Prince Alfred College plans three-storey carpark, shop complex at former Bureau of Meteorology site in Kent Town
A Kent Town building at the heart of a failed heritage-listing bid could soon become a multimillion-dollar carpark for one of the state’s richest schools.
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Prince Alfred College is planning a three-storey carpark at Kent Town, with room for more than 360 cars and a shop, as the institution continues to grow.
The school has applied to Norwood, Payneham and St Peters Council to build the development, which it says would cater for existing staff, day students and boarders, and also accommodate future enrolment growth.
Public consultation documents show the project is planned at a 3400sq m site at 25 College Road, formerly used as a headquarters for the Bureau of Meteorology.
Headmaster Bradley Fenner said the work at the site, next to the school’s boarding house, would reduce congestion around the college and improve safety.
“We have a number of students who currently park on the (surrounding) streets and we’d get them out of those areas and into a safe and secure place,” he said.
It will also consolidate staff and student parking, freeing up other areas on the school grounds for recreation space and other “educational purposes” in the future – though those land uses were yet to be planned.
“We don’t have any desire to get much larger but we’ve seen modest growth in student numbers in recent times,” Mr Fenner said.
“This is a measure to resolve issues around carparking and safety. We have quite a lot of cars coming onto the site at the beginning and end of the day.”
Mr Fenner said costings were yet to be determined and final designs had not been completed.
However, data from financial, property, and consumer information analyst Core Logic shows 25 College Road last sold for $8.47m in February 2020.
Documentation by planning firm Future Urban said Prince Alfred College had expanded over time through “a number of strategic property purchases”.
“PAC will continue to purchase other contiguous properties to form larger developable areas to accommodate future compatible development for a range of educational purposes,” it said.
Mr Fenner said the college’s move to include a shop in the carpark complex had materialised following negotiations with the council.
The school is still deciding what the shop will be used for, but Mr Fenner said it might sell uniforms and other student supplies.
He said the improved safety brought by the carpark went hand-in-hand with the intentions behind its footbridge, which was built over The Parade West, to connect the middle school campus with its boarding house built three years ago.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) recently published financial details of each school across Australia, which showed Prince Alfred College had a gross income of $34m in 2020.
Weather bureau staff moved out of their College Road building and into the city in 2017, prompting a failed bid to heritage-list the complex, which has since been demolished.
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