Huge new retail precinct set for Tonsley Innovation District

A supermarket, speciality shops, cafes, restaurants and offices set among 1.1 hectares of landscaping are on the cards for a major developer in southern Adelaide.

The planned new retail and office precinct at Tonsley Innovation District.

A supermarket, speciality shops, cafes, restaurants and offices set amid extensive landscaping are on the cards for a major developer in southern Adelaide.

The state government has named the Peet Group as the successful bidder for a 1.1 hectare parcel of land sell to run alongside the western side of the Main Assembly Building (MAB) at Tonsley Innovation District.

The choice of Peet - which was behind the development of Lightsview in Adelaide’s north and is currently building 850 apartments and townhouses at Tonsley Village on the northern side of the MAB - comes after an expressions of interest campaign run by Renewal SA.

The land, on the site of the former Mitsubishi car factory, is next to Tonsley’s main western entrance and is on the main thoroughfare leading to Clovelly Park railway station.

Peet managing-director Brendan Gore said the hub’s proposed design would deliberately blur the lines between indoors and outdoors.

“The concept embraces an open-air feel, with tables and chairs spilling out to paved outdoors areas, all wrapped up in green surrounds.”
It will be anything but a typical, enclosed mall shopping experience he said.

“Our vision for the centre includes a supermarket with a focus on fresh food and organic products, plus speciality stores, cafes and restaurants. Office spaces will be built above the retail outlets, enabling workers to take advantage of the cafes and restaurants before, during and after work hours, further activating the precinct.”

It is likely the retail and hospitality outlets will have extended trading hours in line with differing lifestyles and changing consumer behaviour Mr Gore said.

Renewal SA acting chief executive officer, Mark Devine, said the hub was integral to realising Tonsley as a vibrant, mixed use precinct encompassing industry, research, education and residential.

“It is set to become one of Tonsley’s meeting, entertainment and retail places, and a hospitality drawcard for southern Adelaide,” he said.

Final negotiations over the sales contract are ongoing between Renewal SA and Peet.

Tonsley Innovation District is now home to more than 30 businesses and more than 1400 people are employed on the site – more than when the last car rolled off the production line in the MAB in 2008.