Walker Corporation Festival Plaza aims for top restaurants in mix with local talent
Some of Australia’s top restaurant operators will be part of the mix in a Festival Plaza open day and night and catering for far more than just office workers, developers say.
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Some of Australia’s top restaurant operators and chefs will be in the mix to join South Australian companies at the new Festival Plaza, developer Walker Corporation says.
And event spaces will be available to hire for weddings, parties and corporate functions in the prized location.
Speaking at the launch of the Festival Tower and Festival Plaza, Walker Corporation chief executive David Gallant said the company wanted to bring the square alive with activity.
“Adelaide is the food and wine capital of Australia, we’ll have a combination of local chefs and some of our international brands,” Mr Gallant said on Monday.
He pointed to other Walker Corporation sites such as Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney and Collins Square in Melbourne “where we have very high-end chefs”.
“We’ll look at running spaces ourselves, putting in major operators and curating the space to be vibrant,” he said.
“It’ll be more than just activating the space for office workers – it’ll operate weekends, night times and be for everybody, families, students, sports people, people here for a show at the Festival Centre or going to the casino.
“And in addition to the restaurants and bars, we’ll have events spaces.”
The events spaces would be available for corporates, university, government or personal events such as weddings.
The Festival Plaza’s hospitality and retail podium will be built next to the 29-storey Festival Tower, where Flinders University has been named as the anchor tenant, taking eight floors.
The development, between Parliament House and the Adelaide Festival Centre, is under construction with a target of the first tenants in the Festival Tower by the end of 2023.
Premier Steven Marshall said the Festival Tower and Plaza would be a landmark in the heart of Adelaide for decades ahead.
“This is a very happy day for SA,” Mr Marshall said.
Flinders uni to anchor Festival Tower
In a bold statement of growth, Flinders University will become an anchor tenant in the Festival Tower being built adjacent to Parliament House.
Flinders will occupy eight floors in the building, trebling its presence in the city centre.
The university will have branding on the North Terrace side of the 29-level tower, and its own separate entrance and lobby.
“The strategic location of Festival Tower will closely connect Flinders university with key sectors, creating new opportunities for our students and researchers,” vice-chancellor Colin Stirling said.
“It will support skilling our future workforce of health professionals, accountants, lawyers, barristers, criminologists and government policy makers.
“It is a signal of growth and opportunity for international students whom we will soon welcome back to South Australia, aiding recovery of this vital export market.”
The Festival Tower is scheduled for completion in 2023.
Walker Corporation estimates the tower will house 4000 workers, and operate in harmony with the adjacent Festival Plaza.
Cost of the tower is estimated at $500m, the plaza at $160m to $250m and the car park underneath the buildings at $150m – with the development supporting more than 1000 construction jobs.
“We are bringing a Renaissance to the Riverbank,” Walker Corporation executive chairman Lang Walker said ahead of a launch ceremony on Monday.
“Great places need people to be properly activated and the Festival Tower will be the catalyst to bring that population into this new beating heart of the city.
“We welcome tenants Flinders University as we continue this great urban transformation project.”
Flinders is working through details on how it will use the space but as well as teaching and research it is likely to include cafes and event spaces for alumni functions and engagement with SA business and community leaders.
Agreement between Walker Corporation and the state government on the tower and Festival Plaza development was finally reached earlier this month after a decade of negotiations, with two extra floors to the tower, although the project has not been without critics.
The move will make it easier for Flinders students and staff to move between the city and Bedford Park campuses, with a train trip taking 22 minutes on the railway which was extended a year ago. The line also stops at Tonsley, where Flinders’ footprint is growing.
The existing Flinders tenancy in an office block on the northeast corner of Victoria Square will be terminated.
The lease agreements on both the Festival Tower and Victoria Square building are confidential.
Game on as plaza comes alive
Pop-up world class tennis matches, concerts, car races and fireworks will bring the Festival Plaza alive, Walker Corporation executive chairman Lang Walker says.
“The plaza will be activated like never before into a buzzing mixed-use precinct with beautiful restaurants and shops surrounded by open space for the South Australian Government to bid for big events,” he said ahead of a launch ceremony on Monday.
“Our original vision, which we presented to the government in 2013, has always been for Festival Plaza to rival some of the greatest squares in the world like Spain’s Placa de Catalunya or Italy’s Piazza del Campo.”
Mr Walker said he could envisage a symbolic start or end point for a V8 or Formula One race.
The plaza would not compete with Memorial Drive Tennis Centre, which is undergoing a $44m upgrade and is just across the Torrens River.
Rather, the plaza would host a one-off exhibition match or short series or be used in conjunction with Memorial Drive for a bigger tournament.
Now that Walker Corporation had been given the green light by the state government for the plaza “the vision is becoming reality”, Mr Walker said.
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