Sensational-Adelaide.com

Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Walkerville projects may signal economic kick-start
Kevin Naughton

MEMO to the owners of the vacant Le Cornu site in North Adelaide – it can be done.

Proof comes with the news that long-dormant development sites at Walkerville will be turned into a thriving residential, commercial and retail hub by 2013.

Perhaps it means the slumbering ghost of South Australian economic activity is awakening.

Melbourne-based developer Will Deague confirmed yesterday he will deliver on his promise to refurbish the nine-storey former Transport SA buildings as a boutique hotel mixed with residential and commercial components.

Work will start almost immediately on the Art Series Hotel, with completion due in September 2013.

Next door, Woolworths is filling in the hole left in January 2009 when a proposed residential/retail development went belly-up.

The Woolies shopping village is also due to open in 2013 with construction scheduled to start this month.

Walkerville is about to shift from its embarrassing appearance as the symbol of a stalled economy, to a new status as the symbol of revival in private commercial construction.

The jobs, retail and commercial opportunities and general sense of activity will be welcome news to State Treasurer Jack Snelling, who must be tiring of the constant decline in construction activity.

The relief around Walkerville is a mix of “why did it all take so long?” and “yee-ha!”.

The saga of the Walkerville Hole and Transport SA’s building goes back to 2004, followed by several chapters of starts and stops, lawsuits and settlements, plans and pauses involving the State Government, Walkerville Council and private developers.

The original proposal by developer Holcon to build a five storey town centre precinct with apartments and shopping centre created a mini-revolt among ratepayers and a legal dispute between state and local governments and the developers.

Ratepayers then tossed out most of the council at the 2006 election.

In 2008 the rear carpark of the Transport SA building was sold to Holcon in a settlement involving the three parties.

Work began that year on an impressive supermarket project, complete with 20 speciality shops topped by 42 residential apartments and a 200-car basement carpark.

Sarah Construction got the contract to excavate the site and start construction, but no sooner had the massive hole been dug, than work stopped.

Sarah locked and left the site at the end of January 2009, leaving behind a massive hole in the ground.

Sarah Constructions registered a mortgage over the property while it waited on settlement of its more than $1 million debt.

Meanwhile, the State Government had started to move out of Transport SA’s building next door to The Hole and put it up for sale.

In April 2010, Indaily revealed the new buyer was Asia Pacific Building Corporation, the corporate vehicle for Melbourne-based developers the Deague family.

Shortly after, the Deague’s released plans for a $100 million 300-residential-apartment and 100-room, five-star boutique hotel complex.

But the Deagues were having problems of their own, caught up in a finance mess in Melbourne where investment firm Sonray Capital Markets went under with 4000 clients losing a reported $47 million.

The Deagues lost between one and two million dollars, The Age reported.

With the December 2010 construction-start date passing and little sign of activity, Walkerville residents feared the worst.

2011 went by and the main drag, Walkerville Terrace, had tumble weeds blowing down the street.

Struggling local traders were apoplectic when SA Water turned up to run a desalinated water pipeline down the middle of the road and ran way over the promised time line.

Today, the mood has changed.

Woolworths acquired The Hole and announced plans to build a shopping centre – the project shifting from a five-storey residential/retail complex to a viable single-storey retail venture.

Work on that project starts next week.

The Deague’s confirmation yesterday of an almost immediate start to the Art Series Hotel venture next door is a double stimulus.

“Fantastic, awesome, can’t wait,” one Walkerville Terrace shop owner told Indaily.

Former Walkerville Mayor David Whiting, who took office in a groundswell of opposition to the original Holcon proposal in 2006 and was Mayor until 2010, said it would be “extraordinarily positive” for the area.

“It’s taken a while, but we have ended up with something that is far superior to the Holcon proposal,” he said.

“The Hole was starting to get people down a bit, and the old Transport SA building used to remind me of an East German Stasi HQ,” Whiting said.

“What we have now is a sensible development that will make Walkerville a more vibrant place, create more activity and give a general feel of economic strength.

“It’s about time.”

And that’s the message for those involved with the vacant Le Cornu site on O’Connell Street, North Adelaide.

It’s about time.

Former Walkerville Mayor David Whiting, who took office in a groundswell of opposition to the original Holcon proposal in 2006 and was Mayor until 2010, said it would be “extraordinarily positive” for the area.

“It’s taken a while, but we have ended up with something that is far superior to the Holcon proposal,” he said.

A SHOPPING centre will at last rise from the Walkerville "hole" over the next nine months.

A 3800sq m Woolworths supermarket including a basement carpark and up to 15 specialty shops is being built on the former Transport SA carpark on Walkerville Tce, ending years of waiting for traders and residents.

Woolworths says it will be finished early next year and will create about 120 jobs.

Trader Barbara Cooper, who owns Hearing Choice, said there was growing excitement among locals, who would be rapt to finally be rid of the eyesore. "There's a real buzz in the air now," Ms Cooper said.

"People are saying 'wow, there's bulldozers in the hole'.

"Everyone can't wait.

"I've had customers say they will take me for lunch there the day it opens."

Joe Ginnini, whose Walkerville Shoe Repairs is next to the site, was looking forward to meeting his new neighbours.

"It will be good for everyone when it's done,'' Mr Ginnini said.

"Hopefully it will bring more people to Walkerville.''

The development has been long awaited by traders after plans for a $55 million town centre redevelopment stalled in 2009.

Developer Holcon sold the site to Woolworths last year. The land has been labelled the ``hole'' by locals since it was excavated for a basement carpark in 2009.

Walkerville chief executive Kiki Magro said the development would help revitalise the area.

"The council is very excited about the development, which will amplify the work and investment that's already gone into reactivating Walkerville Tce,'' she said.

Work on a new nine-storey hotel, The Watson, is due to start next month.

Developer Will Deague, from Asia Pacific Building Corporation, announced plans for the hotel in April.

It will be named after Aboriginal painter Tommy Watson and is part of the Art Series Hotels concept, which showcases indigenous artwork throughout the group's three other hotels in the country.

Watson, one of Australia's most collectable indigenous artists, was commissioned to produce work for the Musee du Quai Branly, in Paris, in 2005.

Will wrote:

Former Walkerville Mayor David Whiting, who took office in a groundswell of opposition to the original Holcon proposal in 2006 and was Mayor until 2010, said it would be “extraordinarily positive” for the area.

“It’s taken a while, but we have ended up with something that is far superior to the Holcon proposal,” he said.

How is a single storey big-box supermarket better than a village centre with residential, shops and cafes?