Makris Group unveils new $200m plans for the former Le Cornu site
ONE of Adelaide’s most controversial sites will be transformed into a luxury apartment, retail and hotel complex under ambitious plans from SA’s richest man. Poll - is it a good idea and will it happen? | Gallery
ONE of Adelaide’s most controversial sites will be transformed into a luxury apartment, retail and hotel complex under ambitious plans worth more than $200 million from the state’s richest man.
Property tycoon Con Makris will on Monday unveil plans to bring his dream of redeveloping the former Le Cornu site on O’Connell St to life.
The release of the plans is the first step in ending a 25-year saga over the prime North Adelaide site.
“It is the highlight of my business life,” Mr Makris said. “It is a legacy that I would like to leave behind.
“I want to bring my dream to life.”
The new Makris Group plans for the 7500sq m site, released exclusively to The Advertiser, include constructing eight buildings and a three-level underground car park.
The apartment buildings will surround a large-scale piazza while the site will also include 6000sq m of office and retail space as well as a luxury six-level boutique hotel.
The plans, to be lodged with the State Government within weeks, also include high-end retailers, an up-market supermarket, restaurants and cafes.
New plan for the former Le Cornu site
If approved by the State Government’s Development Assessment Commission — bypassing Adelaide City Council because of its size and value — construction will end one of the most contentious issues in South Australia for almost three decades.
The eyesore, once dubbed Adelaide’s “Bermuda Triangle”, has lain empty for more than 25 years since the Le Cornu furniture and carpet store was sold to a development consortium.
A string of developers’ plans have failed, including a $40 million shopping centre proposed by merchant bank Tricontinental and Oberdan family’s Kellyvale Group in 1989 and a $22 million retail building in 1992, amid bitter wrangles and a landmark legal challenge in the 1990s.
The prime site, vacant since April 1989, is now an open, grassy lot in the middle of one of the city’s leading retail strips.
“This is not just another building, another shopping precinct,” Mr Makris said.
“It will be something that I want to be proud of, something that I want all of Adelaide to share with me.
“It shows that I have confidence in the future of South Australia. It shows that a private developer is willing to invest in our state.
“It will be a very special destination which the entire Adelaide community will be proud of, a place which will attract interstate and overseas visitors..
“I have said before that my vision is to create something fantastic, something out of this world.
“This by far is something that I have been thinking of for many years.”
Under the plans, which have been briefed to city council chief executive Peter Smith and Lord Mayor Martin Haese, the complex includes several apartment buildings of varying height, including one that is 15 storeys high.
While its size is likely to provoke a fresh community backlash, because the site is more than 1500sq m, there are no height restrictions.
Mr Makris said he would work the community and encourage input on the project.
“It is important that the project should be looked at as a whole development and not just the height of one building,” he said.
“Let’s not forget that there are eight separate buildings and a beautiful open piazza which people can sit back and enjoy themselves.
“We could not have done this under the previous planning rules. The open gardens, trees and seating would not have existed.
“It would have been just a concrete and glass box development.”
The developers, who have taken advice from the Department of Planning, will build 131 apartments, ranging from luxury penthouses to more affordable one-bedroom flats.
They plan to spend at least $3 million extra building a special canopy around the tallest structure to ensure it blends with local architecture and is environmentally friendly.
The Makris Group, which has spent at least $30 million on the site since purchasing it in 2001 from Wallis Cinemas, has received nine formal tenders from hotel chains across the globe to operate the complex including several leading international companies.
The company is also in negotiations with Romeo’s Retail Group, which operate a business opposite, to run a boutique supermarket on the site similar to the successful overseas Whole Foods organic food chain.
Dozens of interstate and overseas retailers, including elite fashion houses, are also interested in moving in.
The car park, which will have a separate entrance and exit, will contain 440 spaces while negotiations are ongoing with the council to potentially increase that number for its U-Park business.
The Markis Group would not be drawn on comments in August when Mr Makris threatened to drop his proposed Kangaroo Island to Glenelg ferry if development approval was not granted for the former Le Cornu site.
The plans, which will not use any taxpayer funds, will be subject to a fortnight public consultation process, before being lodged with the Development Assessment Commission.
Since 2008, the Development Assessment Commission has been handed approval powers for developments exceeding $10 million in the City of Adelaide.
Jobs to flow from the start
THE Makris Group expects construction of the O’Connell St development to take about two years and create more than 700 jobs.
Once completed it is expected to create hundreds more jobs in retail and hospitality.
The group has been working on the plans for the past three years and has spent almost $1 million in the process.
In 2005, Mr Makris unveiled a $100 million luxury complex intended to transform the site.
But his plans never got off the ground and have been marred by financial problems in the wake of the global financial crisis, design changes and wrangles with residents and the council over height limits.
Mr Makris, whose personal fortune is valued at $1 billion, told The Advertiser his company had a strong commitment to the state and hoped his project would help rejuvenate the economy.
“We now believe we have the right solution for the times and the market demand to support it,” he said
Mr Makris said it was perhaps a blessing that previous plans released in 2005 were abandoned when the Global Financial Crisis hit.
“Perhaps the GFC was a blessing in that it stopped all of us in our track,” he said.
“We would not have come up with a project like what we are presenting today. It is fantastic and we should all be proud of it.”
The history of the former Le Cornu site
April 1989: 1.6ha Le Cornu Furniture store, which had been in the retail family for 134 years, sold for an undisclosed sum to merchant bank Tricontinental (Trikon) and Oberdan family’s Kellyvale Group.
October 1989: Plans approved by Adelaide City Council for a $40 million shopping centre and townhouse development.
February 1990: Kellyvale take full ownership of site after Trikon’s financial collapse.
April 1991: Planning Commission rejects complex despite modified version already approved.
December 1992: Oberdan Group reveal plans for a $22 million retail complex including a major Coles supermarket and 30 speciality shops which replaced its earlier proposal.
May 1993: State Government strips Adelaide City Council of control of site after months of bitter debate.
August 1993: Contentious plans approved by Planning Commission after developers’ appealed rejection a month earlier.
October 1993: State Government gives final approval despite claims from North Adelaide Residents Group, led by Susan Clearihan, now a city councillor, they were not consulted.
November 1993: Residents and eight companies, including Foodland, launch Supreme Court challenge, in a state first.
May 1994: Unprecedented class action dismissed by Justice Trevor Olsson.
October 1994: Appeal dismissed by Full Court of the Supreme Court.
October 1995: Demolition work begins on site’s dilapidated buildings after months of wrangling.
March 1997: State Government announces area will be rezoned from a residential/commercial
precinct to a predominantly commercial area.
June 1997: New $15 million project including group of four boutique cinemas and underground car park proposed by Wallis Theatres and Kellyvale holdings.
December 1997: Mancorp Holdings headed by developers Theo Maras and Bill Manos launch legal appeal against council’s approval, arguing project exceeded building heights. It was later resolved.
March 1998: Oberdan family’s Kellyvale Group sells site to the Wallis Theatres Group.
August 2000: O’Connell St Traders’ Association lodge formal application with the city to establish temporary car park.
November 2001: Makris Group buys site from Wallis Cinemas for an estimated $7 million after council drops bid for land.
January 2005: Makris group unveils $100m luxury complex including seven-star luxury hotel, retail shops, apartments, cinemas, restaurants and a three-level underground carpark.
May 2007: State Government fast tracks plan, takes planning control from Adelaide City Council and gives it major project status.
April 2010: Con Makris describes saga as “the biggest disgrace in Adelaide’s history” as it starts demolition work on site.
August 2010: Makris group wins two-year extension, in which substantial work was to start.
November 2011: Luxury complex plans scrapped because of global financial crisis.
December 2011: Deemed a “catalyst” site under new State Government planning laws meaning it does not have any height restrictions.
July 2012: Billionaire property developer Lang Walker and Mr Makris announce joint venture to develop the site.
January 2013: Mr Makris publicly airs frustration over delays and threatens to develop alone.
June 2013: Mr Walker walks away from joint venture plan.
August 2014: Mr Makris claims he will scuttle plans for a Glenelg-to-Kangaroo Island ferry if he fails to win development approval for the site.
October 2014: Issue dominates city elections amid calls for the council to compulsory acquire site.
December 2014: Mr Makris unveils new $200 million, eight-building development.