Kings Cross Identity Ibrahim Linked to Potts Point Shoptop

Colourful Sydney businessman and former Kings Cross nightclub owner John Ibrahim is behind plans to build a five-storey residential shoptop in Potts Point.

Ibrahim, long dubbed “Teflon” John by sections of the Sydney media, is seeking to develop 22 apartments in a mixed-use project, according to BCI Central, which would include a bar, restaurant and retail space at 28-38 Bayswater Road, Potts Point.

Online documents show the three adjoining lots, totalling about 1394sq m, were acquired by Cantabri Pty Ltd for $1 each in January of 2021. The sole director of Cantabri is John Hausam Ibrahim, of Dover Heights.

The upper floors of the $19.7-million project would include five one-bedroom apartments, 11 two-bedroom and six of three bedrooms. There will be off-street parking for 15 vehicles, end-of-trip facilities and ground and lower-ground retail space of about 1182sq metres.

The Squillace Architects design retains and renovates two mid-Victorian period terraces, each with a three-level building form that over the years have been heavily modified.

In a report accompanying the development application, Weir Phillips Planning and Heritage said the two buildings were from a period during which the foundations of the suburb of Potts Point were laid.

“The history of these terraces mirrors the fortunes of the area as they changed from grand city residences to boarding houses, with shops and later restaurants and night clubs at ground floor levels,” Weir Phillips wrote.

▲ Under the plans two mid-Victorian period terraces, already heavily modified, will be retained and renovated.

Hamptons Property Services, which filed the application with Sydney City Council, said the site was within walking distance of Kings Cross Station, various bus services, a supermarket and professional services, all within “a location where car dependency is low”.

The proposed bar, restaurant and retail space tenancies would be the subject of future applications to Sydney council for specific use.

The current buildings on the site house the Thai Rock Restaurant and the restaurant and music venue Crane Bar—owned by Sydney model Sarah Budge—which ceased operations during Covid.

Budge is listed as the sole director of Bayswater Road Development Management Pty Ltd, which commissioned Squillace Architects to design the building.

Last month,  Paramount+ announced its series, Last King of The Cross, was officially the streaming service’s most-watched local series in its first week.

The series is inspired by John Ibrahim’s autobiography of the same name.