‘This place can thrive’: Billionaire Lang Walker says Adelaide is ready to boom as he opens $3bn Riverlea development

Property magnate Lang Walker has issued a resounding vote of confidence in SA’s future prosperity, saying our state now has the strong leadership needed for success.

South Australians can look forward to more jobs, industry growth and increased prosperity because of decisive leadership, says property billionaire Lang Walker.

Officially opening the $3bn Riverlea estate for more than 40,000 people in Adelaide’s north, the Sydney-based tycoon declared the state finally had go-getting and assertive leadership.

In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Walker endorsed Premier Peter Malinauskas as a decisive leader and declared Adelaide “a monty” for health, education and defence sectors.

“I’ve got nothing but good to say about Adelaide and I’ve got nothing but good to say about the future of Adelaide,” he said.

“It just needs leadership and they’ve got it now. They should be really pushing to do the things that they need to do.

“Everything’s driven by leadership. If you’ve got leadership, you will have health, you will have education, you will have defence.

“Malinauskas is, to me, a true leader and a goer.”

Composite artwork of Walker Corporation founder and executive chairman Lang Walker and the Riverlea estate which he officially opened this week. Picture: Russell Millard

Lang Walker in front of Riverlea’s lake and fountains. Picture: Russell Millard

Mr Walker insisted he had sufficient confidence in Adelaide’s growth to consider building another estate of Riverlea’s size.

“If you had proper government support and all the demographics work – of course I would, because I think Adelaide has got a lot of growing to do,” Mr Walker said.

Walker Corporation’s Riverlea development, the state’s biggest masterplanned community, will house more than 40,000 people after 12,000 homes are built in the next 20 years.

This equates to more than 2 per cent of the state’s current population of almost 1.8m – or about twice the size of Mount Barker.

More than 1100 homes have been sold since construction started in February, 2021 – with 75 per cent of those finished or being built by about 1000 people now working on the site. The first residents moved in during October last year.

But Mr Walker lamented that he needed considerable patience to overcome sceptics, red tape and an anti-development mentality to open Riverlea, more than 16 years after the project was revealed publicly.

The Riverlea development was first announced by the Rann Labor government in December, 2006, and the first stage was approved in 2014.

By contrast, Walker Corporation bought, built and finished within five years Australia’s largest commercial development – the $3.2bn Parramatta Square redevelopment in Sydney’s west, with 295,000 sqm of office and retail space completed in 2022.

Mr Walker condemned past government leadership, saying inaction had driven away investment.

“I just see so much potential here and nobody (investors) comes here because of the issues they’ve had over the years,” he said.

Adelaide-based Hickinbotham Group managing director Michael Hickinbotham, whose business includes Hickinbotham Homes, said the Riverlea estate was “an example of how we can make great housing more affordable for South Australian families and offer them a better choice in housing options”.

“It is great to see a major interstate developer invest in the future of South Australia and the Hickinbotham Group is proud to be a major part of the Riverlea development,” he said.

“This is a real vote of confidence in Adelaide, our lifestyle and the future.”

Mr Walker declared Adelaide should be an international education hub, in an endorsement for the Malinauskas government’s early childhood education and university merger strategies.

“You’ve got defence, you’ve got a lot of industries. If they sort of took the blinkers off – and I think Peter Malinauskas is thinking about that, is asking: ‘What else can we get?’

“This should be an education hub for the world. It’s already a defence hub for Australia.”

Guests stroll through the landscaped parks dotted with palm trees and winding around the lake at the official opening of Riverlea Estate. Picture: Russell Millard

Mr Walker said Riverlea eventually would house workers from Adelaide’s burgeoning defence industry – nuclear-powered submarine construction is slated for the nearby Osborne Naval Shipyard.

He highlighted the impact of completion of the final $15.4bn Torrens to Darlington section of the non-stop, 78km North-South Corridor expressway.

“That’ll open up a whole bunch of other parts of Adelaide. As I say, Adelaide is a monty for health, education and defence,” Mr Walker said.

“This is a lovely place to live. You bring in some new industries and this place can thrive.”

Originally published as ‘This place can thrive’: Billionaire Lang Walker says Adelaide is ready to boom as he opens $3bn Riverlea development