An “infamous” lot in North Adelaide that has sat empty for more than 30 years could soon be occupied by a three-tower complex with apartments, shops and offices.
Designed by Woods Bagot, the 88 O’Connell Street project goes before South Australia’s State Commission Assessment Panel on Wednesday, 23 June, three and a half years after the City of Adelaide purchased the site to kick-start its development. Since furniture retailer Le Cornu sold the site in 1989, numerous development proposals have fallen over, leaving a noticeable gap in the otherwise bustling high street.
The council purchased the site in 2018 and then called for expression of interest to find a suitable developer. Commercial and General, and its Woods Bagot-designed proposal for a mixed-use building, was selected. Under the agreement with council, the developer will have to include 15 percent affordable housing and provide public open space at the ground-level corner of Tynte and O’Connell Street as well as ensuring that the planned terrace atop the podium will be publicly accessible.
Above the two-storey podium, the north and south towers will each reach 13 storeys, while the central tower will be 15 storeys. In total the complex will include 176 residential apartments and townhouses, six shop tenancies at ground level and 2,114 square metres of office space on levels one and and two. There’ll also be a 1,006-square-metre “consulting room” on level one, a gym, basement carparking and pedestrian throughfares running both east-west and north-south.
88 O’Connell Street by Woods Bagot.
Woods Bagot says the tripartite composition will maximize opportunities for corner apartments and capture key views, but members of the public and South Australia’s government architect have some concerns.
Government architect Kirsteen Mackay noted that the city had initially expressed a preference for an eight-storey limit, which “may have established height expectations for the community.” She also expressed concern about the overshadowing consequences to the lower level apartments in the central and southern buildings and overshading impacts to the broader precinct, though her office later acknowledged that the apartment configuration – which ensures east or west frontages with living spaces pushed to the corners – “goes some way to mitigating overshadowing impacts.”
The Advertiser reports that 180 people attended a meeting protesting the development, with a spokesperson for a residents’ group calling the proposal a betrayal. “It is completely inappropriate to overwhelm a historic centre of international significance with a block-long monolithic structure,” he said.
The City of Adelaide supports the proposal. CEO Clare Mockler described Woods Bagot’s design as “an exemplary standard and market leading in South Australia.”
“At a street level, the proposal integrates both commercial and retail spaces to bridge the lifeless gap between Archer and Tynte Street,” she wrote in a letter of support. “At a vertical level, the proposal provides open space for public use as well as sufficient vertically massed residential offerings to organically grow the North Adelaide population.”
Source: Architecture - architectureau
