Highway Hotel’s $40m project changed to house huge supermarket

AN expanded supermarket is at the heart of revised plans for the second stage of the Highway Hotel on Anzac Hwy’s $40 million apartment and retail complex.

Work continues on the $40million Highway Hotel residential project.

AN EXPANDED supermarket is at the heart of revised plans for the second stage of the Highway Hotel’s $40 million residential project.

The developers, the Palmer Hospitality Group, has resubmitted designs for the Plympton site.

Stage two initially included an apartment building named East Tower with 16 apartments and another building with 26 serviced apartments.

Under changed plans presented to the State Commission Assessment Panel, the second building has been deleted – and 12 apartments added to the East Tower.

Office space initially proposed for the first floor is replaced by car parking, which moves from the basement to make way for a supermarket storage area.

The supermarket space will be increased by more than 200sq m and space for specialty retail shops reduced and reconfigured.

Stage One: The West Tower of Residences on Anzac Hwy, at Plympton.

Development company director Martin Palmer said discussions with potential retail tenants were ongoing.

However, building plans show two of the retail tenancies have already been labelled burger bar and cafe.

“We’ve had some in-depth conversations with a couple of businesses that would be the major tenants,” he said.

“They’re fairly advanced but nothing that is confirmed as yet.”

Mr Palmer said the changes were caused by shifts in market conditions and opportunities.

The variations to the original plans, which were first approved in 2007 and scaled back in 2013, combine the second and third stages of the project into one.

The project’s second stage does not have a start date.

Two additional carpark spaces have also been added to the first part of the project – a $9 million, 28-apartment building due to be completed in May.

The original fourth stage of the development for the northern section of the site is now set to become the future stage three.

It includes another residential tower with 42 apartments.

The whole development could take up to six years to complete and will create an estimated 85 jobs during construction, according to a report by Property & Consulting Australia on behalf of the Palmer group.

Another 215 ongoing full-time jobs would also be created in retail, management, administration, grounds keeping, maintenance and cleaning.

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