“Cowboy” Corkman developers set to face VCAT over breach 

Developers who illegally demolished Carlton’s historic Corkman Hotel are embroiled in yet another controversy as they seek to amend an order designed to prevent unlawful planning activities. 

Developers Stefce Kutlesovski and Raman Shaqiri knocked down the 159-year-old pub without planning approval in October 2016, which resulted in them being handed jail sentences in 2021 and fined nearly $1.4 million, with their actions also drawing sharp criticism from community groups, heritage experts, and residents.   

But the pair now face further troubles as the City of Melbourne prepares to take the men, who operate 160 Leicester Pty Ltd, which owns the site, to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on March 4, 2024, after they sought to amend an order regarding works for a new proposed hotel at the Leicester St site.

The council revealed in July that it would oppose the applicant’s bid to amend an Enforcement Order, which requires external parts of the hotel to have been rebuilt by June 30 this year, “unless a planning permit had been obtained for the redevelopment of the land and substantial commencement of the development under the permit by 30 June 2022”.

“The City of Melbourne will oppose the applicant’s bid to amend the Enforcement Order for the former Corkman Pub site when this matter is heard in March 2024,” a City of Melbourne spokesperson said.

“The applicant has not obtained a planning permit, has not commenced development and has not rebuilt the hotel – and therefore is in breach of the Enforcement Order.”  

Last October, the developers lodged plans to the council proposing to build a three-storey hotel featuring an entertainment space they believed would provide opportunities for “social interaction and support a vital night-time economy providing music, food and entertainment”. 

The application attracted mixed reactions with the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) saying while it was disappointed by the developers’ decision not to consult the community as part of its proposal, it was an overall “pleasing” application, while some community members argued an approval would give the “Corkman Cowboys what they wanted”.

According to the council, the applicant filed an application to amend the Enforcement Order on May 9 last year to allow further time to obtain a planning permit and begin the redevelopment of the site. 

The developers were ordered to clear the site and turn it into a temporary park, which opened in September 2021 until new planning permissions were received. 

The Carlton Residents’ Association Inc. in a statement said it was “appalled by the ongoing failure of the planning system to ensure compliance of an Enforcement Order”.

“The developer has not been punished, after seven years, for illegally demolishing an historic building and still there is no acceptable outcome,” the statement read.

“This is as much a product of a weak planning system that allows this, as it is of the developer’s illegal actions. The site continues to be an eyesore in a precinct that is about to be home to Parkville Station, on the doorstep of Melbourne University and the arrival of those who will access both Parkville and Carlton for education, work and living.”

Carlton Community History Group president Jeff Atkinson applauded the actions of the council, saying regulations designed to protect that heritage were important, “and that those who ignore or violate those regulation can be subject to severe consequences”.

“Their response (the council) and that of the community as a whole to the destruction of this historic hotel shows that the community values its built heritage,” he said.

“These are important messages that these actions by the City of Melbourne reinforce.”

According to the council, the applicant filed an application to amend the Enforcement Order on May 9 last year to allow further time to obtain a planning permit and begin the redevelopment of the site. 

The developers were ordered to clear the site and turn it into a temporary park, which opened in September 2021 until new planning permissions were received. 

The Carlton Residents’ Association Inc. in a statement said it was “appalled by the ongoing failure of the planning system to ensure compliance of an Enforcement Order”.

This is as much a product of a weak planning system that allows this, as it is of the developer’s illegal actions. The site continues to be an eyesore in a precinct that is about to be home to Parkville Station, on the doorstep of Melbourne University and the arrival of those who will access both Parkville and Carlton for education, work and living.

Carlton Community History Group president Jeff Atkinson applauded the actions of the council, saying regulations designed to protect that heritage were important, “and that those who ignore or violate those regulation can be subject to severe consequences”.

“Their response (the council) and that of the community as a whole to the destruction of this historic hotel shows that the community values its built heritage,” he said.

“These are important messages that these actions by the City of Melbourne reinforce.” •