Whyalla saviour Sanjeev Gupta has made a play for historic Edmund Wright House
AFTER resuscitating Whyalla, could British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta be about to breathe new life into a piece of Adelaide’s CBD history?
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WHYALLA saviour Sanjeev Gupta is in talks with the State Government to acquire an historic piece of Adelaide.
Nearly 50 years after Don Dunstan saved it from demolition, Edmund Wright House has drawn the interest of the British industrialist, who has made a bid for the property as part of a tender process that closed yesterday.
A GFG Alliance spokesperson confirmed that Mr Gupta was in talks to buy the state heritage-listed property, but did not expand on his intended use for the building.
However, industry sources say Mr Gupta has been scouring Adelaide’s CBD office market for months, seeking an Adelaide base for his expanding South Australian operations.
GFG currently has offices in London, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney.
Since taking over the Whyalla steelworks last year, Mr Gupta has outlined plans to pump billions of dollars into the Upper Spencer Gulf and into renewables projects across the country.
Market sources have previously valued the 140-year-old building on King William St at more than $6 million.
Edmund Wright House is steeped in history, dating back to 1878 when it became the first home of the Bank of South Australia.
The building was designed by architect and former Adelaide Lord Mayor Edmund Wright and Lloyd Tayler, and has been hailed as one of the few significant architectural statements of 1870s commercial architecture remaining on King William St.
In 1970, Sydney development company Mainline Corporation acquired the building, with plans to build a 19-storey office building on the site.
However, a year later the Dunstan government famously acquired the property after more than 67,000 people petitioned against the building’s demolition and a public appeal raised $250,000.
The campaign contributed to the enactment of the South Australian Heritage Act seven years later.
In 1972, the building was named Edmund Wright House, and since then has accommodated various government departments, and for many years housed the offices of the Registrar Of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Its grand halls hosted many civil ceremonies, and later became a resource centre for newly arrived migrants.
However the premises, comprising close to 1200sqm across four levels, has remained empty since 2015.
The latest campaign to offload the building follows a failed attempt by the previous State Government in 2016, when a 99-year leasehold interest was offered to the market.
In August, Infrastructure Minister Stephan Knoll said it was time for a new owner to breathe new life into the building.
“Edmund Wright House is one of Adelaide CBD’s most beautiful assets which is just lying dormant,” he said at the time.
“The new State Government wants to see Edmund Wright House to reach its full potential and maximise the return to taxpayers.
“We’ve seen a number of successful examples where the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings have revitalised these sites and opened them up for the enjoyment of South Australians, such as Electra House and 2 King William St.”
International property group JLL, which is managing the sale process, declined to comment.