Site of old bus station on Franklin St for sale

The old bus depot site in Franklin St, Adelaide, is up for sale and the prime city spot is understood to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

A prized vacant block in the heart of the CBD owned by Adelaide City Council – big enough for a major development – will go on the market next month.

Expressions of interest will be called for the former central bus depot on Franklin St, the current location of a council-run electric vehicle charging station and open-air carpark.

The site’s valuation is being kept confidential for commercial reasons but it is understood to be in the tens of millions of dollars if air rights also were sold by the council.

Council chief executive Clare Mockler said the sale was part of a disposal of underperforming council assets identified during a strategic property review.

Ms Mockler told the inaugural Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) business summit that the review was conducted during the pandemic when the council was suffering financially.

“As a city-based organisation, the City of Adelaide experienced significant financial stress along with many other CBD businesses.” she said.

“At the height of the pandemic, the City of Adelaide was losing up to $1m per week in foregone revenue from our commercial operations. From April to June 2020 our revenue was down by over $20m.”

The former Adelaide Central Bus Station site on Franklin St. Picture: Colin James

Ms Mockler said 29 properties were identified in the strategic property review, with two – the beach volleyball site on Pirie St and public toilets on Gawler Place – since sold to developers. The bus station would be the third property to be put on the market.

Proceeds from the sale of the assets was being transferred into a “future fund” created by council for new income generating assets or strategic capital works.

Ms Mockler said the fund was expected to reach $21m by the end of next year.

The old bus station site has had a blighted history since a new, council-built $27m bus station, with affordable housing attached, opened in 2008.

Plans to build 540 apartments on the site as part of a $900m development, which also involved the nearby former Balfours site on Franklin St, were abandoned in 2012.

That project – managed by Urban Construct and Brookfield Multiplex – was the city’s largest resident development

Large parts of the former bus depot, including its main building, were then leased to the Conservation Council of SA in 2014 for community gardens and art displays.

The former Adelaide Central Bus Station site on Franklin St. Picture: Colin James