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It was the fountain Melburnians didn’t know they wanted. The “sort of fountain you might throw a coin into”, or somewhere you “might meet someone on a date”.
That was how now-Lord Mayor Nick Reece described his promise to build a fountain in Carlton, made during “a big Italian dinner” in the final days of his successful election campaign.
“The fountain will be a celebration of the Italian community’s contribution to Melbourne and obviously Lygon Street is the spiritual home of the Italian community in Melbourne and Argyle Square located on Lygon Street would be the perfect location,” he said.
It sounded like a win-win scenario for Carlton residents. Better still, it was to be funded by ”a very generous Italian family” who had made a “very substantial donation”. So why wouldn’t the lord mayor tell The Age who was paying for it?
In three separate interviews during the past 18 months, Reece declined to say who had promised to fund the fountain. In November, he said the council was waiting until “all the legals have been done” before announcing it. In another interview last week, he said: “I’m not in a position to talk about fountain proposals which I don’t believe have been made public yet.”
An investigation by The Age can now reveal the family promising to fund the fountain are also property developers who donated to Reece’s election campaign and own a large parcel of land in the Macaulay precinct in North Melbourne, which the council is considering whether to compulsorily acquire.
Three council sources with knowledge of the fountain project, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the fountain project was being supported by the Marcocci family, whose property holdings include the La Storia development on Argyle Square in Carlton – the proposed site of the fountain development. The sources’ accounts were backed up by council records and public comments from a member of the Marcocci family.
The Age is not suggesting money has already changed hands, only that the Marcocci family’s fountain donation has been extensively discussed.
The revelation raises questions about how the lord mayor plans to manage this apparent conflict of interest and how the donation came about. Additionally, it raises further questions about Reece’s promise, made during the election campaign, that he would not accept donations from property developers.
A defiant Reece, speaking to The Age last week, defended his pledge to build the fountain, and said conflicts of interests were common in local government.
“What’s important is that conflicts are reported in an open and transparent way, and that is exactly what has occurred at the City of Melbourne,” he said.
Conflicts of interest have become commonplace for Reece and his “Team Nick” councillors, who have recused themselves from votes eight times during the first 18 months of this term of council.
A Herculean fundraising effort from the lord mayor’s team during the campaign netted a total of almost $1 million from almost 150 different donors, creating a minefield of potential conflicts to be managed. The Age does not suggest these conflicts have not been appropriately managed, only that navigating them presents a challenge.
“I am proud of the campaign we ran in 2024,” Reece said. “We put forward a big policy agenda, we mobilised a huge community volunteer effort and, yes, we raised a lot of funds. We ran as independents and we won. We did that without the resources that major parties have during elections.”
In November 2025, Reece said the fountain was expected to cost between $1 million and $5 million. The lord mayor would not confirm the total cost of the fountain or the size of the donation. It was one of 24 separate campaign promises that Reece made as part of his election campaign, which The Age has been tracking.
The Marcoccis built their wealth as the owners of one of Victoria’s largest meat wholesalers, University Foods Group, and have since expanded their business into property development.
The Marcocci Property Group’s $80 million La Storia development on the former University Meats factory site reaches six storeys and comprises 20 three-bedroom apartments, with each apartment listed for $4 million. That development was approved before the fountain was proposed.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Il Globo on 11 November 2024, shortly after Reece was elected, family patriarch Eusebio Marcocci spoke of his plans to construct a fountain “near the stunning La Storia residential complex in Carlton”.
Since then, the Marcocci family’s advocates have been meeting with councillors at Argyle Square to discuss the proposed fountain.
The City of Melbourne’s developer register shows the M3 Group, which acts as architects for the Marcocci family, met with Reece at an address listed as “Cardigan Street, Carlton”, one of the streets adjoining Argyle Square, on February 5, 2025, for a “discussion on the delivery of public infrastructure”. M3 Group then again met with Reece on June 23, 2025, at the same place for a “follow up discussion on the delivery of public infrastructure”.
Reece said this meeting involved discussion of the fountain donation as “one of the things that they’re interested in”, and said he could not recall whether a member of the Marcocci family also attended.
When asked whether it was appropriate to meet with the M3 group twice, given it was opposing the Macaulay planning scheme amendments, Reece said he was not aware of this at the time.
“It is perfectly reasonable to meet with groups who are interested in projects in Melbourne,” he said.
Through their investment vehicle, Lou Nominees, the Marcocci family also owns a significant parcel of land at 64-90 Sutton Street in North Melbourne, which is in the middle of the Macaulay precinct – the biggest urban renewal area led by the City of Melbourne within the suburbs of North Melbourne and Kensington.
The property is next to a mosque and community centre operated by the Australian Muslim Social Services Agency (AMSSA). Entities linked to the Marcocci family engaged in lengthy planning disputes over several years to fight the AMSSA’s proposal to build a basketball court and meeting hall behind the mosque. The issue was covered by several media outlets, including The Age.
Reece was the planning lead for the City of Melbourne when these disputes over the land in Macaulay were ongoing, but last week said he was not aware of them.
Transparency International, a pressure group promoting accountability in Australian politics and business, was scathing of the proposal for a Reece campaign donor to fund the fountain.
“This latest example once again shows the risks of allowing these private interests to make donations to local councils,” the group’s Australian chief executive, Clancy Moore, said.
“The use of ‘gifts’, including paying for construction costs, is another well-known red flag and corruption risk.”
“In this case, you have a financial relationship between an elected representative and a property development. This relationship casts a shadow over any government decision regarding the developer’s projects, be it a fountain, or a land deal.”
On July 29, 2025, M3 Group and University Food gave a “councillor forum briefing” at Argyle Square in Carlton to councillors Owen Guest, Philip Le Liu, Gladys Liu, Kevin Louey and Andrew Rowse. The briefing register notes “[the] developer presented on their proposal for the fountain in Argyle Square, Carlton”. Apart from Louey, these councillors were not part of the Team Reece ticket and candidates on their tickets did not receive donations from the Marcoccis.
Le Liu and Rowse both had separate meetings with M3 Group on August 8, 2025, and August 22, 2025, at Argyle Square “to discuss their request for a permit to develop the site in the public sphere”.
Rowse said no drawings were presented at the meetings, and he understood a more concrete plan would be available at a later stage.
“Where it is up to now I am not clear on,” he said.
The Marcocci family is also involved in property development in Bundoora’s residential development known as “The Laureate”, and in Coburg North at its planned University Food Hub.
The Macaulay planning scheme amendment C417 was exhibited between August 1, 2024, and September 10, 2024, when Reece was acting lord mayor. The amendment seeks to rezone land, identify locations within privately owned sites for future public open space and charge development contributions to pay for community infrastructure.
During a council meeting on August 6, 2024, Reece pledged not to take donations from developers for his election campaign. At a point between August 1, 2024, and September 10, 2024, Lou Nominees made a submission on amendment C417 via architecture firm the M3 Group, generally opposing the amendment.
Lou Nominees then made a $10,000 election campaign donation to Reece on September 24, 2024, creating a material conflict of interest for all Team Reece councillors for five years in relation to any decisions involving amendment C417.
Reece told The Age last week that his understanding was that the Marcocci family were not developers in the City of Melbourne. He said that while they had previously developed projects within the council boundaries, he was not aware of any projects on the go “at the moment”.
Other donors to Reece’s campaign with proposed developments in the city of Melbourne include Marriner Group and the Myer family.
Victoria is an outlier when it comes to property developer donations to either state or local politicians compared to similar jurisdictions. In NSW and the ACT, developer donations are entirely banned. Queensland until recently also banned developer donations, but the Crisafulli LNP government overturned the ban.
In these jurisdictions, a property developer is broadly defined as an individual or corporation engaged in a business that regularly makes “relevant planning applications” for residential or commercial development with the ultimate goal of profit.
A spokesperson for ethics advocacy group Accountability Round Table, Dr Colleen Lewis, called for immediate changes to Victoria’s donation laws.
“Political donations laws must be changed to ensure 100 per cent that developers cannot, under any circumstances, give a political donation (in cash or in kind) to the Melbourne City Council or any other Victorian Council. This change must be introduced before the next election”.
At the council meeting on December 2, 2025, the Macaulay C417 item was on the agenda and Team Nick, comprising the lord mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell and councillors Kevin Louey and Mark Scott, recused themselves from consideration of the Macaulay Structure Plan.
The plan sought to set new rules for building heights, setbacks, density, land-use mix, and streets and open space across the fast-growing inner-north precinct. The Age contacted all the Team Nick councillors for comment, but only the lord mayor responded.
Macaulay was on the agenda twice at that meeting. Team Nick councillors did not declare conflicts on the consideration of Macaulay’s local open space provision and drainage infrastructure funding.
A spokeswoman for the City of Melbourne said that after receiving governance advice, Team Nick councillors determined that neither a general nor material conflict existed so they had not recused themselves.
“The recommendation largely related to noting a decision by the Victorian government, and advocating for transparency throughout its process,” she said.
Councillors, including Team Nick members, resolved to investigate a separate planning scheme amendment that would allow them to compulsorily acquire private land to be used as parks and open space.
This includes the land at 64-90 Sutton Street owned by the Marcocci family through Lou Nominees, meaning that Team Nick councillors voted for a motion that investigated compulsorily acquiring part of the land owned by someone who gifted Reece’s campaign $10,000.
Reece said he was not aware that Lou Nominees was owned by the Marcocci family until the Macaulay Structure Plan came before council.
When asked about the connection between the Marcocci family, the land at 64-90 Sutton Street in North Melbourne, and the pledge to build a fountain, Reece said the Local Government Act provided a framework for councillors to declare conflicts of interest and Team Nick had abided by this framework.
“If there is any decision that is made by council about the fountain, that will have to be a decision for councillors,” he said. “If ... it came to pass that somebody who had donated to my campaign was one of the philanthropic donors for the fountain, then I would probably have to recuse myself from that decision.”
On March 17, 2026, the Macaulay Structure Plan was back before the council and the four members of Team Nick recused themselves from the debate.
“This is a motion about the acquisition of public land, and we have four councillors who’ve felt the need to remove themselves for a conflict of interest,” Guest said at the meeting. “I just think that possibly deserves some sort of explanation. It’s a serious matter whether we are purchasing or not.”
The remaining seven councillors voted to advocate to the committee to advise the planning minister on the acquisition of land for open space purposes.
Speaking to The Age after the meeting, Rowse said he was unaware the Marcocci family was donating the fountain and also owned the land in the Macaulay precinct.
“I have wondered what the conflict was with Macaulay,” he said. “Macaulay is very large, it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
