NIMBYs, a pub and Zimmermann. The most Sydney property story ever
When Alemais owner Lesleigh Jermanus and her retail veteran husband Chris Buchanan set their sights on converting a historic pub into the fashion brand’s first store, the pair kicked a hornet’s nest of community opposition.
Almost immediately after the plans went public last week, the development application sparked a groundswell of community activism opposing the brand’s plan to convert the $6.2 million Village Inn in Sydney’s Paddington into a retail outlet and co-working space. Locals seeking to preserve the well-heeled inner-city suburb’s history and character are not impressed.
Theo Onisforou outside The Intersection shopping precinct in Paddington: “I’ve created a precinct here with strong marketing and I give really strong support to my tenants.”
The anger has many wondering why Alemais, which has enjoyed an almost universally positive reception since launching in 2020 – including opening this year’s Australian Fashion Week – would bother with the financial and reputational risk involved in shutting down and renovating a 172-year-old watering hole in one of Sydney’s proudest and most protective communities.
But this is more than just a property stoush between developer and NIMBYs. In fact, it is a tale of fashion ambition, the lure of a location and the power of a growing crop of deeply committed – and intensely selective – retail landlords.
Theo Onisforou has spent 25 years buying up frontage around the corner of Oxford Street and Glenmore Road in a bid to build the precinct now known to retailers and shoppers alike as The Intersection – housing fashion powerhouses such as Sass & Bide, Scanlan Theodore, Aje and, crucially, Zimmermann.
Onisforou is a former fashion entrepreneur himself, previously owning stakes
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