Sensational-Adelaide.com

Life finally coming to unloved lanes

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Melissa Mack

THE long-awaited transformation of Adelaide’s west end laneways is about to take off in earnest, with the State Government finalising plans to rejuvenate Bank Street and the private sector planning apartments, cafes, bars, retail and office space in previously unloved Peel Street.

A new small bar, Clever Little Tailor, will soon open on Peel Street – a quiet lane of mostly empty buildings between Hindley and Currie streets.

Plans are afoot to connect Peel Street with neighbouring Leigh Street, which has surged in popularity following its closure to traffic at the end of July.

Clever Little Tailor is the next project of Coffee Branch’s Josh Baker, whose unique style of business has attracted a diverse and loyal crowd to Leigh Street.

Despite the lacklustre black windows outside, inside the split level space has white-painted brick walls with a sense of potential and energy.

“We will be a small bar, not a wine bar, for an everyday drinker and are just doing some unique tap beer, micro-brewery stuff, really nice wines and classic spirits,” Baker said.

“Good quality, high end drinks, but simple.”

The capacity of Clever Little Tailor will be up to 60 people and Baker is aiming to be open before the festival season next year, building on the sense of community he has developed through Coffee Branch.

“You can go have a drink before dinner or come there for the night or come after dinner; everyone is welcome all the time,” he said.

Despite Baker’s plans falling in line with moves by the government and Adelaide City Council to encourage a new ‘small bar’ culture in Adelaide, he has already encountered some opposition.

Union Hotel owner Piers Schmidt has objected to the bar’s application for a special circumstances licence.

“That type of licence is not appropriate for the venue as they can apply for another kind of licence such as an entertainment licence,” Schmidt said.

“The special circumstances licence is a more valuable and more flexible licence than the hotel licence and so as a general rule hoteliers are against those licences because we have millions invested in our hotels and the licencing is deliberatively restrictive in that regard.”

However, Australian Hotels Association president Ian Horne said that the body had “no concerns” with applications like Clever Little Tailor which fit the Melbourne style hole-in-the-wall type business.

“Our great fear is that when people talk about small bars they mean a capacity of 120 people and we call those taverns, but this one genuinely seems to fit into that criteria which the AHA supports,” Horne said.

“It maximises the effect of available space in a genuine laneway which is not used for anything and they are a boutique experience with an occupancy of less than 100 and are not purporting to be a public bar or tavern.”

Baker has begun his Peel Street venture with the help of the Ginos Group, which owns all the buildings on Leigh Street and has bought the building occupying the north-west sector of Peel Street.

With the exception of arts collective Format, a vintage store and a few other businesses, Peel Street is predominately filled with empty, old buildings and for a long time has been overlooked as a convenient passage between Currie and Hindley streets.

The rise of Leigh Street has changed that, with the buzz from the tiny precinct about to spill over into its neighbour.

George Ginos, and his father Zis, have reluctantly been drawn into the public eye with the success of Leigh Street, after long preferring to get things done quietly rather than talk about ambitions.

“Our developments stem from a passion for buildings and architecture and a desire to see unused or under-developed spaces transformed into areas that suit modern needs,” George Ginos said.

“Having people enjoy the end result of our work makes it all the more worthwhile.”

The empty Ginos-owned Peel Street property is a hive of tradesmen activity, which has already begun to attract “strong interest” from potential tenants.

“People can see the potential in what we are trying to achieve,” Ginos said.

As well as the potential for a future multi-storey apartment, Ginos is hoping to create a similar mix of tenancies to Leigh Street, with first floor office space and ground floor hospitality and retail.

“There will be space for a mix of tenancies with retail and/or hospitality on the ground floor and more open style office accommodation on the first floor,” Ginos said.

“We have tentatively planned for about eight tenancies within the ground floor but we are flexible on this as it’s important to us to create different spaces that meet the needs of prospective tenants.

Another development company, Urban Edge, is in the process of selling Peel Chambers, offering entire floors as a shell as it restores the exterior of the building.

“That doesn’t happen often in Adelaide because we don’t have a lot of older style buildings that lend to that type of development,” realtor Peter Buchan said.

Buchan said two floors had already sold, one for office space and another for a potential apartment use.

The ground floor is also for sale, with the hope of a commercial tenant buying to help bring life to the street level.

After the work by the Ginos Group, the government closed Leigh Street to traffic. The street is in the middle of a sponsored program of events, making it the most talked about precinct in Adelaide.

Ginos’s long-term plan for Peel and Leigh streets is to have the two connected via alleyways or first floor developments to strengthen the precinct feel.

“Our Peel Street project is centred on one building and possible connection to Leigh Street rather than the entire street,” he said.

“We’ll concentrate on getting that building ready and because we think it will benefit the whole area, building owners in the street may become more enthusiastic about their properties.”

Likewise, the government is looking to capitalise on the success of Leigh Street with a new streetscape for Bank Street as part of its long-term strategy to link the Riverbank precinct with the Gouger/Grote street area.

Department of Planning deputy CEO John Hanlon outlined plans for Bank Street, which are likely to be started early next year, in a presentation to the Property Council last week.

“We have to do something better with our public spaces in our city especially,” Hanlon told the forum.

“We haven’t for a lot of reasons really spent time on our public realm and how we break that down to make that work for people.”

The slides of Bank Street show a prettier streetscape with more trees, flower boxes and paved footpaths.

Indaily understands that while the street won’t be closed to traffic, the government will try to assist shops in their presentation to beautify the area. Streetscaping will make it more attractive for pedestrians.

“These linkages that the council and the government are working on to get all the way through to the Central Market and other spaces are going to be very important and a very different way we do business in the city and very important in changing how we look and feel in Adelaide,” Hanlon said.

The effect of Leigh Street and promise of an upgrade to Bank has already seen a Cibo café open on the corner of Bank and Hindley streets, as well as a new Zambreros take-away shop.

Hanlon also pointed to the start of “incubation hubs”, which were in part inspired by a Property Council led trip to Germany, in an attempt to retain youth in SA.

“We visited different incubation and innovation hubs in Europe and interstate, Melbourne and Sydney, and I was amazed that in every one of them there was an Adelaide person in it – if not running it, they were part of them.

“They were our youth, working in Melbourne and Sydney and overseas because we don’t have these hubs here.”

Hanlon said the government was going to set up a city-based innovation hub early in the new year.

“We’ve taken over the lease of a space in the city and we will be starting an innovation hub to try to retain some of the youth in SA and links to the universities in relation to that.”

The Adelaide City Council has already established an “Innovation Lab” with 3D printers which opened in August this year, while entrepreneurial youth in Adelaide have attempted to start their own, including the now defunct Radelaide Ideas Lab.

Another laneway bar planned

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Melissa Mack

POPULAR Leigh Street bar, udaberri, next year plans to expand into a small industrial laneway at the rear of the premises.

udaberri co-owner Rowan Edwards said the bar had not finalised its plans, but wanted to put in the liquor license application early to make the process smoother.

“We haven’t progressed our plans enough to really talk about them, but we wanted to get the ball rolling with the licence application,” Edwards said.

The application, which asks to extend the existing entertainment licence, will be heard in early January.

Also in January, Edwards and business partner Robert Dinnen will travel to the Basque region of Spain, which inspired udaberri, as well as France and Portugal to research new ideas for the bar.

Edwards said design work on the laneway would begin next year after they’d returned from their trip.

udaberri faced challenges in its initial set up becoming somewhat of a face for the campaign to introduce a small bar licence and struggles faced by people that wanted to set up smaller venues in the city.

The government is in the middle of a summer activity program promoting Leigh Street, which includes sangria and “euro lounge” music at udaberri tonight.

Indaily reported this week that the closure of Leigh Street in July had sparked long-awaited action in neighbouring laneways, with Peel Street set for growth in retail, hospitality and office space, and Bank Street due for a government-supported spruce up.

believesinadsy wrote:..tell us more. More dedicated bike paths for example?

mattblack wrote: Looks like curbside lanes could be on the cards (along with some contra flow Streets) for the section of Frome from Pirie south through to Sth Tce.

Nathan wrote:No, It's Frome/Regent, continuing along Castle St and Charlotte St (using the two small paths/parks to connect through), then cross South Tce to go past the Himeji Garden.

[Shuz] wrote:Consultation went out on this a few weeks ago seeking public feedback for the preferred option(s) of the bike path route and treatments.

Type: Development Application Received
Application Number: DA/912/2012
Lodgement Date: 19/12/2012
Location: 150-154 Rundle Mall, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Install fixing points to building facade to support catenary lighting system.

Why so many are flocking to Adelaide's CBD


Daniel Wills
The Advertiser
January 02, 201310:30PM
39 comments


ADELAIDE'S focus on growing a vibrant city is beginning to pay dividends, as new figures show a sharp increase in the number of people living and working in the central business district.

Adelaide City Council's annual report shows targets for extreme population growth have not been met because of the effects of the global financial crisis, but there has been a rapid upward trend.

A historic collapse in the residential population since 1900 has been arrested and there are now an estimated 22,000 residents in the CBD and North Adelaide, up 33 per cent in 5 years.

It is an almost doubling of the city population in the past two decades and Acting Premier John Rau yesterday told The Advertiser he was now aiming to push the figure to 42,000 by 2020.

The Government had previously set a 30-year timeframe for that target.

The city worker population has also surged - from 99,000 to 120,000 - in the past five years


University of Adelaide geography Professor Graeme Hugo said a global shift in lifestyle choices, combined with government policies to encourage city living, were driving the change.

He said the majority of growth had been in the CBD, rather than North Adelaide, and the main groups moving into the city were 20-somethings looking for excitement, and empty-nesters downsizing in their 50s and 60s.

"The Adelaide (city) area has been the fastest-growing place in the whole state," Professor Hugo said.

"There's been some significant changes in Australia, where in the period from World War II there seemed to be a dominance of people wanting the bigger house on a separate block of land.

"Now, there's a significant group of people who want the advantages of higher density." That included better access to services, shopping, restaurants and lower transport costs, he said.

Market research released by the State Government last year showed many people were opposed to city living as they thought high-density developments were ugly and intended for the poor.

Property Council of Australia SA executive director Nathan Paine said completion of the Adelaide Oval and Riverbank redevelopment, and plans for laneway bars, would create even more residential demand.

"It's changing the way South Australians view the CBD," he said.

"There's still a sentiment from some people that all high-rise development is just slum. That's clearly not correct and we're seeing a lot of consumers wanting to forgo a yard to live near cafes and the parklands."

The Government this year announced planning reforms in the CBD which remove red tape, allow taller buildings and require all developments to be first submitted to an expert design panel.

Major residential developments in the works include 123 Flinders - set to become Adelaide's tallest building - as well as a Sturt St mega-development including more than 400 flats, shops and offices.

Mr Rau said he was "absolutely delighted" and "vindicated" by the population upswing.

Reaching the ambitious 43,000 by 2020 target would "make the city an infinitely more interesting place", he said.

The City Council wanted an extra 3500 residents by now, but said that target was deliberately ambitious.

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said she had publicly backed CBD planning reform and tax cuts before they became government policy, and claimed the city was becoming unreasonably difficult to access.

"(The) Government and Adelaide City Council seem to be hell-bent on making life as difficult as possible for the thousands of people who come into the city every day," she said.

"It's becoming impossible to drive through, impossible to park."

However, Ms Redmond would not pledge to repeal the Government's planned $2 a day car parking tax.

Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said he was confident CBD population growth would continue at between 1000 to 2000 people per year.

"It really depends on the baby boomers. They are about to start retiring and tend to do things en masse. If they choose to have inner-city lifestyles, we're going to see a tipping point," he said.

"Victoria Square is focused on the fact that many people won't move into the city until they have high-quality public spaces to use to offset the loss of a backyard."

City resident and real estate agent Allie Berry, 25, said she loved living in the city.

"You've got Hutt St, all of the restaurants, and cafes, and the markets to do all your supermarket shopping, it is very central to everything," she said. "If you were going to try to purchase an apartment in Sydney you would be paying an arm and a leg."

Developments worth $130m approved for Adelaide
Tim Williams
City Messenger
January 03, 2013

FIVE city developments worth more than $130 million have been given planning approval.

A $45 million residential and hotel development on Waymouth St is among the projects approved by the Development Assessment Commission.

The Tangcheng Developments project, west of Light Square, includes a three-level "podium" with two towers rising above it.

The ground floor of the podium would house a hotel lobby, lounge and bar, and seven retail outlets, below two floors of offices.

Above the podium would be a 15-storey residential building with 106 apartments and a seven-storey hotel with 74 rooms.

The commission has also approved plans from Le Grand Developments for a $13 million, 13-storey hotel on Market St, as well as a $10.5 million refurbishment of the former Westpac building on the corner of North Tce and King William St, featuring a rooftop bar.

The Duxton Group plans to convert the ground floor and mezzanine of the vacant, state heritage-listed building for retail use while retaining levels one to seven for offices.

The $40 million second stage of the Ergo Apartments on Sturt St, comprising two buildings of up to six storeys with 107 apartments, has also been approved.

Ergo is a joint project between Hindmarsh Properties and the City Council.

Work on the council funded, $25 million first stage, an affordable housing development with 72 apartments, is already underway.

A redevelopment of the historic TPI Association building on South Tce, as the lobby for an eight-storey, $25 million hotel overlooking the parklands, is also set to go ahead.

The two-storey, 19th century mansion would also house meeting rooms on the ground floor and suites upstairs.

The 2.5 star, 117 room hotel behind the mansion would have a curved frontage facing the parklands and a restaurant offering outdoor dining on Hutt St.

The DAC said the project fit within planning guidelines but delegated a final sign-off to staff, subject to issues being resolved including the provision of a pick-up and drop-off zone for hotel guests and visitors.

The commission last month deferred consideration of an $80 million mixed use development on Gouger St, which had been recommended for approval.

The Tangcheng project includes an 18-storey apartment building, 14-storey hotel, two eight-storey apartment buildings and a five-level student housing building.

Neighbouring Claxton St residents argued the hotel would overshadow their properties and the City Council's development assessment panel wanted the hotel cut in half from 46m to 22m.

But a planning report to the commission said that a 46m hotel would only impact on three more properties, which would still receive 1.5 of the recommended minimum two hours of sunlight.

Consideration of a 16-level residential development in Light Square, incorporating the state heritage listed former City Mission Hall, was also deferred.

adelaidenow wrote:TOWN Hall is working on new standards in response to resident concerns that the city is being ruined by "fortress-like" developments.

The City Council has received 138 submissions from residents as it negotiates planning changes with the State Government for residential zones across the south of the city.

A report on the feedback says residents have "significant concerns" about the quality of new developments, especially townhouses, because of their lack of front gardens and "high, blank front walls, locked gates and walls of garage doors".

It says residents, among whom there is scant support for developments above four storeys, think historic homes contribute to the "social fabric" of the city while new developments "work against community-building".

In response, Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said the council was working on new assessment criteria to protect streetscapes and promote social interaction.

Mr Yarwood said the changes would ensure property frontages and streetscapes were not dominated by garage doors.

In his submission, Gilbert St resident Peter Stubbs wrote he did not want to see more of the "fortress-like" three-storey townhouses that had "popped up all over the west" of the city.

"You never see or socialise with any of the occupants as there are no front gardens or common areas for people to relax and interact. So I find them soulless."

Gilles St residents Taryn and Marcus Battye called for "less tilt-up townhouses that all look the same and create banks of garages facing the street".

Marion St resident Paul Pledger wrote city residents should not have to live in "walled canyons of poorly designed apartments".

"Planning needs to reflect factors that will generate closer neighbour ties and opportunities for chance meeting and interaction, even at higher densities," his submission stated.

The council consulted residents on what they liked about their communities and what sort of developments they favoured, to inform a State Government review of residential zones.

The feedback was made public last month.

The council has submitted a confidential "discussion draft" policy to the government and released a broad summary, saying it aimed to allow for population growth through "sensitive infill development that respects historic character".

Following negotiations with the government, the draft is expected to be released for consultation next month.

In her submission, South West City Residents Association chairwoman Julie Jordan wrote the government had "drastically reduced" southwest residential zones last year so it was "crucial that the historic, low-scale and low-intensity character of the remaining areas is retained and enhanced".

Mr Yarwood said he was confident character streets would be protected despite the government ruling out new historic conservation zones.

• Be four stories or less
• Have front gardens
• Always have people sitting out the front that they can socialise with