Former Westpac building on King William St in Adelaide gets multimillion upgrade

THE multimillion dollar upgrade of the former Westpac building on King William St is complete.

ED Peter doesn’t usually invest in office property but when the former Westpac building on King William St hit the market, his love of art deco inspired a vision to transform one of the city’s iconic properties.

In 2012, Mr Peter’s international investment group Duxton Asset Management paid $6.45 million for the building in a joint venture with Zentree Investments.

Less than three years later, and following a multi-million dollar upgrade, the building has welcomed Jamie’s Italian, rooftop bar 2KW and office tenants Commercial & General and Rabobank, which have both taken a floor and will share naming rights.

Mr Peter said while his company typically focused on investment in the agriculture sector, the building offered a rare opportunity to develop an iconic building in the centre of the city.

He would not disclose how much has been spent on the upgrade but said it was “more than I’d like and less than what the market thinks”.

“I saw the For Sale sign on the building and thought, ‘Wow what a beautiful building’ - it’s just absolutely gorgeous,” he said.

“I love art deco and I thought it would be the most expensive thing in the planet - you're dead centre in the city.”

“We looked at the asbestos report and Westpac had cleaned the asbestos out in 1970 or ‘80 - but the problem was earthquaking - to get it to code.”

“It was amazingly painful but we sort of guessed it would be - the problem is there were so many different codes you have to comply with.”

Mr Peter relocated to Adelaide around four years ago following a career that has taken him to financial centres across the world, including Zurich, Hong Kong, and most recently Singapore.

Duxton manages around $850 million of assets around the world, including around $300 million of assets under management in Australia.

The company’s directors invest in each of the assets acquired on behalf of clients, which include major pension and superannuation funds.

As chairman, Mr Peter oversees the company’s operations from his office in Stirling, and is bullish about the state’s prospects. Education, food, medical research and minerals and energy are key industries for the state, Mr Peter said.

“Has the state got huge potential and is it a really exciting place - yeah,” he said.

“I would have never had said this ten years ago but having lived here I think it’s an extraordinary place.”

“It’s bureaucratic - I’m not going to say anything new here - it is more difficult here to execute certain things but does that mean it’s impossible - no.”

“I think the current government is starting to realise that.”

“We’ve also got a great entrepreneurial spirit - I’ve met so many people here that are self made.”

Rabobank’s 20 staff relocated to the building late last year after outgrowing its previous King William St home of 12 years, branch manager Frank Young said.

“To see the revitalisation of a building that had been sitting idle for ten years, and seeing what was happening in the city it seemed like the perfect base for us,” he said.

Five floors in the 5200sqm building - each around 530sqm - remain available for lease, as well as a 180sqm mezzanine level.