Billionaire’s vision for the former Australia Post in the city revealed
Property billionaire Tim Gurner and Kennards are teaming up to transform the former Australia Post site in the city into a $1.25bn residential, recreation and business mecca.
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The former Australia Post site on Grote St will be transformed into a $1.25bn precinct including a five-star hotel, more than 750 apartments and a public plaza in a joint venture between Melbourne billionaire Tim Gurner and storage company Kennards.
A design competition is underway with architecture firms pitching their ideas to Mr Gurner and the property’s existing owner Kennards Self Storage, and a development application is expected to be lodged late this year.
Mr Gurner said the vision for the 1.7ha site at 237 Grote St included a mixed-use precinct with more than 750 residences across four towers, a five-star hotel, more than 15,000sq m of retail and commercial space, a recreation and entertainment component and a public plaza.
The project will also be the headquarters of Kennards in SA, with that company’s elements to involve retail stores, self-storage units and coworking spaces.
The existing former Australia Post building will be repurposed into a “next-generation” storage facility, and the entire site will be carbon neutral, Mr Gurner said.
“This is an incredible site, and we could not be happier to be partnering with such iconic Australian success stories in Kennards and Sam (Kennard), to bring a shared vision for the development to life,’’ Mr Gurner said.
“We’ll be creating something very ambitious, something that hasn’t been done before in this sector.
“The main focus of this city-changing site will be a transformative public realm, that will become a key attraction for Adelaide CBD.
“As we do with all our projects, we’ll be prioritising leading amenities for residents – they’ll have access to entertainment, retail and co-working spaces, as well as our signature Private Club offering, in a destination that puts them on the doorstep of everything Australia’s most liveable city has to offer.’’
Sam Kennard said his company bought the site in 2020 and had planned to simply repurpose the existing building into self-storage and then subdivide and sell off the surplus land.
“But Covid allowed us the time to take pause and reflect, and we soon realised the site had the potential to become a city-shaping project,’’ Mr Kennard said.
“We approached Gurner as part of a small expressions of interest process and their vision for the site absolutely blew us away – there is no doubt their bold proposal will create a new landmark for Adelaide’s CBD.’’
While a development application is yet to be lodged the site’s planning controls align with a mixed-use development, Mr Gurner said.
The site has three street frontages, to Grote St, Gouger St and Blenheim St.
Gurner has projects completed and under development nationwide including more than 8500 apartments, with the portfolio worth more than $9.5bn.
Originally published as Billionaire’s vision for the former Australia Post in the city revealed
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