly down on our side of the street and in the area in general,” he said. “Being surrounded by B-class hoardings and being the only inset shopfront open on three continuous blocks just meant we had become practically invisible.”

The construction of bike lanes is another source of anger for shop owners who say the loss of parking and traffic lanes negatively impacts on business by reducing foot traffic.

Moore said the construction of massive Westfield shopping centres at either end of the strip, and online shopping, had also hurt retailers.

“The lockouts and lockdowns hurt its bars and clubs, and the clearway created fast-flowing, noisy through-traffic, which hurt its street-front amenity,” she said.

Moore also blames landlords sitting on vacant shopfronts, and the state government, for failing to improve Oxford Street.

Independent councillor Yvonne Weldon said the Oxford & Foley project was supposed to be the centrepiece of Oxford Street’s revitalisation.

“Unfortunately, construction delays are coming at the expense of neighbouring shops and contributing to increasingly high vacancy rates,” she said.

Weldon predicted the strip would remain a construction site for at least two more years – exacerbated by the building of new bike lanes.

“In fact, the only work that has been completed in recent years is the installation of the City of Sydney’s wildly unpopular and pedestrian-impeding advertising screens,” she said.

Liberal councillor Lyndon Gannon said the slow pace of construction had had a “huge impact” on Oxford Street.

Sydney Lord Moore Clover Moore said the council wants a greener Oxford Street with slowed traffic, improved pedestrian activity and cycling, and more public spaces.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“It was my expectation that this development would be finished by now,” he said. “The businesses surrounding it are really struggling.”

However, Gannon blames the street’s woes on Moore, rather than developer Toga.

“Under Clover’s reign, Oxford Street has gone from a vibrant, world-renowned party precinct to a ghost town,” she said.

Craft-beer bar Bitter Phew co-founder Aaron Edwards said the redevelopment will have a positive impact, but not for the retailers bearing the brunt of construction.

“Developers and even councils generally don’t look at the damage they are doing to an area for long-term growth,” he said. “These are actual people with actual mortgages and families, and they are always conveniently forgotten about.”

The street’s malaise has not been helped by landlords unwilling to negotiate on rents, Edwards said.

“The area is no longer a blue-chip rental market and yet it took several years and a pandemic for rents to drop from 2014 highs,” he said.

Darlinghurst Business Partnership president Stephan Gyory said the street had faced serious challenges since it was turned into a “six-lane traffic sewer” almost 20 years ago.

But Gyory said new planning rules making it harder for serial noise complainants to shut down venues will help protect Oxford Street’s nightlife.

“The one local change would be that the council no longer manages properties,” he said.

Moore said the council wants a greener Oxford Street with slowed traffic, improved pedestrian activity and cycling, and more public spaces.

“The recently opened Qtopia, which we provided seed funding to establish, and the cycleway and streetscape improvements currently under construction, will also breathe new life into the iconic strip,” she said.

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