Sensational-Adelaide.com

Type: Application Assessed on Merit
Application Number: DA/540/2010/C
Lodgement Date: 12/04/2012
Location: The Rowlands Apartments, 12-18 Rowlands Place, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Vary previous authorisation to demolish existing buildings and construct 15 level residential building comprising 4 levels of affordable housing, 10 levels of residential accommodation and ground floor car parking and ground level office tenancy with ancillary basement and ground floor car parking - VARIATION - changes to facade, location of gym, internal layouts and amendments to roof top.

Type Application Assessed on Merit
Application Number: DA/540/2010/D
Lodgement Date 24/04/2012
Location: The Rowlands Apartments, 12-18 Rowlands Place, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Vary previous authorisation to demolish existing buildings and construct 15 level residential building comprising 4 levels of affordable housing, 10 levels of residential accommodation and ground floor car parking and ground level office tenancy with ancillary basement and ground floor car parking - VARIATION: - additional floor.

Mandala keen to grow in Adelaide
by: Cameron England
From: The Advertiser May 21, 2012 3:39PM

THERE'S probably no better example of a property developer's bona fides than his desire to live in his own building.

David Lee, the Chinese-born, Adelaide-educated lawyer and businessman behind the $51 million Rowlands Apartments on Grote St, intends to do just that.

It gives you faith that when he says it's going to be a premium quality building, he's telling the truth. But buyers won't have to wonder what they're getting into when they invest.

In a break from the normal model, where investors buy off the plan and hope that the reality lives up to expectations, Mr Lee's company Mandala Developments is already well down the path of building on the CBD site.

A one-bedroom apartment has been completed, allowing potential buyers to see the exact fit-out they will be buying.

It is a strategy that comes with more up-front expenditure and risk than the usual model risk for the developer, that is but as Mr Lee explains, he is determined to be in Adelaide for the long term as a developer, and wants to be part of revitalising the CBD.

He is also keen to foster further connections between Adelaide and China, which he believes can be a valuable and lucrative source of foreign investment.

Mr Lee came to Adelaide with his parents in the late 1980s to study at Adelaide High School, then went on to the University of Adelaide to study commerce and law. He later worked for a liquidator, and specialist planning law firm Norman Waterhouse, where he was in charge of Asian business development, mainly looking after Chinese customers.

He subsequently set up his own law firm, and expanded into China.

"At that time China was just on the edge of starting to boom," he says.

"I went back to China, because I thought that's where my clients are."

Mr Lee set up a number of businesses and was involved in several projects, including attracting investment into Australia and helping Chinese companies list on the Australian Securities Exchange.

"In 2005, when the property market in China was starting to lift off, I got involved with a couple of my friends who are big property developers in Shanghai," he said. The scale of these projects included building up to 30 apartment blocks at a time.

After some years in this business, Mr Lee decided the Chinese property sector was overheating and started looking elsewhere for opportunities. His gaze returned to Adelaide.

Naturally, Mr Lee wants to make successful investments, but he also see a broader role for himself in revitalising the city, and acting as an example for other investors.

"The capital city is the spirit of the state and the CBD is the spirit of the city," he says.

"Because people a few years back lost confidence and were reluctant to come into the city, that's why the city of Adelaide has not grown." This leads, in turn, to the loss of good talent interstate, with young go-getters attracted to more vibrant city centres elsewhere.

If his development model works, Mr Lee sees it as a flagship for others.

"That's where I have the confidence that the CBD will grow," he says.

Mandala's ability to construct and then sell the building, comes from the partners having mostly cashed out of their investments in China.

Mr Lee says the model means developers could not, for example, promise marble and then deliver tile. He will live in one of the six penthouses in the development, but the quality extends to the floor landings, lobby and planned rooftop garden.

Mandala chief executive Loris Rigon says the best-quality finishes will be used in construction, meaning maintenance costs will be low, and the building will have an energy star rating of 8.1 a first for SA.

Double-glazed windows, thicker-than-usual interior walls, large lifts and high-quality appliances and finishes are all part of the package designed to attract investors keen to live in their apartments.

The company is also aiming to keep its body corporate fees at about half the usual level.

It sounds like a cliche, but Mr Lee says his desire is to build a development that will make money for himself and the people who buy his apartments. He already has his sights set on his next development.

"We're going to stay in Adelaide, and we're going to stay here for a long time," he says. "We've got sites in mind already."