Burnside Village vs Hallett Cove shopping centres: Two major facelifts, but is one too little, too late?

By many measures, Hallett Cove has it all over Burnside – but its largely empty shopping centre isn’t one of them, writes Nathan Davies.

Hallett Cove Shopping Centre vs Burnside Village: One of these is not like the other.

It’s a tale of two cities.

In our leafy eastern suburbs the long-awaited expansion of Burnside Village is underway following a two-and-a-half-year delay caused by Covid-19.

Diggers are on-site preparing the vacant block for construction of the multimillion-dollar extension, which will feature a three-storey building along Greenhill Rd, from Portrush Rd to Sydney St.

Along with a raft of new shops the expansion will feature restaurants, cafes and a “24-hour gym and lifestyle facility”.

Ah lifestyle, the prince of buzz words.

The revised Burnside plans won planning approval last month, and also include the removal of an established river red gum tree valued by the council at $160,000.

Well at least they’re not going to attempt to build around the gum like they did last time, with said tree slowly withering and dying to the sound of hissing espresso machines and the sound of white shoes on marble tiles.

In April last year Cohen Group revived the project after what it described as an “extraordinary” recovery in retail trade at the centre.

An artist impression of the updated plans for Burnside Village. Picture: Cohen Group

Meanwhile, down the road at beautiful Hallett Cove, it’s something of a different story.

While residents have welcomed the announcement of $18m plan to breathe new life into the Hallett Cove Shopping Centre, there’s a weary reaction from some jaded locals of ‘we’ll believe it when we see it’ after years of inaction.

New local and national retailers are being lined up for the centre’s more than 50 speciality shops, including The Reject Shop and homewares and gift shop chain Kaisercraft, which will both open new stores. Further tenant announcements are expected next month.

However, it’s hard to ignore the number of empty shops in recent years.

One local posted on Facebook: “The surrounding suburbs are all big enough that this shopping precinct should be doing a roaring trade if it was being managed correctly.”

And another wrote: “I moved from Hobart three years ago and couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I walked in and saw all the empty shops. It was like ‘what’s going on?’ “Sadly it’s progressively worsened … (but) the supermarkets do a roaring trade so new shops will do well as the people are certainly there.”

An artist impression of the $18m redevelopment of Hallett Cove Shopping Centre. Picture: Hames Sharley

… featuring a very big and very empty carpark! Picture: Hames Sharley

By many measures, though, Hallett Cove has it all over Burnside.

Sweeping sea views are the most obvious, with even humble homes in the Cove often boasting vistas over the beautiful Gulf St Vincent.

In any other city in Australia these sea views would be worth millions, but in Hallett Cove the average house price is $690,000.

Compare that to the average home price in Burnside, which comes in around double at a cool $1.356m (and no view of the sea, unless it’s through a telescope from the second storey balcony).

Hopefully the community rallies around the revamped shopping centre and Hallett Cove capitalises on its remarkable geography and claims its rightful place alongside Burnside as one of Adelaide’s top suburbs.