Three apartment schemes advertised in one week are an onground expression of the suitability for high-end housing in a locale laid out by planning pioneer William Light in the 1830s. North Adelaide was the only suburb planned by Colonel Light to accompany the square mile grid of Adelaide’s CBD. The first sale of land, to settlers before they were bound for South Australia, happened almost simultaneously with the plan’s completion in 1837.
Almost 190 years later, at 185-189 Archer Street, multi-state developer Fortis and Adelaide-based Otello are partnering on an apartment project in the now-leafy suburb. If approved by South Australia’s state commission assessment panel after a consultation period due to end on August 19, the development will comprise three buildings of of nine, seven and three-storeys.
The project planned for a 3873sq m site that runs through to Ward Court would have a wine room, health centre and circular swimming pool on the ground floor. The scheme is the second collaboration between Otello and Fortis; construction on their first, the 10-storey One Four Four Hutt apartment tower on the eastern edge of Adelaide’s CBD, is due to start in the next fortnight.
From his firm’s offices in Melbourne, Fortis head of development (SA) Arthur Dendrinos says the North Adelaide location is
consistent with the high-end work the company did, particularly in eastern Sydney. “When we came over [to South Australia], initially, we isolated where we thought our product type could exist and North Adelaide really was the area,” he told The Urban Developer. “We said, okay, yeah, this is where we could get luxury apartments and really elevate the standard associated with luxury development.
“What we saw were some pretty significant gaps in what the offering was on the amenity side and the sales and marketing and purchaser journey was probably a bit lacklustre, broadly speaking, within the Adelaide market.” Dendrinos says North Adelaide’s wealth of retail activity and location on the doorstep of the Adelaide CBD is “a good natural fit” for his firm. Designed by Melbourne-headquartered architects Carr, the Archer Street project would have 27 three-bedroom, 17 two bedroom, and eight four-bedroom homes.
From a construction site in Adelaide’s inner east, Otello director Daniel Harris says he has undertaken small developments at North Adelaide before, but the collaboration with Fortis is his first one of scale in the suburb. “The massive benefit to this project is the huge amount of experience that Fortis has in that luxury residential space and North Adelaide really is the perfect suburb to bring that into the market,” he says.
“The site itself is really unique in that it’s on one of Adelaide’s best streets and it’s a substantial landholding … which gives us the opportunity to really maximise city views with the apartment towers. “The fact North Adelaide is elevated from the CBD gives these incredible views back to the city.”
The project would include the demolition of less-historic parts of a heritage-listed former headquarters of the Lutheran Church and the art deco building converted to two homes.
