Developer Lang Walker and State Government showdown over Festival Plaza site
Billionaire developer Lang Walker and State Government are at loggerheads over his push for a second office tower in the $600m Festival Plaza development.
Billionaire developer Lang Walker and State Government are at loggerheads over his push for a second office tower in the $600 million Festival Plaza development, which critics warn would wreck the cityscape and suffocate the public square.
The Sunday Mail has been told Walker Corporation is insisting on the second tower at the prime site, between Parliament House and the Festival Centre, despite the Government’s firm opposition.
It is understood Walker is arguing a second tower would place significantly more people in the precinct, creating more vibrancy and economic activity.
Excavation work is advanced for a 1560-space carpark, due to be completed in time for the neighbouring Adelaide Casino’s $330 million expansion opening in October next year.
But there is significant concern that construction work for a 23-storey office tower and three-level entertainment/retail complex, approved in 2016, will disrupt the precinct and carpark access.
The Casino will lease 750 car park spaces, that are critical to its expansion’s success, while the Government will lease 400 for $30 million.
The Sunday Mail put a series of questions to Walker Corp and Planning Minister Stephan Knoll, including about the second tower and whether the car park would be fully operational during construction.
Mr Knoll, who in April confirmed the revision of Festival Plaza plans approved under the previous Labor government, said only that the Government was “currently in the process of negotiating the finishing touches on the Festival Plaza arrangement”.
“We need to strike the right balance and ensure that the South Australian public get the best bang for the buck out of what will become one of the premier public precincts in the CBD,” he said.
The Advertiser in April revealed the Government had rejected plans for a second office tower and a hotel on the Plaza’s eastern edge, fronting King William Rd and just to the north of Parliament House.
It is understood Walker Corporation is continuing to insist on the second tower and stretch development as much as possible across the precinct, but it is not known whether it still wants to build the hotel.
This risks a repeat of a 2014 legal battle when Mr Walker overcame Labor government opposition to building the lone office tower in the area between the Hajek Plaza, north of Parliament House, and the Casino.
That dispute centred on whether Mr Walker, who in late 2012 won exclusive rights to develop the car park and Riverbank precinct, still had the legal right to build the office tower.
It is understood the Liberal government considers Festival Plaza as a linchpin for future city development, because it is at the heart of the city, between Adelaide Oval, Lot Fourteen and the medical precinct.
Like Lot Fourteen, the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site, it is intended to use Festival Plaza as a crucible of future industries, like space, defence and machine learning.
Asked about the revised plans in April, a Walker Corporation spokesman said this had been about “creating a world-class public space that remains flexible, functional, vibrant and active for many years to come.
“We would expect that these final agreed designs will provide the state with the opportunity to improve many of the functional and design criticisms arising from the stakeholder reviews of the Plaza’s inferior and more expensive concept instigated under the previous government.”