The tiny triangular block on Anderson Street that captured the imagination of property watchers across Sydney is edging closer to becoming a neighbourhood coffee kiosk — but the project is not out of the woods just yet.
North Sydney Council has granted a deferred commencement approval for the 35-square-metre Neutral Bay site, meaning the Anderson Street kiosk cannot proceed until one significant design issue is resolved: the plans must be amended to include toilet facilities for staff.
The block, a former electricity substation site, was one of three uniquely small, ex-Ausgrid sites to hit the market in 2025 and made headlines when it sold for $189,000 — more than triple its $60,000 guide price.
Plans lodged in June proposed a compact takeaway-only kiosk offering barista-made coffee, hot drinks, pre-packaged sandwiches, wraps, baked goods and snacks, with proposed trading hours of 7am to 7pm, seven days a week. The structure would span just 11.5 square metres, with a maximum of three staff and three customers permitted on site at any one time. There would be no kitchen, no on-site cooking, and no customer seating — and, as things stood in the original application, no toilet either.
That last omission proved to be the sticking point. At a recent North Sydney Local Planning Panel meeting, Neutral Bay Club president Stewart Hodgson raised the concern that staff and customers caught short would inevitably make use of the adjacent club’s facilities. Panel members also questioned how workers could reasonably manage full shifts — the kiosk proposed operating 12 hours a day, seven days a week — without any on-site amenities. The closest public toilets are roughly a ten-minute walk away, at Forsyth Park or Neutral Bay Village.
The applicant’s planning consultant told the panel that staff were expected to work relatively short shifts of around two to three hours, and indicated the kiosk’s owner would be willing to install a toilet if the council required it. Council has now made that a formal condition: the design must be revised to incorporate appropriate staff toilet facilities before the approval can take effect.
Building the kiosk is estimated to cost $187,600 — almost exactly what the land itself sold for, bringing the total investment in the little wedge of land next to the Neutral Bay Club to around $377,000.
It’s a remarkable journey for what was, not long ago, a modest patch of grass that most people walked past without a second thought.
Published 13-August-2026
