More than five months after Lismore’s biggest recorded flood, commercial property owner Tony Pennisi is seeing the results of the rebuild.

This week, on Magellan Street, Tony was overseeing work on his buildings - shops being worked on by Phil, his building contractor from Greg Clarke Building.

With only two or three weeks to go until the buildings are ready for lease again, Tony is hopeful that some of the previous tenants might return to continue their business in the CBD – and bring more life back to Lismore.

Like many property owners, Tony is dependent on finding tradespeople to finish the work of tiling and painting – all the “bits and pieces” that still need to be done.

“They are hard to find,” Tony said. “But it’s nearly done.”

While the other shop signs of pre-flood shop tenants have been removed from the buildings, two signs still remain - Hello World Travel and Octec Employment Service.

Tony said they were left in the hope that the businesses would come back into the building, once they were ready.

Upstairs, above the shops, are some office spaces that are currently being finished by the electrician and carpenter.

These too will be available for rent, but not as retail spaces.

If you are interested in talking on any of the Magellan Street shop or office spaces, Tony said you can contact building manager ­Phil DeCosta at Pidcock Real Estate.

Australia Post to return to CBD

Tony also owns the Conway Plaza where the CBD Post Office was located before the flood.

He said Australia Post had already indicated the Post Office would come back to its previous location once the building is ready.

“It depends how long it takes government departments to get going on it,” he said.

Why rebuild?

Tony said it was a responsibility of a landlord to rebuild and not just walk away.

“You need to rebuild it, you can’t just leave it,” he said

“I know a lot of people have – I don’t know what their circumstances are, but you can’t just invest in a building and leave it empty.

“Rebuild it and move on – hopefully in the next ten years we don’t have any major disasters and we can recoup the costs – it will take that long.

Government assistance

Tony said as a landlord, he “didn’t get very much assistance at all from the government to get the buildings ready”.

“It’s hard to knock the people who are trying to help Lismore, but the government has been doing it the wrong way – they should be helping people get back into their houses.

“They should be helping all of Lismore, not just the CBD.

“The businesses here need houses for the people to live in, to trade.”

Hope

“I think Lismore will come good eventually. It’s slowly getting there. You see more and more people every day.

“Everyone notices the increased traffic – we can only wait and see.”