Renewal SA unveils 84-apartment build-to-rent scheme for Bowden

The project aims to harness a new trend to ease Adelaide’s housing squeeze with 80 cheap apartments in the up-and-coming suburb. See their plans.

The Bowden skyline will be transformed with critically needed housing options to come online in the booming precinct.

A 12-storey residential building with 84 apartments of which 95 per cent will be “affordable rentals” are in the works for Third St opposite Plant 3 and 4, and next to South Australia’s largest build-to-rent project Kinleaf.

Four of the apartments will be Torrens titled warehouse lofts facing Second St, and offered for sale.

Designed by leading architectural firm ARM, the new 12-storey development will include 221 paid public car parks, four ground floor retail and commercial spaces, an open air function space and a garden terrace for residents on the seventh floor.

Third Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

Central Park, Third Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

ARM Architecture’s Philippe Naudin said Bowden’s industrial past and “significant history contributing to building much of Adelaide” inspired the development’s design.

“Our architecture translates aspects of this rich narrative through icons and recognisable motifs – house symbols, distinctive sawtooth roofs, repetitive truss patterns, even subtle nods to the iconic Clipsal fittings – creating a playful design language that’s both contextual and distinctive, paying homage to past stories and familiar forms,” Mr Naudin said.

“We are looking forward to these stories being discovered, lived in, and further enriched by the community that inhabits them.

“We hope our architecture will contribute to a true sense of pride of place, creating not just a place to live, but providing a place that residents can truly be proud to call home.”

Third Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

Third Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

Renewal SA will deliver the project to be operated long-term by a Community Housing Provider which will manage tenants of the studio and one and two-bedroom apartments.

The carpark design on the lower levels will allow it to be retrofitted to apartments, pending future housing demands.

Renewal SA chief executive Chris Menz said the building would become a “positive legacy” for the Bowden precinct.

“It takes active measures to help ease the state’s current housing situation via the delivery of 80 affordable rental apartments in a market that is becoming more challenging for everyday working South Australians; it provides multiple opportunities to add to Bowden’s curation of retail spaces; and it provides provision for a permanent public carparking solution for the Bowden community,” he said.

“The building has also been designed for maximum adaptability, including a dual key arrangement for studio and two-bedroom apartments to become three-bedroom apartments, and an ability to retrofit some of the carparking levels into housing should future demand require it.”

Second Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

Third Street development at Bowden. Picture Supplied

The Third Street project was first announced in February 2023 with plans for 60 apartments, but had since undergone a redesign to include a further 24 apartments.

SA Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion said the carparking would help “facilitate the surging popularity of the area at nights and on weekends” and ease on-street congestion.

The SA government will “actively pursue” funding support through the Federal Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund Facility.

Renewal SA will “actively promote female participation” on the project and mandate a specific number of work experience placements and new apprenticeships and traineeships for female tradespeople.

The development comes after US investor Sentinel Real Estate secured approvals for a mixed-use development on a 4000sq m site in Bowden earlier this month under a build-to-rent project.

The 12-storey development will sit on the corner of Third St and Gibson St and be managed by Kinleaf property management brand upon completion.

“We are pleased to receive development approval for what will be South Australia’s first purpose-built institutional Build to Rent community,” Sentinel’s Australia managing director Keith Lucas said.