Three more Adelaide CBD developer eyesores

Developers should be taxed for leaving prime real estate to rot say fed up CBD traders who want three sites dealt with fast.

They are the key CBD sites that were supposed to be transformed with multimillion-dollar apartment blocks, hotels and shops.

But three long-undeveloped eyesores now risk becoming Adelaide’s next Le Cornu sites,

prompting a residents’ group to call for developers to pay extra council rates on vacant sites.

An empty lot on Gouger St and the old central bus terminal site on Franklin St, both vacant for more than 10 years, will both be used for overflow carparking during construction of the Central Market Arcade redevelopment.

And the future of the Sturt St site – originally slated to be the $300m New Mayfield apartment and hotel complex – remains unknown.

South West City Community Association president Susan Collins said all level of government should look to vacant blocks of land in the CBD before proposing any more building on the parklands.

She said developers should pay extra rates for leaving land empty.

“To stop them from being like (the) Le Cornu site … maybe they could be persuaded by being taxed in some way, or having excess rates over time,” Ms Collins said.

“It would say ‘we need you to develop this or sell it’. It is such a shame to see all these pieces of land all fenced up.”

Melissa Rayner is the owner of The Foodprint Experience on Franklin Street. Picture: Keryn Stevens

City traders said the vacant blocks were an eyesore, attracting illegal activity and had the potential to inject millions of dollars into the economy.

Nik Nikandru from Bob Jane T-Marts on Gouger St said the vacant 7000sq m Gouger St site, between Selby and Claxton streets and undeveloped for more than 10 years, was a “missed opportunity”.

“It’s a bit of an eyesore. It’s such a big block to be sitting vacant in the city,” Mr Nikandru said.

“Like on O’Connell St at the old Le Cornu site … it’s just such a waste of space.”

Former owner 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 in April 2013.

The land was put on the market five months later.

ASIC documents showed SL Gouger St 3 Pty Ltd now own the site, with a registered address in Darlinghurst, NSW.

Pripark SA Pty Ltd 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.

The old central bus terminal at 111 Franklin St, which closed in September 2007, is already being used as UPark Andrew to support the construction of the arcade redevelopment.

There have previously been plans for a residential development at the site. But Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said its future had not been decided.

The old New Mayfield Site on Norman Street between Sturt Street and Gilbert Street. Picture: Dean Martin

The old New Mayfield Site. Picture: Dean Martin

The liquidation of Tagara Builders in 2015 put plans for a $300m hotel and apartment complex on Sturt St on ice.

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.

The council said there had been no action or update on the site in years.

The Sunday Mailvisited Luxion Investment at its registered Grote St address but nobody answered.

An artist's impression of the updated plans for the New Mayfield project on Sturt St. Picture:

The old New Mayfield Site. Picture: Dean Martin

A vacant lot on Gouger St that was slated for major development. Picture: Tia Ewen

A vacant Lot on Gouger St that was slated for major development. Picture: Tia Ewen

Property Council SA chief executive Daniel Gannon said there would be no benefit in slapping taxes on property owners who took great risks to purchase, own and develop land.

“At a time when investors are falling over themselves to invest in Australia’s most liveable city, any suggestion they should be slapped with punitive taxes is counter-productive, harmful and frankly ridiculous,” Mr Gannon said.

“Higher taxes harm the very industry we all rely on for housing options, shops, offices, industrial precincts, hotels, public buildings and jobs.”

Ms Verschoor said: “Ultimately the private sector needs to develop their own sites but council often plays a partnering role – we point to Market Square (the arcade redevelopment) and Eighty Eight O’Connell (the Le Cornu site) as positive examples of this.”

The state government did not respond to questions about whether it would support additional rates for landowners.

“The Marshall Liberal Government will continue to pursue an agenda that encourages investment in South Australia,” a spokeswoman said.