$1.25bn Grote & Gouger development given the green light by state planning commission

An audacious $1.25 billion, 600 apartment development is set to reshape Adelaide’s sky line.

Artist's impressions of Gurner development at the former Australia Post site on Grote St in Adelaide. Picture: Elenberg Fraser

An audacious $1.25bn development which stands poised to reshape the city’s skyline has been approved by the state’s planning committee.

The development – to be known as Grote & Gouger and to be built on the old Australia Post site – consists of five towers scaling up to 27 storeys and containing 600 apartments as well as officers, shops, bars, restaurants, a public plaza and wellness centre.

On Wednesday the State Commission Assessment Panel met to discuss the development.

Described as “mixed-use staged development”, the site was approved subject to reservations including various planning consents and management plans.

Document’s lodged with the assessment panel earlier this month showed the development will be rolled out in stages.

Rich-lister property developer Tim Gurner in his new luxury development in St Kilda. Picture: Aaron Francis

A 220-room hotel and 19-level mixed-use apartment tower featuring the Saint Haven wellness centre come first, located at the western end of the 1.7ha site, followed by a third apartment tower on the corner of Grote and Blenheim streets reaching up to 27 levels.

The third and final stage comprises two more apartment buildings located at the southern end of the site.

The site has three street frontages to Grote St, Gouger St and Blenheim St.

A total of 513 carparking spaces and 767 bicycle parking spaces are offered across the site, while 15 per cent of the apartments have been set aside as affordable housing.

The site previously housed a large Australia Post facility but was bought by Kennards in 2020.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the Kennard families plans for the site and they partnered with Melbourne billionaire Tim Gurner to create the new project.

Mr Gurner and has been moving towards lodging the plan for more than a year and was running a design competition for the site in 2022.

“We are thrilled to have been able to obtain approval for such an important site for the future growth of the city,” he said.

“We have a very exciting vision for the site that will create a new level of luxury for the Adelaide residential and hotel market, alongside some very exciting retail and hospitality announcements that will be revealed in the coming months.”

Kennards chief executive Sam Kennard said the approval was the first major milestone towards the opening of the “world class facility”.
Mr Gurner is worth an estimated $677m, placing him at 192 on The Australian’s Rich 250 list.

He made global headlines earlier this year after calling for a “painful” 50 per cent increase in unemployment to spur “lazy” workers into action.