Tonsley boiler house up for sale and could become southern suburbs social hub

A 1960s industrial building has been put on the market and could be the south’s answer to Bowden’s Plant 4, complete with a microbrewery or distillery.

An old boiler house at Tonsley has been put up for sale. Source: Supplied.

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A DISUSED 1960s Tonsley boiler house could soon be transformed into a social hub, complete with a new microbrewery or distillery.

State Government agency Renewal SA put the building on the market last month.

It hopes it will become a focal point for the fledgling innovation district, as homeowners and more students get set to move into the area.

Tonsley innovation district precinct director Daniel Redden said the idea to transform the boiler house into a social hub with a manufacturing edge had been brewing for a while.

“We’re starting to get a lot of momentum at Tonsley, so the boiler house really brings together that vision of being able to live, work, study, have a drink and eat there,” he said.

“We really want to see that entertainment and food aspect, but alongside a brewer or distiller and multiple users.

“There could be a produce aspect or you could see a cafe or coffee roasting.”

Inside the boiler house. Source: Supplied.

Previously used to generate steam for the former Mitsubishi and Chrysler manufacturing plants, the building will face a public plaza to meet the needs of the precinct’s growing population.

More than 2000 Flinders University students are based at the Tonsley campus, and the first residents are set to move into a planned 850-home development at the site by September 2018.

Mr Redden hoped a preferred developer for the boiler house would be selected early next year, ahead of it opening when the residents move in.

He said inspiration for the social hub had been drawn from Plant 4 at Bowden, however it would have its own identity.

The boiler house will sit alongside a public plaza and has been likened to Bowden’s Plant 4. Source: Supplied.

“We’re trying to give the boiler house its own flavour, and that’s where the manufacturing aspect comes in – as a bit of a nod to the past.”

The State Government’s Flinders Link Project, scheduled to be completed in 2019, is expected to bring more people to the precinct.

The $85 million extension of the Tonsley rail line will see it taken 650m further to the university’s main Bedford Park campus.

Expressions of interest in the boiler house close Monday, December 11.