[U/C] 88 O'Connell Street | 63m | 13, 13 and 15 Levels | Mixed Use

[SRW]

Developer Con Makris said... "I'm not going to make money. I might even lose a bit ..."

I think I'm going to call bullshit on this.

[ghs]

You should never trust a greek named Con !

[JamesXander]

Makris is the tighest developer going round. His shopping centre are expensive. He complains he doesn't make enough in SA. But just look at Hallet Cove, they still have empty spaces, thats because he wants top dollar for the sites, and retailers are smart enough to realise that its too high.


This developement will be no different. He is selling of the NA village, and will make a small fortune selling off the leasing space at this high end developement.


BTW funnily enough on the Greek subject, we had a Greek family offer us $400,000 under the asking price for our house, because it didn't sell at Auction (which was expected). There justification was that they would pay in cash LOL

[Mpol]

Dear lord. I'm Greek Cypriot... I swear we're not all that backward.

[stumpjumper]

"You do stay awake at night worrying about outcomes from councils because there's so much unpredictability," he said.

- Peter Harris

Part of this unpredictability comes from the elastic administration of planning legislation. Four separate proposals for the Le Cornu site were approved before Makris obtained Major Project status ('Not while I'm the Member for Adelaide' said J Lomax-Smith) immediately following a large six figure donation to the ALP's SA Progressive Business Pty Ltd.

Either we have an appropriate and properly administered planning regime, or we get rid of urban planning rules altogether and just let the development industry do whatever it likes. Either situation has certainty.

The problem with getting rid of planning regs is that anyone could buy a site, say a house in Victoria Avenue in Unley Park, demolish it and build a 20 storey block of units there, or you might buy up a strip of houses overlooking the parklands in North Adelaide and put up a 100 meters or so of ten storey apartments.

Nowhere in the developed world has no planning laws at all, and very few places tolerate the sort of overbuilds (about 250% in floor area and 100% in height that Makris has achieved, in the face of over 80% opposition from local residents (ACC survey).

Odd? Not in SA, where by far the largest donor to the government is the development industry.

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how these developers get their plans past the government's Development Assessment Panel!

As to how a six (actually seven in height' storey not having any greater impact on the locality than a three storey structure, think in terms of access to sunlight, traffic issues including parking, visual amenity etc.

A further point is that North Adelaide has significantly more than the average floor area of supermarket for each of its 2000 residents. So who will be shopping at 88 and how will they get there? And what is a regional shopping centre doing on land zoned 'local shopping' or ''local commercial"? Silly me, the answer is that the land has been rezoned.

Demolition has begun on the remaining buildings on the site, by the way.

[skyliner]

Yes there will be bulldozers, but there'll be knocking down, not building. This has only just started & still no sign of any marketing or invitation to buy any part of this "major project" development which the govt promised would create significant economic and employment benefits. Meanwhile Oberdan is promoting town-houses in Tynte St & there's a 4 town-house build in Watson Street.
Curiouser and curiouser!

My bad. I forgot this was going to affect the buildings behind ther current open block as well.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[stumpjumper]

The Tynte Street townhouses are excellent. I have the plans - attractive streetscape and good layout. Lifts, even!

As to:

govt promised would create significant economic and employment benefits

Government promises are not much better than anyone else's. Look at Newport Quays - '4000 jobs to be created during construction with an additional 2000 permanent jobs following its completion' - LMC media release. I rest my case.

[AtD]

The Tynte Street townhouses are excellent. I have the plans - attractive streetscape and good layout. Lifts, even!

These?
http://www.myhome.com.au/buy/sa/adelaid ... /p00122k3/

Why a lift in a 2/3 story house? Are we really that lazy?

[Prince George]

The Tynte Street townhouses are excellent. I have the plans - attractive streetscape and good layout. Lifts, even!

These?
http://www.myhome.com.au/buy/sa/adelaid ... /p00122k3/

Why a lift in a 2/3 story house? Are we really that lazy?

Couple of reasons: first to justify a $1.4 million price tag; second, the market for crazy expensive townhouses in areas like North Adelaide is increasingly cashed up retirees, for whom lifts are an accessibility option.

[stumpjumper]

Agreed. The lifts are a response to the market. When the land's worth about $2000/sqm you can afford that sort of gold plating.

Domestic lifts can be bought a lot more cheaply now, too. Thanks China.

[Allkai]

Developer Con Makris said... "I'm not going to make money. I might even lose a bit ..."

I think I'm going to call bullshit on this.

Was just scrolling through to see if anyone had said this before I did......

Wonder if he actually managed to say it with a straight face.

[how_good_is_he]

I think that you may also want to consider that Makris has said on numerous occasions it will be like nothing like Adelaide has seen before so it could potentially be done more as a final landmark vs purely a cost/benefit exercise. There are countless examples where the developer has lost money with prime real estate [and even gone broke, The Grand, Glenelg and Myer Centre come to mind].

If the building quality is done to a very high standard ie copper roof, marble/granite etc and if the cost to build cost is say double or triple the average and it takes twice as long to build because of the quality/limited skilled trades etc you will loose money.
Adelaide wont neccessarily pay or afford to pay more than say $1m -$2m for an apartment. The market for $4m - $5m penthouses is limited. I also think you should allow that at least half the cost of the building the developer doesnt receive anything for ie massive common areas, stairwells, lifts, most of the carpark etc [so maybe half ie $150m of the project] gives you absolutely NO income/return per se.

Also I note that no supermarket was allowed on the approval and Makris' aim to attract the high end retailers[ Gucci/Prada etc] will only happen with massive incentives to get them here. I know this may sound like absolute BS, but I have been told that to get retailers like that here they expect things like FREE rent, FREE fitout cost [millions of dollars] and the landlord to even pay all the staff wages! So how does the landlord make money? Well when they sell a $2000 handbag they will split the sale 50/50 - so there is totally no risk to the retailer of ever losing a cent and the landlord gets paid based essentially on turnover ie the success of the development.

Can I also highlight that to hold the site for essentially 10 - 15 - 20 years before you see a cent of return [plus paying interest on the purchase of the land [say at $15m], council rates, land tax plus all the consultants/plans etc to get approval would be tens of millions of dollars and that most developers would have gone broke already!

[AtD]

So basically you're saying his investors and financiers should take their money run for the hills.

The world doesn't work like that.

[how_good_is_he]

No not my point at all. The developer will be the one that stands to lose the most, not the bank/financier [the bank takes their money back first and may only lend say 65% of the end value, so they have far less risk than the developer].
The real point is that sometimes developers do things [believe it or not] for reasons other than purely money.
It may sound like wank but just maybe they want to leave a legagcy/landmark to be proud of & for their own self fulfillment.

[Paulns]

I just want to know, when the hell is this going to start???? Can someone please tell me?