The one thing missing from Sydney’s eye-catching new fish market

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It has a roof that mimics the body of a fish, a rippling canopy the size of four football fields floating above a retail space for fishmongers, restaurants, cafes and bars.

It has 270-degree views over Blackwattle Bay, which laps at the bottom of stairs and promenades that surround the building, and windows that allow passers-by to see through to the auction floor.

NSW Premier Chris Minns visited the Sydney Fish Market site on Thursday.

It has celebrity chef Luke Nguyen opening his flagship restaurant Lua, and Somer Sivrioglu – “the Matt Preston of Istanbul” according to one NSW official – who will serve from his Efendy restaurant franchise what is sure to become the best mackerel sandwich south of heaven.

But the new Sydney Fish Market also has hanging over it a $250 million legal claim filed by the builder Multiplex that has the potential to bankrupt the company that runs the market and nudge the total cost of the project over $1 billion.

And more than a year after it was meant to begin trading, what the new building does not have is an opening date.

With practical completion due in mid-November, the company that runs the fish market is weighing up the equally unpalatable options of opening the building too soon with many retailers in various states of construction, and paying overheads at two sites.

Once completed, the new Sydney Fish Market will host a variety of retailers.

At a sneak preview of the site to mark its near-completion on Thursday morning, the market’s chief executive Daniel Jarosch would neither confirm nor rule out the site opening for Christmas.

“I think that’s a very important consideration, having a critical mass,” Jarosch said.

“We want to have the right number of retailers at the right time to open and make it a success. There’s no threshold, it’s really about how it comes together holistically, and reviewing that daily.”

The government, which has agreed to a degree of flexibility in requiring the market to vacate its old site, is equally keen to open the new site so it can start collecting rent from retailers on its $836 million investment.

The government claims the new Sydney Fish Market will be the newest iconic building on the harbour.

Premier Chris Minns said taxpayers would get a “pleasant shock” when they witnessed the scale of the building, which is expected to draw double the number of annual visitors that attend the current site, and encourage tourists to spend an extra day in Sydney.

The 6 million annual visits will be spread over a longer trading day, as closing will be pushed back by seven hours to 10pm each night.

“I would just say, in relation to this project, that nothing worth doing is easy,” Minns said.

“If you look at the history of Sydney, some of our big iconic projects have all had difficulties, and this is the latest example. But I’m really thrilled that everyone has pressed on with it, and we’re in the final stages and we’re going to have an iconic addition to Sydney, particularly on the harbour.”

The current site has been rezoned for 70 per cent residential and 30 per cent commercial premises, which will allow more than 1500 residences to be built, including 1100 on government-owned land and 400 on privately owned land.

Three companies shortlisted to develop the site on a 99-year lease have been whittled down to two – Mirvac and Lendlease – and the government is planning to sign a contract with one of them by the end of the year.