Residents offered $20,000 to settle case against 88 O’Connell Street, North Adelaide

North Adelaide residents fighting the Le Cornu site project over its size, height and potential overshadowing have each been offered $20,000 to drop the case.

The proposed development by Commercial & General at 88 O'Connell Street on the former Le Cornu site. Picture: Supplied

A developer has offered $20,000 payments to North Adelaide residents opposed to the $200m redevelopment of the former Le Cornu site.

Commercial & General (C&G) chief executive Trevor Cooke said the offers had been made in a bid to provide certainty for investors in the joint venture with Adelaide City Council to build a residential hub with three apartment towers 13 to 15 levels high.

Three residents appealed to the Environment, Resources and Development Court against planning approval granted for the project on the basis of its height, scale and potential overshadowing.

One resident has since sold their property while another last week withdrew from the court action because a relative was buying an apartment in the proposed development.

How the $250m redevelopment of 88 O'Connell St, North Adelaide, will look. Picture: Commercial & General

Attempts by 15 more residents to join the court case were unsuccessful, with an application rejected by the ERD Court during a 90-minute hearing last Thursday.

Mr Cooke said C&G’s actions in offering cash payments to settle the litigation “was entirely appropriate”.

“The truth about litigation is that it is costly, it’s stressful for everyone involved and it can impact our staff, the people we do business with and the purchasers with whom we have contracts,” he said.

“I have to balance their interests with those of individuals who are trying to bring this action through the back door.”

The proposed project at North Adelaide. Picture: Commercial & General

Mr Cooke said his company had offered the payments after attempting to negotiate with the three residents who lodged the appeal through a lobby group, Vital North Adelaide.

“We asked to meet with them five times and five times they refused,” he said. “They didn’t come to any of the community information sessions we held. They didn’t turn up to the court-ordered conciliation conference.

“We have tried at every step to act in good faith, and our genuine settlement offer reflected our determination to exhaust every opportunity to settle this matter amicably before having to resort to legal processes.”

The proposed 88 O'Connell Street project. Picture: Supplied

Mr Cooke said attempts by some individuals “to try to characterise our genuine offer” to settle the court action “as some underhanded payment is both disingenuous and cheap”.

North Adelaide councillor Phillip Martin last week questioned Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor and chief executive Clare Mockler about the legal dispute, asking if they were aware C&G had sent a letter to North Adelaide residents threatening litigation.

Both Ms Verschoor and Ms Mockler said they were unaware of any threat of legal action by C&G.