Renew Adelaide’s free idea to shut down CBD vacancies
Hundreds of traders want to set up shop in the CBD’s vacant real estate before it’s too late. And giving them a free ticket in could actually be worth it, experts say.
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Hundreds of fledgling businesses want to open in the CBD using a rent-free scheme that pairs budding entrepreneurs with vacant shops and offices.
Renew Adelaide has revealed it has a record-high waiting list of 370 businesses wanting to move to the CBD as new figures show city office vacancies returning to pre-pandemic levels.
But the organisation has warned that without a doubling of its budget Adelaide could miss out on boosting jobs, housing more businesses and tackling long-term vacancies.
The not-for-profit body co-ordinates generally rolling short-term free rental with landlords to allow entrepreneurs to trial ideas and concepts in troubled locations.
Renew Adelaide chief executive Andrew White said of the 370 business on its waiting list, 83 per cent were “ready for a space now”.
“They are across a whole range of industries from retail, creative industries, hospitality, tech start-ups, web developers,” he said.
“Once vacancy takes hold in a precinct it’s really, really hard to turn that around, so before it becomes a problem there’s got to be some activity.”
Since the pandemic started in March 2020, Renew Adelaide launched 35 new ventures with 15 becoming long-term ventures creating 100 jobs, Mr White said.
Renew Adelaide, which has a volunteer board, receives $225,000 annual funding from the Adelaide Economic Development Agency.
Mr White said doubling the budget would put Renew Adelaide in “a great position to capitalise on our growing database of start-ups, creatives, and entrepreneurs”.
“Renew Adelaide is currently holding very productive discussions with the state government, exploring opportunities to harness this surge in momentum,” he said.
“Without additional resourcing from state and local government, we may miss this opportunity to help tackle long-term vacancies, create new jobs and incubate start-up ventures.”
Adelaide’s office vacancy rate has fallen from 15.7 per cent to 14.5 per cent in the six months to February, according to Knight Frank’s Office Market Report.
It was 14.2 per cent in January 2020 just months before the pandemic wreaked havoc.
The recent decrease has been attributed to take-up of new office development, built since 2006, with older buildings finding it “more difficult to secure tenants”, Knight Frank Australia’s chief economist Ben Burton said.
Olivia Moore, 33, used the start of the pandemic to launch an online wine shop but had previously approached Renew Adelaide with the idea of starting a bottle shop and bar.
Renew Adelaide found her a former hairdressing salon on Hindmarsh Square and after a self-funded fit-out, Ms Moore opened Loc Bottle Bar in November 2020. She signed a commercial lease with her landlord in June 2021.
“I wouldn’t have found that space if not for them,” she said of Renewal Adelaide.
She said her experience with Renewal Adelaide had inspired others in her social circle to think about opening there own business
“There are a lot of people now in a position where they once worked for other people who are ready to do something on their own,” she said.
EMPTY HOPES AND DREAMS
Some other city eyesores
Former Adelaide Metro building
75-79 King William St, Adelaide
The site has been vacant for more than two years since the building was closed to make way for a 36-storey, 125m tall WyndhamHotel. At one point homeless people were camping on its doorstep. The $150 million hotel was approved in April 2021 but likemany major tourism and apartment projects, construction has been delayed amid Covid uncertainty.
157 Morphett St, Adelaide
Once the original home of Chianti Italian restaurant this building has cycled through tenants, most recently serving as anIndian restaurant.
Earmarked for an 180-room hotel the empty building has become a canvas for graffiti.
The Advertiser was unable to ascertain when, or if, construction of the hotel would go ahead.
Former Trims building
322-366 King William St, Adelaide
Adelaide property tycoon Gerry Karidis’ outbid local, interstate and international buyers to take control of the former iconicTrims clothes outlet in November 2013.
Two years later he announced a grand $250 million plan to build four mixed-use towers on the site, comprising apartments,retirement living, offices, shops and even his own penthouse.
But the good intentions remain unfulfilled and the site is approaching a decade empty.
Hotel Wright Street
76-88 Wright Street, Adelaide
Squatters using a makeshift fire on the building’s second-floor started a fire that tore through the historic pub’s first-floorcausing $300,000 damage last month. The pub was bought by Chinese investors in 2015 and was closed in 2016. They secured planning approval for an 18-storey office tower a year later but that approval lapsed in February 2019. Their intentions remain unknown.
HQ Nightclub
149 Hindley Street, Adelaide
It was billed as Adelaide’s new superclub to replace its much-loved predecessor on North Tce. The massive concrete box spannedthree levels offering clubbers a new era of dancefloor duelling. Except the music didn’t last long. The operators went intoadministration in January 2020, less than three years after they opened. The venue is set to reopen as a new live music venue in August under a $6m investment.
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