Adelaide City Council to review business mix in Topham Mall, flags potential redevelopment of shopping precinct
BIG plans appear to be in store for one of Adelaide’s shopping precincts.
IT’S more than 30 years old but it’s only recently that some life has emerged in the once deserted Topham Mall.
The mall is a mix of snack bars, a newsagent, dry cleaner, cafes and offices set below a visually dominating public carpark of 1041 spaces whose facade has been embellished with some street in a bid to soften its presence.
The addition of the Lady Burra Brewhouse has provided an anchor tenant to the area that has been often considered a thoroughfare rather than a place for reflection.
And Renew Adelaide has brought in hip new businesses including The Flower Nook, Transform, The Beigelry, Booknook & Bean and The Coco Stop to once empty shopfronts.
But as work progresses on the publicly-funded upgrade of the pedestrian mall linking Waymouth and Currie streets, mall owner Adelaide City Council is seeking a consultant to undertake a wholesale review of the precinct and its tenancies.
The scope of the review, obtained by The Advertiser, would be to assess the “strengths and weaknesses” of current tenants and prepare an “overall strategy” for the mall including potential redevelopment.
“The multi-deck carpark building has a remaining useful life of at least 20 years, and while the Topham car park provides a reliable income stream for council, the ground level commercial tenancies are in need of an upgrade,” the consultancy brief says.
Potential outcomes mentioned in the tender document include:
REALIGNING the pedestrian link and how it connects with the new public upgrades;
RELOCATION of toilets;
REPURPOSING the former U-Park cashier area and;
POTENTIAL for staged redevelopment of the mall and the practicality of relocating its archives building.
The council will also seek advice on the theming and branding of retail offers at the site.
Topham Mall has 13 tenants, with the council’s archives building taking up the majority of space across the ground and basement floors.
The council and State Government have started upgrades of the walkway as part of a $14.6 million spend to transform a network of small streets and laneways between the Adelaide Central Market and the Riverbank.
The successful consultant for the Topham Mall study will also be asked to conduct a “high-level” review of retail and consumer trends in metropolitan Adelaide.
The council is setting aside 12 weeks for the successful applicant to put together a feasibility study identifying future revenue streams.
The council has budgeted $70,000 for the work with the tender closing on May 9.
The review comes almost two years after the council released the results of a blueprint, dubbed Invigorate Your Senses, which listed making Topham Mall a “day and night food precinct”, possibly including a supermarket.