Who owns Adelaide’s largest sites for development? | Mapped
Half of Adelaide CBD’s largest development sites have moved into the hands of wealthy locals or interstate heavyweights in the past two years. See who owns what.
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Some of the state’s wealthiest families, prominent local developers and interstate corporate heavyweights dominate ownership of Adelaide’s largest CBD development sites, a detailed analysis of land ownership in the city has found.
Research undertaken by The Advertiser and international property group JLL reveals the landowners who control the 20 largest tracts of undeveloped land across all corners of the city.
Familiar names such as the Shahin and Karidis families are among the owners of large CBD sites, while lesser known family groups such as the Di Favas have also been buying up amid a surge in city land values.
Kennards Self Storage, Pelligra and Zagame Automotive are among the interstate groups who have taken over prime real estate in the CBD in recent years, while offshore groups have slowed their investment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Half of the 20 largest development sites in the CBD have changed hands in the past two years alone, with prices reaching up to $5000 per square metre.
JLL SA head of sales and investments Roger Klem said CBD land values had surged over the past two years, and now ranged from about $3000 per square metre for land in the city’s southwest quadrant to more than $25,000 for prime Rundle Mall real estate.
“The city has experienced an exponential increase in underlying land rates over the preceding two years, with the high volume of interstate and active developers looking to secure key sites within the city,” he said.
“Developers and land bankers continue to target sites with existing improvements, in the knowledge that they can generate holding income prior to achieving their desired development approvals, achieving pre-sales and leasing, and commencing construction.
“The larger vacant sites generally take longer to unlock, given the sheer size of those projects, and the funding requirements to build out these projects. This has been exacerbated through Covid with the reduction of offshore visitation and buyers into Adelaide.”
The most recent land sales in the city include Zagame Automotive’s $16.5m purchase of a 3312sq m Hindley St site adjacent to its Ferrari showroom on West Tce, and Australasian Property Developments’ acquisition of the former Parkwynd Private Hospital on East Tce.
TOP DEVELOPMENT SITES
ADELAIDE MAIL CENTRE
Address: 252 Gouger St
Owner: Kennards Self Storage
Size: 17,100sq m
With the closure of the Adelaide Mail Centre announced in 2020, developers were expected to seize on the sprawling 1.7ha site at the western end of Gouger St.
However its $40.6m purchase by Kennards Self Storage came somewhat as a surprise, with the new owner planning to convert the former letter sorting facility into a vertical storage centre with office and retail space.
Kennards plans to repurpose the existing 24,000 sqm building, while considering further development on the remainder of the site.
To date its only concrete plans are the demolition of a single storey building and conversion into storage space. Those plans are currently being considered by the state’s planning authority.
In addition to general personal and business storage options, the new facility is expected to accommodate speciality goods including wine and guns.
CITY HOLDEN SITE
Address: 215-231 Grenfell St, 252-260 Pirie St, 31-35 Worsnop Ave
Owner: Di Fava family
Size: 9500sq m
City Holden announced in 2018 that it would relocate from its CBD operations, putting its massive east end showroom and service centre site on the market.
Over 40 years of operating in the city, the company – headed by the Newton family – had accumulated close to a hectare of land between Grenfell St and Dawkins Place.
It was seen as being a prime development site given its size and location in Adelaide’s cosmopolitan east end.
The Di Fava family was quick to jump on the opportunity, splashing out $35.6m for the 9500sq m landholding.
Approvals for development on part of the site, including an eight-storey apartment complex between Dawkins Place and Worsnop Ave, were secured last year, but plans for the remainder of the site have yet to be revealed.
FORMER WAKEFIELD HOSPITAL SITE
Address: 264-300 Wakefield St
Owner: Pelligra
Size: 8712sq m
The 115-year-old hospital closed in 2020 when operator Calvary relocated to its new $345m, 344-bed facility on Angas St.
The Wakefield St site was acquired by Melbourne-based developer Ross Pelligra, who had a plan to invest about $70m in a major redevelopment.
Work on a series of upgrades to the existing buildings commenced last year, and the developer has secured several medical organisations to operate from the site.
The plan is to create a state-of-the-art health and wellbeing precinct, which could include development of new buildings in the longer term.
FORMER LE CORNU SITE
Address: 88 O’Connell St, North Adelaide
Owner: Adelaide City Council
Size: 7500sq m
Construction will soon commence on one of the city’s most controversial development sites, which has been plagued by squabbles and delays for more than three decades.
The large tract of land in the heart of North Adelaide has been vacant since Le Cornu shut its furniture store there in 1989.
Over the following 30 years several developers tried but failed to get their projects off the ground, and so the Adelaide City Council stepped in. In 2017 the council agreed to pay Con Makris $34m to take over the site and fast-track development.
It later selected local group Commercial & General to deliver a new vision for the site.
And while the developer has had to overcome its own challenges – including the effects of Covid-19 and legal challenges brought on by local residents – it is set to kick off work this month on a $250m development that will transform the precinct.
FORMER NEW MAYFIELD SITE
Address: 43-69 Sturt St
Owner: Luxion Investment (Xiong and Xu families)
Size: 7400sq m
The collapse of Tagara Builders in 2015 brought to an end plans for a $300m hotel and apartment complex on the former Mayfield engineering factory site on Sturt St.
It was the first so-called “catalyst site” in the CBD, which allowed increased building heights to boost residential density under decade-old former Labor government reforms.
Now, it is a giant hole in the ground and no applications have been listed by the land’s new owner, Luxion Investment Pty Ltd.
ASIC records reveal that Luxion is owned by the Xiong and Xu families, both based in Adelaide. They bought the land for $10.23m in 2017.
The council recently said there had been no action or update on the site in years.
The New Mayfield project was planned to run over three stages, comprising 388 apartments, a 200-room Marriott hotel and shops. The site is bordered by Sturt, Gilbert, Norman and Myers streets.
FORMER MERC SITE
Address: 179-199 Gouger St
Owner: SL Gouger St 3 Pty Ltd (Mai and Lin families)
Size: 4838sq m
Chinese-backed Tangcheng Group was given the green light to build a $120m, 18-storey apartment tower, 14-storey hotel, two eight-storey apartment blocks, a smaller student housing building and a supermarket on the sprawling Gouger St site, just west of Morphett St, in 2013.
The land was put on the market five months later.
Current owner, SL Gouger St 3 Pty Ltd, bought the land for $14.43m in 2016.
ASIC documents show SL Gouger St 3 Pty Ltd is owned by the Sydney-based Mai and Lin families.
Pripark SA Pty Ltd recently submitted an application with Adelaide City Council to create a car park on a section of the land for staff working on the $400m Central Market Arcade redevelopment.
Construction on that development will begin in June and is expected to last four years.
FORMER FREEDOM SITE
Address: 279 Grote St
Owner: Aust Triunity Pty Ltd (Bi, Li and Sun families)
Size: 4800sq m
The former Paul’s Warehouse and Freedom Furniture showroom on Grote St was acquired by local family interests last year.
The $8.6m purchase included more than 4800sq m of land, currently accommodating a 3730sq m showroom/warehouse building, with current zoning rules allowing for development up to 53m on the site.
However the immediate plans are to convert the existing building into “Adelaide’s first indoor building ideas centre”.
Trade-based businesses and suppliers are currently being sought to set up display areas within the “Building Ideas Centre” to showcase their offerings. It is expected to be up and running by July.
FORMER FRANKLIN ST BUS DEPOT
Address: 111 Franklin St
Owner: Adelaide City Council
Size: 4777sq m
The long-vacant site has had a variety of uses since the former bus terminal closed in 2007, including as a pop-up Fringe venue.
Before that it was supposed to be the final stage of a $900m redevelopment of the precinct, incorporating hundreds of new apartments.
That idea was scrapped in 2012 when the council dissolved part of its contract with developer Precinct Consortium, which was a joint venture between Urban Construct and Brookfield Multiplex.
The site is currently being used as a car park to support workers on the Central Market Arcade redevelopment – another council-led project that is expected to commence in June.
LIBERTY PETROL STATION SITE
Address: 289-299 Hindley St
Owner: Zagame Automotive Group
Size: 3312sq n
The owners of the Ferrari Adelaide showroom on West Tce paid $16.5m for an adjoining 3312sq m site on Hindley St earlier this year.
It came months after Zagame Automotive unveiled a major refurbishment of its city showroom valued at more than $1m.
The Melbourne-based Zagame family broke into the Adelaide market in 2018 when it acquired the Ferrari Adelaide franchise from Adelaide Motors.
Director Adrian Zagame relocated to Adelaide to run the South Australian business, which also includes a prestige showroom in Frewville where high-end supercars such as McLaren and Lamborghini are sold and serviced.
The Hindley St site adjoins Zagame’s Ferrari showroom on West Tce, and would seem a natural expansion opportunity for its vehicle sales and servicing operations in the city.
FORMER PARKWYND PRIVATE HOSPITAL
Address: 135-140 East Tce
Owner: Australasian Property Developments
Size: 3264sq m
Prominent Adelaide developer Pep Rocca’s Australasian Property Development picked up the former Parkwynd Private Hospital site late last year.
Healthscope, the company that operated the 23-bed facility, closed its doors last April after identifying the need for ongoing upgrades which were “not viable or sustainable”.
The property has since been used by SA Health as part of its Covid-19 response.
The expansive 3264sq m site fronts the eastern parklands, with 38m of frontage to East Tce and secondary frontages to Harvey and James streets, plus additional access via Albert Lane.
In January Mr Rocca said there were not concrete plans for the site, but that his company would “develop a strategy in the next year or so”.
Mr Rocca is currently overseeing several major developments including the $110m Como apartments and townhouses project in Norwood.
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