News & Discussion: General CBD Development

[Algernon]

I just noticed that postcard has a very rare photo of the construction of the Hungry Jack's carpark in the background.

I think it's actually looking West towards King William Street, but I'm not sure what's under construction.

Definitely looking east in that postcard because we can see the Hills, unless there was an unscientific tsunami about!

Maybe it's 1976 then

[AndyWelsh]

Incidentally, the designer of both the State Bank and the original BankSA logo (the desert pea one), Ian Kidd, passed away last week.

That’s sad news but thanks for sharing. Just spending some time reading up on his amazing work.

“Kidd also created the ‘dotted SA’ State Bank brand, the inaugural Australian F1 Grand Prix branding, and the original logo and guernseys for Port Power. Without equal in South Australia, and his design philosophy still rings true: “I’m not here to produce work to hang on the wall, I’m here to solve a problem and give a face to an organisation that is strong, eye catching, arresting and that speaks with honesty.”

—

Keeping on thread, that RAA render looks a lot better than I imagined.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A-Town]

Adelaide office vacancies hit six-year high as pressure builds on ageing buildings

Adelaide’s ageing buildings are in a battle for survival, with office vacancies hitting a six-year high as businesses move to modern and hybrid workplaces.

The rate of empty offices in the Adelaide CBD has jumped to its highest level in more than five years as the city’s ageing buildings struggle to attract tenants in the aftermath of Covid.

The shift to hybrid working and a bleak economic forecast are putting added pressure on landlords to invest in upgrades to their older buildings, which are losing tenants to new developments in the city.

Figures from the Property Council show the city’s office vacancy rate increased to 16.1 per cent in January, up from 14.2 per cent six months earlier, and reaching its highest point since July 2017.

The national figure rose from 12 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

Completion of Cbus Property’s 30,000sq m office tower on Pirie St contributed to the spike, with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s move to its new headquarters leaving close to 16,000sq m of vacant space at its former Grenfell St home.

Charter Hall’s $450m development on King William St and Walker Corporation’s Festival Tower project are expected to push vacancies higher when they’re completed later this year.

Figures from global property firm JLL show 58 per cent of office space in Adelaide is more than 30 years old – the highest proportion of any capital city in the country.

A “flight to quality” within the city’s office market means many of those older buildings remain vacant as businesses move to modern workplaces in a bid to attract and retain staff.

Property Council SA executive director Bruce Djite said businesses were increasingly looking for modern working environments in the wake of Covid, and that was putting pressure on landlords to upgrade their older buildings.

“We have seen record investment in Adelaide, despite the pandemic, resulting in new and ‘future proofed’ office accommodation growing our skyline,” he said.

“What’s also interesting is that B grade office stock vacancy has decreased with landlords carrying out activities such as backfill asset refurbishments to attract tenants.

“With approximately 33 per cent of Adelaide CBD stock over 40 years old it’s encouraging to see this level of regeneration, reflecting a market voting with its feet.”

The shift to hybrid working has also enabled many corporates to cut costs by reducing their physical office footprints.

Telstra will reduce its city office space in Adelaide from about 20,000sq m to just 6000sq m later this year, when it moves into the Charter Hall development currently under construction at 60 King William St.

It will join NAB, which will occupy about 3700sq m in the building, down from more than 6000sq m at its current CBD home.

Both companies have said their new offices have been designed to support hybrid styles of work.

Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said there was a role for council to play in helping landlords adapt to evolving work habits.

“There has been a change in work life balance and we need to acknowledge that we may never return to full time office work,” she said.

“Quality office space is in high demand but in other cases refitting and repurposing will offer new opportunities for property owners. Council needs to help facilitate this.

“Council’s own workforce has returned to working in the office for the majority of the week and I’m glad that we’re showing leadership in this area.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business ... f324fc9564

[rev]

Might be a good opportunity to renovate or better yet demolish some of the older crappy towers and replace them with apartments.
After all they want to boost the City's population still don't they?

[Nort]

Might be a good opportunity to renovate or better yet demolish some of the older crappy towers and replace them with apartments.
After all they want to boost the City's population still don't they?

Probably be a while until we see that happen since the city overall is still quite low density so there would be cheaper land options.

[[Shuz]]

They could easily refurbish some office stock to apartments. Council will just need to make sure they actually do their job properly and send building inspectors out regularly they're not just quick conversions with curtains put up and calling it a "bedroom". They'd have a field day issuing fines to the number of dodgy landlords and owners who have been doing this for years.

[Nort]

They could easily refurbish some office stock to apartments. Council will just need to make sure they actually do their job properly and send building inspectors out regularly they're not just quick conversions with curtains put up and calling it a "bedroom". They'd have a field day issuing fines to the number of dodgy landlords and owners who have been doing this for years.

Would love to see it, but easily? Many office buildings would require extensive retrofitting and upgrades to things like plumbing that might make it cost prohibitive. That said it seems a similar scale of task to conversions like the Mayfair Hotel, so I guess it could be practical for more upmarket apartments with the prestige of a nice building?

[dbl96]

They could easily refurbish some office stock to apartments. Council will just need to make sure they actually do their job properly and send building inspectors out regularly they're not just quick conversions with curtains put up and calling it a "bedroom". They'd have a field day issuing fines to the number of dodgy landlords and owners who have been doing this for years.

Would love to see it, but easily? Many office buildings would require extensive retrofitting and upgrades to things like plumbing that might make it cost prohibitive. That said it seems a similar scale of task to conversions like the Mayfair Hotel, so I guess it could be practical for more upmarket apartments with the prestige of a nice building?

Unfortunately most of the offices in question don't have "the prestige of a nice building".

[[Shuz]]

I don't think students really care what building they live in they just want the convenience of the CBD at their doorstep.

Some could be converted into social housing to increase supply in the housing market and relieve some of the demand. Some people literally just want a roof over thier head in this current market.

[Prodical]

Starting to get a bit concerned that the pace of development of Adelaide has slowed significantly. There are quite a number of approved projects that have been approved and now are stalled - including 1-8 North Tce (with the ongoing vandalism of the heritage NewMarket hotel); the Meters building on North Tce; the Hyatt Regency hotel; the Wyndham hotel; the Innovation building on Lot 14 (was scheduled to be completed in 2023).

None of the proposed developments along Port Road at Thebarton have moved (the apartments and the medical offices).

Stopping the builder of the indigenous centre on north tce for 6 months was unhelpful.

And now any work on the new Market development has stalled until mid-year - that is a real concern as the apartments sold out v quickly, so something is not adding up.

The Uni SA's proposed buildings for west end have also not progressed for a couple of years (COVID partly to blame) and the uncertainty of the "forced" amalgamation would increase uncertainly. Having increased teaching and accommodation buildings in the west end would be a real advantage, there is lots of underused land and old buildings.

And nothing further about either of the 2 new tallest buildings for months - just getting a feeling that the building environment has changed for the worse - I hope I am mistaken.

[abc]

tends to happen when the economy tanks globally

[Prodical]

From today - I hope the Masonic building eventuates - would transform the skyline

[SRW]

From today - I hope the Masonic building eventuates - would transform the skyline

Twin St and 75-79 KWS proposals would also be fairly notable from this aspect. I'm suprised we've heard nothing on Twin St given the current scarcity of student accomodation.

[abc]

From today - I hope the Masonic building eventuates - would transform the skyline

wish they'd built that football stadium somewhere else

we've really lost something at Light's vision

[NTRabbit]

Montefiore Hill was never going to be tall enough to have an unimpeded view of the city forever