Suki Wu is operating an underground vice den, which masquerades as a remedial massage centre, from inside the foyer of the Maestri Towers residential complex, alongside Town Hall station, in Kent Street.

A Fairfax Media investigation has found that during one typical day at "Town Hall Massage" last week, five female workers provided services to 59 male clients, over an 11-hour shift.

Based on a minimum spend scenario, Wu is accumulating an annual cash turnover of at least $2 million. Not only has she ignored one "cease use" notice served by the City of Sydney on January 4, she is the same madam who was prosecuted by Willoughby Council in the Land and Environment Court 15 months ago for running an identical racket in another residential complex at North Sydney.

These revelations come four months after a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the regulation of brothels recommended greater police powers, including a new stand-alone police unit, to better identify cases of human trafficking, exploitation and to assist local government in helping to shut down rogue operators – like Wu.

Maestri Towers owner's corporation chairman Michael Heaney said following several ugly flashpoints with "thugs" linked to the brothel, he had been forced to hire "extra security".

"The mood inside this residential community has changed. Young families, with children, have to pass an illegal brothel to get in and out. A pimp loiters in our foyer every night to take clients down for sexual services. We have approached the NSW government and the City of Sydney. We've engaged private investigators, lawyers and police. It would appear she [Suki Wu] is untouchable."

In 2014, Wu's "Sweet Baby" brothel was the subject of major unrest and legal action after it muscled its way into The Bentleigh, a 23-storey residential complex on Katherine Street, Chatswood.

One complaint to Willoughby Council described how families with children felt "awkward" inside their own building. An Asian female resident, meanwhile, was "propositioned" beside the ground-floor lifts by a brothel client who assumed she was a "worker".

After Wu flouted a brothel closure order issued by council in September of that year, she provided a "written undertaking" she would cease all sex trade. However, it was not long before council again found evidence to the contrary.

At a later hearing, the Land and Environment Court made a finding of fact that Wu had been operating a brothel illegally and orders were made to close it down. Yet within weeks of that decision – and a ruling that she pay the council's $15,000 legal bill, Wu had rebranded the business across the harbour bridge.

According to its website, which is registered in Wu's name and virtually identical to her former Pretty Baby homepage, Town Hall Massage offers "remedial" services by "angels" from Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan who wear "nice elegant uniforms" and "soft smiles".

The business, however, advertises across numerous adult sex sites. When Maestri Towers management sent private investigators into the premises, they confirmed that sexual services were provided, starting with a half-hour massage and "happy ending" priced at $90.

Fairfax Media has viewed the building's CCTV security footage which shows that every morning, seven days a week, between five and seven girls turn up to the premises about 10am, where they remain until after 9pm. On busy days, the workers service up to 70 clients – all exclusively men. In a letter to the City of Sydney last week, Maestri Towers solicitor Austin Day urged the council to launch immediate legal action, describing Wu's actions as "calculated and deliberate".

"The evidence we have obtained shows they are openly ignoring the council's cease use order," he said adding: "These people are quite content to operate illegally. The [court] penalties are so small ... they consider them to be just 'the cost of doing business'.

When Fairfax called Wu's phone on Saturday, a woman who refused to give her name initially stated: "You've called the wrong number." However, after being asked about Town Hall Massage providing sexual services, she said: "I don't think so ... just massage. But perhaps some staff are not [being] good."

At the parliamentary inquiry held last year, Local Government NSW said it had become "unreasonably burdened" with compliance responsibilities, adding some councils had spent more than $60,000 trying, unsuccessfully, to close down criminal enterprises. Those costs include having to pay middle-aged men to go undercover and have sex with prostitutes to prove that businesses are operating unlawfully.

A City of Sydney spokeswoman said the council was "investigating" the premises.

A spokesman for the NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation, Victor Dominello, said the government was "considering the recommendations of the parliamentary Inquiry", adding a response would be tabled in May.

Do you know more? eduff@fairfaxmedia.com.au