The developer of Rozelle Village has been warned it will be in breach of NSW government approval conditions if it fails to deliver a Wests Tigers leagues club as promised within the $285 million mixed-use complex.

Construction of the housing and retail project is under way at the location of the former Balmain Leagues Club on Victoria Road, where the Tigers team starring Benji Marshall celebrated their grand final victory in 2005, joined by thousands of jubilant fans.

However, a breakdown in negotiations between developer Perifa Group and Tigers owners Holman Barnes Group has cast doubt over the future of a new club for long-suffering fans of the NRL team.

As Perifa denies playing hardball over the terms of a lease agreement, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has put it on notice, concerned the venue may be scaled back or taken away from the Tigers.

In a letter to the developer, seen by this masthead, he said only Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, which is operated by Holman Barnes Group, could occupy the floor space for a registered club on the site.

“This long-awaited new club for Wests Tigers supporters and the community is not an optional extra. For more than 15 years the local community has fought to ensure a club for West Tigers supporters remained at the heart of this redevelopment,” Byrne said.

“Any attempt to replace Wests Ashfield Leagues Club with another operator, or to reduce the size of the approved club, will be fought tooth and nail by council and the wider Wests Tigers supporter base.

“Having fought so long for this club to be delivered, we simply will not allow it to be taken away at the last moment.”

Balmain Leagues Club closed in 2010 and was left vacant and dilapidated for a decade and a half amid a series of false starts before the state significant development was approved last year.

The redevelopment is due to be completed in 2028, about the same time as a $40 million renovation of Leichhardt Oval is scheduled to be finished.

Byrne said the opening of a Tigers leagues club and the update of one of their spiritual home grounds could be a renaissance for the team in the inner west “and we refuse to let that opportunity be wasted”.

Holman Barnes Group, which owns 90 per cent of the Tigers and holds the balance of power on the Tigers’ board, remained “committed to returning a registered club back to the site of the old Balmain Leagues Club”, chief executive Daniel Paton said.

But other sources with knowledge of discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Perifa had been trying to command commercial rates for the club, and Holman Barnes Group had been stonewalled to the point it was almost untenable.

Contacted on Tuesday, Perifa co-founder Fabrizio Perilli said Byrne was “jumping at shadows” and there had been “no hard-nosed commercial negotiation”.

He said he was waiting to hear back from the Tigers’ owners about whether they wanted to buy the space set aside for the leagues club, or lease it.

“We need to deliver a registered club. That’s our obligation,” Perilli said. “The Balmain Leagues Club has a historical and heritage connection to the site, which is really important to us. We recognise and respect that.

“[Holman Barnes Group] will either be a tenant or an owner. They’ve got to make a decision. Our preference is that they buy.”

In addition to the club, Rozelle Village will feature 227 apartments and 59 affordable homes in three towers between 14 and 16 storeys, as well as a supermarket and public plaza.

Perifa is embarking on the development after in January being named as the first beneficiary of a $1 billion NSW government scheme to guarantee pre-sales of thousands of new apartments.

A $100 million gaming and dining empire, Holman Barnes Group emerged from the Western Suburbs Magpies side of the Tigers’ joint venture as its main financial backer.

It has also taken an interest in sports other than rugby league, assuming control last week of the Central Coast Mariners team that competes in soccer’s women’s A-League.

That was announced a year after the organisation bought an equity stake in another soccer team, APIA Leichhardt, who play in the National Premier League NSW and the nascent national second-tier competition, the Australian Championship.