I’ve recently been helping out a bit at North Fitzroy’s best (and only) community newspaper, The Rotunda. Edited by Charlie Gill, it’s a printed newspaper that has been dropping on doorsteps around North Fitzroy, Carlton North, Clifton Hill and Fitzroy a handful of times a year, since 2021. Covering everything from red hot planning issues to personal philosophical columns by dogs (shout out to Ludo, who da good boy?) The Rotunda has something for everyone.

It’s pretty much entirely a one-man show and Charlie deserves massive kudos for having the energy and commitment to have taken the rag so far. In the latest instalment (Issue 19, September 2025), I helped out on a significant story for the neighbourhood — Yarra Council’s ruling on the sale of a laneway, a crucial component of the Piedimonte Family’s plans to redevelop their site on St Georges Road. You can read that story on The Rotunda‘s website here or below.

If you have a business, why not consider advertising in The Rotunda?

PIEDIMONTE’S FUTURE IN DOUBT 

By Charlie Gill and Peter Barrett 

Will Piedimonte’s go up for sale and leave North Fitzroy forever? It seems unthinkable, but the Piedimonte family’s development plans have been thwarted after Yarra City Council rejected the sale of a laneway off Scotchmer Street. The family had insisted the iconic supermarket would close and be sold if the sale didn’t get approved. It didn’t. Now, the future of North Fitzroy has never seemed more uncertain. 

“This is a big decision,” the family told The Rotunda. “One that is not being taken lightly.”

In 2017, they announced their proposal to develop the site. Council rejected it, but in 2021 the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) approved the plan to build three levels of underground parking, revamp the supermarket and construct 66 apartments above it, reaching seven stories at its highest point. This hinged entirely on the council selling the laneway behind the supermarket to the family. 

The council made its much-anticipated decision at a meeting in Fitzroy Town Hall on September 9th. Councillor Sophie Wade advocated for the sale, noting it required Piedimonte’s to build another laneway running east-west (joining with another lane to create an L-shape) then give it back to the council—more of a land swap than sale. But even though council officers recommended it for approval, she was outvoted 6-1 by her fellow councillors, including mayor Stephen Jolly, who said the laneway’s proposed shape and width would “cause absolute chaos” for cars, trucks and residents.

Previously, planning-focussed resident’s group Protect Fitzroy North (PFN) had raised awareness of the potential sale and over 400 written submissions were sent to the council, many asserting the laneway was still used regularly. Advocates against the sale, celebrating a hard-fought victory after months of activism, went for celebratory drinks at the Rainbow Hotel afterwards. 

“You can see how much potential there is for all different sorts of innovative housing along that lane,” Anne Horrigan-Dixon, member of PFN, told The Rotunda. “We’ve saved a really important public asset for our future generations.”

But the outcome of the vote hasn’t been popular with everyone. 

“The Piedimonte family, our staff and many of our customers are devastated by the decision that has been taken by the Councilors,” the family told The Rotunda. “We are shocked given the Council Officers recommendation for the Councillors to support the motion of the lane sale and redirection.”

At an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held by the council in early July, Fitzroy resident and member of YIMBY Melbourne, Hamish McKenzie, was one of the few who spoke in favour of the sale. He spoke to The Rotunda after the council voted against it. 

“I think it’s a devastating decision because it means that 66 families won’t be able to live in this community,” he told The Rotunda in reaction to the ruling. “There’s a massive housing crisis in this country at the moment…the track record of this council and the group Protect Fitzroy North is one of flagrant obstructionism every time there is a housing development.”

At the EGM, most anti-laneway sale residents acknowledged the housing crisis but saw it as a separate issue. And at the council meeting last week, Jolly vigorously defended Yarra’s record on housing, declaring it was “second to none”. He also suggested the laneway sale would actually be detrimental to housing supply. 

“That laneway, narrow as it is, has a whole heap of future housing developments coming,” he told The Rotunda, saying the council has to consider what’s best for future residents “who will be way more in number than what will move in to the Piedimonte’s development”. 

“That’s what’s really ironic about these YIMBYs trying to describe us as NIMBYs. We’ve got cranes freaking everywhere.” 

There is pressure on Yarra City Council to build after the State Government set it a target of 44,000 new homes by 2051. Jolly says Piedimonte’s should go ahead with the development: “No one’s stopping them building. They just have to reconfigure their plans.”

But will they? At the EGM in July, Joseph Piedimonte said the supermarket would be closed and sold if the laneway wasn’t able to be acquired. However, president of PFN Glen McCallum pointed out that at the time the developer’s website stated the proposal would continue even if the laneway was not sold. The frequently asked questions section was subsequently updated to reflect Piedimonte’s new ultimatum if the laneway was not acquired: “[there is] no alternative but to close the iconic Piedimonte’s Supermarket and put the entire property, and the approved development, up for sale”.

That prospect could shift the narrative completely. For many locals, the development was looked upon unfavourably because they love Piedimonte’s as it is right now. If it disappears entirely, potentially leaving a retail giant to replace it, maybe they’ll end up looking at the architect’s mock-up with wistfulness rather than distaste. 

“I think it would be a truly appalling outcome for Fitzroy North if, as seems extremely probable, Piedmonte’s completely pulls out and sells up to a commercial developer who will open a Coles or a Woolworths,” says McKenzie. “That’s exactly the situation that the homeowners of this neighbourhood have brought about by banding together to knock this proposal down.”

So, was the family—desperate to build the site as planned after years of bureaucratic back and forth—making an empty threat in order to sway council to sell them a laneway that locals still used? Or are they so exhausted by the process they genuinely want to sell up and go? The Rotunda asked them if that was still their intention. 

“The family has almost a 70 year history in serving the community of North Fitzroy… There are options and in the clear light of day a decision will be made.” 

“Our goal has always been to provide a unique offer and along with other traders provide an environment and vibe that is uniquely North Fitzroy.” 

The Piedimontes are the economic kingpins of the suburb. If the laneway were sold, it could have allowed the consolidation of several other properties the family owns in and around the village. Meanwhile, the supermarket, which they opened in the 1950s, remains the cultural heart of North Fitzroy, and there’s no knowing how this area would change if the supermarket were replaced by a major chain. 

And so while it can be seen in various ways— either the rescue of public land, or a big blow to the urgent need for housing—the decision not to sell the laneway might be best remembered as a defining moment in North Fitzroy’s history.