[COM] West Franklin | 54m & 64m | 17 & 20 lvls | Apartments

[Algernon]

The angle of the initial renders really exaggerated the presence of the brick facade. From other angles it has basically no presence at all. Disappointing from a street level aesthetic pov.

[rev]

A corner view of the brick work. Picture 21/10/2018 .

That column straight through the balconies kills it imo. Surely they could have done something different?

[EBG]

Some close ups of the east side. Some creeping plants have been planted on the car park levels. The excess Carbon monoxide should help them thrive.

[EBG]

The finish on the big V columns looks good.

[EBG]

A view looking up between the north (right side) and south towers (left of picture).

[EBG]

The north east corner.(Sorry about the number of posts but I can still only upload one picture at a time).

[Jaymz]

A couple of clean looking buildings for sure. Along with Central Adelaide, it seems the chinese are showing Aussie developers how to build modern looking apartment buildings in the CBD.

[how good is he]

The developer/funding maybe Chinese but the architect is Brown Falconer and builder is Built Environs who are all Adelaide based. So not sure that

the Chinese are showing Aussie developers how to build modern looking apartment buildings in the CBD.

[Jaymz]

Well yeah. But wouldn't the developer still calls the shots regarding things like.... architect, budget, final design, materials, pricing, fit-out, how many 1,2,3 bedroom apartments etc. etc??

The developer/funding maybe Chinese but the architect is Brown Falconer and builder is Built Environs who are all Adelaide based. So not sure that

[Ben]

Crane is being dismantled. I’m surprised we haven’t seen the next stage announced and released given the low amount of projects for sale in coming years and the success of this one.

[SRW]

Crane is being dismantled. I’m surprised we haven’t seen the next stage announced and released given the low amount of projects for sale in coming years and the success of this one.

Tbh, I'm quietly worried that we'll see fewer apartments being built than we've enjoyed over the last couple years. This project in particular was lucky that Oaks committed for a large number of serviced apartments. But broadly, a lot of the favourable conditions that supported past projects have now evaporated: weaker foreign investment because of restrictions (increased fees since 16/17) here and in China); discontinuation of CBD stamp duty concession (thanks to SA Liberals); and, tighter mortgage lending by the banks. It seems pretty much all upcoming development is student, hotel or office. I can't think of any high-rise residential that is actually close or likely to take off - except maybe Penny Place because they've got access to private financing (Stokes)?

[Jaymz]

Crane is being dismantled. I’m surprised we haven’t seen the next stage announced and released given the low amount of projects for sale in coming years and the success of this one.

Tbh, I'm quietly worried that we'll see fewer apartments being built than we've enjoyed over the last couple years. This project in particular was lucky that Oaks committed for a large number of serviced apartments. But broadly, a lot of the favourable conditions that supported past projects have now evaporated: weaker foreign investment because of restrictions (increased fees since 16/17) here and in China); discontinuation of CBD stamp duty concession (thanks to SA Liberals); and, tighter mortgage lending by the banks. It seems pretty much all upcoming development is student, hotel or office. I can't think of any high-rise residential that is actually close or likely to take off - except maybe Penny Place because they've got access to private financing (Stokes)?

Yeah will be interesting to see what happens now that those things mentioned above have been wound back or removed. Basically it means the market will now decide, a good test to really see how the S.A economy is travelling. Our population growth is very weak at the moment (around 0.6%) and if the economy is gaining momentum as is being reported then population growth should hopefully improve.

[EBG]

Just about to remove the crane cabin 12.45 pm 11/11/18

[SBD]

Crane is being dismantled. I’m surprised we haven’t seen the next stage announced and released given the low amount of projects for sale in coming years and the success of this one.

Tbh, I'm quietly worried that we'll see fewer apartments being built than we've enjoyed over the last couple years. This project in particular was lucky that Oaks committed for a large number of serviced apartments. But broadly, a lot of the favourable conditions that supported past projects have now evaporated: weaker foreign investment because of restrictions (increased fees since 16/17) here and in China); discontinuation of CBD stamp duty concession (thanks to SA Liberals); and, tighter mortgage lending by the banks. It seems pretty much all upcoming development is student, hotel or office. I can't think of any high-rise residential that is actually close or likely to take off - except maybe Penny Place because they've got access to private financing (Stokes)?

Yeah will be interesting to see what happens now that those things mentioned above have been wound back or removed. Basically it means the market will now decide, a good test to really see how the S.A economy is travelling. Our population growth is very weak at the moment (around 0.6%) and if the economy is gaining momentum as is being reported then population growth should hopefully improve.

For potential owner-occupiers (which appears to be the preferred model for housing by both major parties), buying apartments off-the-plan looks like a pretty uncertain and insecure model with little indication of if or when the buyer might be able to move in. The "developer" of a suburban housing estate appears to need to do a much smaller proportion of the total cost of a free-standing house than the developer needs to do for an inner-city apartment, which needs to have almost the entire development built before any of the buyers can move in.

If "we" want to encourage more inner-city high-rise owner-occupied apartments, maybe we need tax breaks directly to the developers, instead of tax incentives for the purchasers. Potential residents might be more prepared to by an apartment shell that only needs internal walls and furnishings, rather than a pipe dream that is is many stories above a current open-air car park, with no firm date for beginning construction, let alone handover.

[SRW]

It might need to be a combination of things but I do think there's an argument for intervening in the market to preference CBD development. It would mean providing greater housing choice where people want to live (millennials and boomers alike value location), encouraging more efficient use of infrastructure & services, and the building of a critical mass of people to support economies of scale. Adelaide won't compete with big cities overall, but with a significant inner city population we could better support amenities that might otherwise be unattainable for a city our size. Perth and Brisbane will continue to far outgrow us, but thanks to its size and legacy (of culture/heritage from once being the 3rd city) our city centre could well offer comparable or superior vibrancy.

I think the only incentive that's left is the city council's 5 years of free rates for new owner occupiers.