O’Connell St in North Adelaide will be overhauled if $200m Le Cornu development is approved, Lord Mayor Martin Haese vows

ONE of Adelaide’s leading shopping strips will be overhauled from its “tired” look if a $200 million redevelopment of its major derelict site is approved, the new Lord Mayor has promised.

ONE of Adelaide’s leading shopping strips will be overhauled from its “tired” look if a more than $200 million redevelopment of its major derelict site is approved, the new Lord Mayor promised yesterday.

Martin Haese vowed to oversee an Adelaide City Council upgrade of O’Connell St if plans to transform the Le Cornu site into a luxury apartment, retail and hotel complex became a reality.

The Advertiser revealed yesterday the ambitious proposal from the state’s richest man, Con Makris, to construct eight buildings and a three-storey underground car park on the 7500sqm site.

As Mr Makris urged other property developers to back his CBD confidence and invest in South Australia, Mr Haese welcomed the proposal.

The newly elected Lord Mayor, who campaigned for a resolution on the site, said he would champion a major council upgrade of the leading retail strip.

This, he said, would include new lighting, street surfacing, public art, increased greenery and general maintenance work.

“O’Connell Street used to be one of the main streets in the city of Adelaide, it is not what it used to be and I want it to return as one of our jewels in the crown,” he said.

“It is now tired and it is a key gateway for the city. I am very, very keen to see O’Connell Street rejuvenated and I will champion it loudly.

“This (development) could underwrite O’Connell Street’s future. I don’t want Makris going solo and having to do this all on his own.”

Mr Haese’s intervention came amid almost universal support of the plans, which are the first step in ending a 25-year saga over the prime North Adelaide site, which is now an open, grassy lot.

While the plans will be scrutinised by the State Government’s Development Assessment Commission — bypassing the council because of its scale and value — Mr Haese urged the Makris Group to listen to the community views.

Mr Makris, who has owned the eyesore block since 2001, last night urged other developers to follow his city investment.

The saga of the Le Cornu site

“I hope that my confidence in taking this first step will rub off on other developers to make things happen in this state,” he said.

It is anticipated the approval process will take up to 12 months to complete and construction will create at least 700 jobs.

The complex includes several apartment buildings of varying height, including one that is 15 storeys high, which the developers said was offset by 35 per cent of the site being open space.

While its size provoked a fresh community backlash yesterday, because the site is more than 1500sq m, there are no height restrictions.

The 133 apartments will surround a large-scale piazza while the site, empty for almost three decades, will also include 6000sq m of office and retail space as well as a luxury six-level, 140 room boutique hotel.

The plans, to be formally lodged to the government after a two-week public consultation, also include high-end retailers and an up-market supermarket as well as restaurants and cafes.

The eyesore, once dubbed Adelaide’s “Bermuda Triangle”, has lain empty since April 1989 when the Le Cornu furniture and carpet store was sold to a development consortium.

Originally published as O’Connell St in North Adelaide will be overhauled if $200m Le Cornu development is approved, Lord Mayor Martin Haese vows