[ City Central ] Masterplan Thread

[Ben]

According to Aspen's latest press release a couple of weeks back the update is as follows.

Electra House is to commence Q3 2010 $10M

Tower 8 (Office) is to commence Q3 2010 $197M

Tower 7 (Hotel) is to commence in Q4 2011 $81M

Darling Building Apartments is to commence in 2012

Tower 4 (Office) is to commence 2013 $214m (notice the cost is more then Tower 8 and a smaller land plot....)

Adelaide GPO Retail is to commence 2013 $26M

[Pikey]

I believe tower 4 is the one that was mooted for 31 levels too.

[Ben]

I believe tower 4 is the one that was mooted for 31 levels too.

I belive this is why they have left it to last. Finish with a "bang" so to speak.

[skyliner]

I believe you are right. (esp. once the economy and possiibly ODX are up).

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[russo92]

I believe tower 4 is the one that was mooted for 31 levels too.

31 levels, same as Westpac House. I assume shorter height thought?

[AG]

City shrugs off tax threat as accident commission snaps up tower for $75m

* Bridget Carter
* From: The Australian
* May 06, 2010 12:00AM

ADELAIDE has become the country's hub for commercial property deals, with the South Australian Motor Accident Commission snapping up a city office tower for about $75 million, and two other buildings worth $280m at the centre of negotiations.

The 12-storey Ernst & Young building, on the site of the old Adelaide Advertiser complex at 121 King William Street, was sold by German institution SachsenFonds.

Sources said the Motor Accident Commission bought 121 King William Street on a yield of about 7.5 per cent in a what is believed to be an unconditional agreement brokered by CB Richard Ellis.

It comes as the South Australian arm of the Property Council of Australia played down fears that the Rudd government's introduction of a 40 per cent Resource Super Profits Tax on miners would negatively affect the leasing and property markets.

The southern state has been gearing up for more work from the resource sector in coming years.

PCA state president Justin Hazell said South Australia was yet to see any substantial benefit from the mining boom and in recent years it had been strong population growth and defence force spending that had been driving the state's property sector.

"We are not dependent on mining as yet," Mr Hazell said.

He said the tax may slow the market down in the future, but the resources were still there and would at some stage be extracted.

Commercial leasing activity was expected to remain strong, Mr Hazell added.

SachsenFonds is a subsidiary of the Frankfurt-based KanAm Group and its funds have interests in Melbourne commercial properties such as KPMG House at 161 Collins Street, The Innovation Building at 1010 Digital Harbour, Docklands, and 209 Kings Way in Melbourne, which it purchased from Investa in 2008.

It also has the IAG Building and Santos Building, both on Flinders Street in Adelaide, as well as the ACCU Building in Adelaide's Light Square.

The Motor Accident Commission did not comment yesterday on the Adelaide deal.

It purchased the King William Street complex after reports indicate it offloaded a property at 356 Collins Street in Melbourne for $28.05m to Nathan Manor -- a private syndicate of investors including Albert Zylberman and Leon Gorr -- on a 7.6 per cent yield.

The Motor Accident Commission of South Australia paid $11.7m for the 17-storey Melbourne building 12 years ago, according to reports.

Its latest acquisition in Adelaide is part of an $800m mixed-use development which includes at least eight interrelated office, retail, hotel and residential projects.

The first tower in the larger development was completed in 2007 after being pre-sold to the Commonwealth Office Property fund in 2004 for $142m.

SachsenFonds purchased what is known as Tower Two of the development at 121 King William Street in its early stages of construction during 2007 for more than $80m. The building was finished in 2008.

Ernst & Young has naming rights and occupies the top three floors of the 12,378sq m complex, which also houses ANZ Bank.

Also part of the wider development is Aspen Development Fund No 1's yet to be built $200m Tower 8 on Franklin Street. The building is also believed to be quietly for sale and attracting off-market interest from potential buyers, including institutions from Europe.

In March, the Australian Taxation Office leased 30,000sq m in the building for 15 years, taking the total pre-commitment to 98 per cent. It will be completed in 2012. Aspen Group is also selling its $84m office tower at 55 Currie Street, known as MTAA Super House. Buyers are circling the property as the expressions of interest campaign closes at the end of this week. It was purchased by Aspen for $67m in 2006.

Aspen put the property on the market last month. The 11-storey MTAA building, completed in 1998, is Adelaide's fourth-largest office building at 25,700sq m, and is being sold by Colliers International.

[omada]

Aspen put the property on the market last month. The 11-storey MTAA building, completed in 1998, is Adelaide's fourth-largest office building at 25,700sq m, and is being sold by Colliers International.

One of Adelaide's most hideous buildings, I am surprised it was built as late as 1998!

[Xaragmata]

Aspen put the property on the market last month. The 11-storey MTAA building, completed in 1998, is Adelaide's fourth-largest office building at 25,700sq m, and is being sold by Colliers International.

One of Adelaide's most hideous buildings, I am surprised it was built as late as 1998!

I don't mind it, but 1988 would be closer, built as Commonwealth offices.

[spiller]

I was going to say, I edged closer to the screen to see if it was a 9 or an 8 that I was reading, as I surely dont remember that building going up in my memorable lifetime.

[Will]

Aspen put the property on the market last month. The 11-storey MTAA building, completed in 1998, is Adelaide's fourth-largest office building at 25,700sq m, and is being sold by Colliers International.

One of Adelaide's most hideous buildings, I am surprised it was built as late as 1998!

I don't mind it, but 1988 would be closer, built as Commonwealth offices.

Correct. It was built between 1986-88.

[Prince George]

From the Adelaide Review

CITY CENTRAL ONE STEP CLOSER

The announcement of the next step in the ambitious master plan for the city centre devised by architectural firm Woods Bagot in partnership with the Aspen Group will see cranes in the heart of Adelaide, but as enormous as the project is, as Amanda Ward discovered, there is much more to come.

Although Gavin Kain, principal at Woods Bagot, and Ben Yates, general manager of Aspen Group SA/NSW work for different companies, when it comes to their major CBD development, they speak with one voice and that voice is excited by the potential they see being unlocked by the next stage of their master plan. It has not been plain sailing for the Tower 8 project, so no doubt there is also some relief mixed with the excitement.

“We work very closely in a fairly seamless way,” explains Yates. “I mean, we’ve been working together for the better part of five years and all the same players that started in 2002 are still working on Tower 8 now.”

Eight years in the planning, Tower 8 is indeed a major step for Adelaide. Sited just behind the GPO on Franklin St, the $200 million building will house the Australian Taxation Office who has taken a 15 year lease on the space that will become home for about 3000 employees. It will change the character of the somewhat sleepy corner off Victoria Square forever, something architect Gavin Kain sees as a positive move for Adelaide.

“The unique thing about it is it’s a master plan site so the grand vision, if you like, includes a blend of commercial and retail in Towers 1 and Tower 8 offers more accommodation. The unique thing about what Tower 8 does is not only is it a new project for us but it unlocks other aspects of the site,” Kain said.

“It enables us to relocate an ETSA substation and we have some arrangements with Australia Post but we can’t comment on those at the moment, but it unlocks a balance of City Central for us to enact the master plan which includes other office buildings, residential and, down the track, the Adelaide GPO. So Tower 8 is a catalyst for us being able to reach our goals.

“Tower 1 really kick-started the redevelopment of Waymouth Street. Before Tower 1, basically these were empty and redundant buildings. In 2003 I counted two businesses between King William Street and Bentham Street and now there’s about 25 businesses along that stretch. There has been a lot of money invested in there and that sort of redevelopment will happen on Franklin Street but more importantly it will throw energy into Victoria Square so it’s actually really important for the future of Victoria Square.”
When questions of heritage are raised, Kain and Yates quickly refer to projects in Sydney and Melbourne where historic buildings have been incorporated into new and modern developments to some acclaim.

“The best way to look at it is not just our own ideas but what’s been done nationally and internationally with those heritage buildings,” said Yates. “Certainly a blend of retail and accommodation has worked successfully in Martin Place in Sydney. It is a pretty good example of a blend of office accommodation, hotel (the Westin) and then food and beverage and retail facilities on the ground floor.”
The pair also see the progression of Tower 8 helping to fulfil the promise of the Integrated Design Strategy to keep people in the CBD longer. The vision is to move Adelaide from a 9 to 5 city that dies after hours into a zone that attracts people into the evenings and at weekends.

“The answer is the mixed use. It’s a bit of a stretch but it’s encouraging after hour’s usage. What you’ve seen is a shift of the CBD and a shift of corporate and government accommodation towards Victoria Square and Tower 8 cements that.”
Perhaps a sign of what is to come for Adelaide, the design incorporates minimal carparking but there is no doubt that 3000 new workers will add to the traffic trying to make its way around or through Victoria Square each day, something the duo acknowledge.
“I think a traffic solution is a pretty important part of the grand plan (for Victoria Square),” said Kain.

“I get the feeling that with integrated design, integrated public transport is a big part of that, so the extended tram actually is a great benefit for our site in terms of allowing people to commute from other parts of the city and not necessarily park here. The government and council are discouraging unnecessary car parking spaces. We have less car spaces for Tower 8 than Tower 1. I think the less above ground purpose built car parks we have the better.”
“We’ve also encouraged through the master plan that City Central is a very active pedestrian walkway. You only need to stand on the corner there on any given day to see the amount of passing pedestrian traffic which accesses Waymouth Street, through to Franklin through to the Central Markets, through Victoria Square or Rundle Mall, “ added Yates.

The building design features distinctive “pods” of glass protruding into the streetscape on the Franklin St side that aim to make the building feel more accessible to passersby and more connected to the outside environment for the workers within. On level 13 there will also be a substantial roof garden for the benefit of ATO workers.

Taking into account what happened with Towers 1 and 2, the pair is confident that the positive effects of Tower 8 will be felt even before the project is finished.

“Waymouth Street started to regenerate before Tower 1 was even finished and that was partly because of the amount of construction workers in the area so the small cafes and deli type shops could actually survive off of it. Georges made the first big step to move his business in there about halfway into the construction. Since then, there’s been a steady flow,” said Kain.

“Tower 8 has a very strong presence to Franklin Street and from the Square, so it will become a landmark building very quickly just by sheer stature. You won’t be missing it as you drive along Franklin or walk towards Victoria Square.”

Although the building is substantially clad with glass, the design has apparently been guided by principals of sustainability and the finished project will even incorporate a green wall on Bentham St.
“Tower 1 is still the largest commercially designed five star green star rated building in Australia.

Commercial buildings do use 40 percent of the energy in Australia but unless something dramatically changes in our lifestyles and where we want to live, commercial buildings are a fact of life. If every building was like this one, we would halve our energy consumption in office buildings overnight.”

According to Kain, although the market has moved on from a rent focus alone when considering commercial accommodation, Adelaide is still not ready for architecture that pushes the boundaries.

“We quite consciously made these buildings relatively normal in their architecture because the market is not yet ready to move into strange looking architecture. It’s more ready now but when Ben and I use to talk to tenants five years ago, all they asked was what was the rent going to be. What they ask now is what’s the environmental performance of the building and then they ask about the rent,” he said.

Yates added, “Green gets thrown around a bit but we all inherently know that if you work in a space where you’ve got fresh air and natural light, you’re going to feel better. There’s more flesh on the bone now around productivity benefits from being in green buildings. When we first started there weren’t many and we pioneered a number of those studies but you have to know your staff will be more productive if they’re awake, alert and happy in their space.”

Kain continued, “Cities aren’t made up of extraordinary architecture. Extraordinary buildings are actually in the minority in any city. In fact, if you made cities up of just extraordinary buildings it would actually be confronting to live with. What we’ve done here is talk about sustainability from an economic and social point of view. We do want Adelaide to change socially and culturally so that’s a big part of our story. I think it is an intricate process rather than all of a sudden our community changing its perceptions overnight.”

The projected completion date for Tower 8 is October 2012 and work should begin on site in the third quarter of this year with the initial impact on city workers and dwellers being the increase in heavy traffic through the heart of the CBD and the inevitable road closures.

“It’s going to be Adelaide’s biggest building ever built so there are impacts associated with that but we go through extensive consultation with council on traffic management issues and all of those.”

[Mpol]

This will be taller than West Pac? AWESOME! ABout time. Cannot wait to see renders.

[Prince George]

This will be taller than West Pac? AWESOME! ABout time. Cannot wait to see renders.

"biggest" is not the same as "tallest"

[skyliner]

Unfortunately. A bigger plate size here will reduce height (sigh) but still will make a strong presence.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[jk1237]

this is all a bit promising for our city. After a year of not much (understandable), I havent seen so much recent positive talk and proposals for new developments, for years. I guess the most positive aspect is that most proposals look like they will go ahead. Send in the cranes