North Adelaide residents to challenge $250m Le Cornu site redevelopment in court

A legal challenge over the ex-Le Cornu site’s three-tower development in North Adelaide may be headed for the Supreme Court.

A North Adelaide residents group wants to legally challenge the $250m redevelopment of the former Le Cornu site on O’Connell St.

Vital North Adelaide has instructed lawyer Mark Hamilton to obtain expert advice about a recent decision by the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) to approve the project.

The joint venture between Adelaide City Council and private developer Commercial & General involves the construction of three apartment towers above a two-storey podium.

Mr Hamilton, a former deputy lord mayor, said he had retained a Queen’s Counsel to examine the SCAP approval process.

An artist impression of the plan for 88 O’Connell St, North Adelaide, by Commercial & General – on the former Le Cornu site.

Artist impression for the three-tower apartment complex on the ex-Le Cornu site. Picture: Supplied

“I expect that will involve an application for judicial review by the Supreme Court,” he said.

Mr Hamilton said the council had recommended a development up to eight storeys high following extensive community consultation.

Instead, SCAP had approved one tower with 15 storeys and two more with 13 levels.

“When a planning body says yes to high rise that is more than twice the indicated height in a low-rise heritage suburb, then legal action is the only recourse people have left,” he said.

Vital North Adelaide spokesman Robert Farnan said North Adelaide was a “critically important heritage and historic conservation area”.

“Right in the middle, they want to plonk three high-rise concrete monolithic buildings totally out of scale and place,” he said.

The plan includes offices, cafes and shops as well as apartment. Supplied by Adelaide City Council

Mr Farnan said his group supported development of the former Le Cornu site, which had been vacant for three decades.

“But what the City Council and this developer are doing is devastating, overbearing and appalling,” he said.

“We believe the SCAP decision has made a mockery of the development plan.”

In May, nearly 180 people attended a meeting as part of a campaign to lobby SCAP against the project.

The development includes a trio of towers comprising apartments, offices, cafes and shops, set back from tiered levels of parks and open space, supported by close to 400 car parks across three basement levels.

Last December, Adelaide developer Commercial & General unveiled its $250m vision for the long-vacant site, which has been dogged by controversy and delay for more than 30 years.

Work is well advanced on a display apartment on the corner of Archer St and O’Connell St.

The site has been the venue for the popular animated Van Gogh exhibition which has attracted hundreds of people to the area in recent weeks.

Originally published as North Adelaide residents to challenge $250m Le Cornu site redevelopment in court