The scaffolds will soon go up around Gawler Chambers, the beautiful-yet-sadly-derelict edifice hugging the corner of North Terrace and Gawler Place.

But don’t be confused: this is not the start of the once-mooted $30 million redevelopment of the five-storey heritage site erected around 1913 and owned by the Adelaide Development Company since 1945.

“It will be just minor maintenance work on the façade, not related to the redevelopment,” says CEO Ian Marker.

“We don’t want the building to be falling into disrepair.”

But he concedes a plan to finally make something of the vacant landmark – transforming it into a 14-storey high-end shopping and commercial office hub towering above the existing façade – is now effectively in hiatus, though “not through any lack of desire on our part”.

The project was green-lit by the independent Development Assessment Commission in 2012, giving developers along the underutilised North Terrace boulevard cause to start dreaming big dreams.

“It took us some considerable time to get the planning approval sorted out, and that was a big milestone for us, because it’s a heritage-listed building and has its own challenges because of that,” Marker tells InDaily.

Because the developers anticipated a “somewhat convoluted” planning approval process they didn’t go to the market seeking tenants until DAC approval was granted; now, though, the city is languishing under a soaring vacancy rate.

“We’re keen to proceed with the development but we need a tenant – or tenants – for the building before we can do that, and in this market those tenants just aren’t around,” Marker says.

The plan was to utilise the ornate classical-cum-gothic edifice for a fashionable shopfront (“We think it’s a great opportunity for a high-end retail tenant”) with commercial tenants on the upper floors. But even with a willing occupants, it’s a labour of love rather than a quick buck.

“We are very keen to retain (Gawler Chambers) as a long-term investment, and we’re prepared to invest more than others might.

“It’s not a lucrative investment proposition but we think it’s worth spending money on to do it properly, as it can be useful for decades to come…but having said that, we still need a tenant to start the process.”

Gawler Chambers. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Gawler Chambers isn’t the only unfulfilled dream along Adelaide’s premier boulevard.

Developer Theo Maras hasn’t given up on his ambition of helping transform one of those old edifices into a $300 million 20-storey tower block incorporating luxury international brands, residential accommodation and a new base for prestigious hospitality school Le Cordon Bleu.

The project, at 200 North Tce, was earmarked for completion by early this year, but plans for the 32,000 square metre development have, for now, fallen by the wayside.

“We were very serious about it and still are,” the property magnate says of his consortium partners in the venture.

“But there’s a lack of interest in the city … there’s a high vacancy level at the moment.”

But he remains bullish about the prospects for what should be Adelaide’s premier commercial boulevard. InDaily revealed in January that Planning Minister John Rau is seeking solutions to a seemingly-intractable problem: how to encourage property owners along the southern side of the strip to spend money to bring their crumbling buildings into the 21^st century.

“I’m looking at what options we have to make it unattractive to leave buildings in that condition,” Rau said.

City developers have welcomed Rau’s renewed push to revive the struggling strip, but say a heavy-fisted approach is counterproductive.

“We’ve put so much time and effort into doing this, to get this far … it’s not a lack of activity on our part that’s stopping any further development.”

“I would be putting up incentives and not disincentives; and the best incentive you can create is real tenants,” Maras says, arguing the State Government should be “improving business and not allowing developments to occur out of the CBD zone”, which he says effectively incorporates the area bordered by the southern edge of North Tce, Morphett St, Franklin/Flinders Streets, Victoria Square and Pulteney St.

“What we don’t want is office space built outside the CBD; you have to have a need for office space and a need for residential,” says Maras.

There is an unspoken hint that the Government, which is flogging off its administration digs in a budget firesale, could put its money where its mouth is and migrate north.

Filling office space may help loosen developers’ wallets, but Maras’s vision for the precinct is significantly grander than a white-collar sanctum.

“North Terrace has got the best potential for international retail in Australia, because it’s untapped; and not only is it untapped, it’s virginal and economical,” he says.

Maras’s concept is a high-end boutique mecca; he’s been in serious talks with some of the world’s top fashion brands, and sees the appearance of names such as Max Mara and Tiffany & Co. in the precinct as evidence that the shift is already on.

He says state development assessment decisions such as Gawler Chambers and last year’s approval of a $30 million, 21-storey revamp of the Queen Adelaide Club, overlooked by a retirement village, had “set a very clear agenda as to what you can and can’t do along North Terrace”.

“There was a lot of uncertainty and frustration between property owners, developers, would-be tenants and the Adelaide City Council, because there was no clear direction,” Maras says. Under archaic zoning strictures – now abandoned – basements and ground floors along the strip were elevated to preclude retail.

In latter years, Maras argues, “(Rau) has gone a long way to freeing up the planning system and he has gone beyond any expectation that the property owners of Adelaide and the metro area ever had to stabilise and take the guesswork out of planning – that’s a very big step”.

North Terrace is “untapped”, says developer Theo Maras.

The intractable problem, though, is the vacancy rate, which stands at 13.8 per cent across the five building tiers, ranging from premium to D-grade.

Marker, too, says he would be “hesitant to point the finger at the Government”, but warns Rau’s tough talk is misplaced.

“I think it’s more the situation being faced by many building owners around the city at the moment: vacancy rates are pretty high; it’s not possible to clear finance unless you’ve got a committed tenant and the committed tenants aren’t there,” he says.

He says if the Government pursued owners of idle real estate with a big stick “we’d feel unfairly treated”.

“We’ve put so much time and effort into doing this, to get this far … it’s not a lack of activity on our part that’s stopping any further development.”

The frustration isn’t exclusive to North Tce. A joint venture to rejuvenate the heritage-listed Darling Building on Franklin St – built in 1916 and vacant since 1997 – has struggled with the sheer cost of bringing the five-storey site up to code.

David Burton, director of venture partner Williams Burton Architecture, tells InDaily: “We’ve basically run the full gamut of emotions with it: getting all excited, getting crushed, getting up off the floor and trying to do it all again!”

“A whole bunch of issues came up which, even being in the field, have surprised us – there’s a massive, massive amount of regulation stuff that has to be paid for if you want to make any structural change to your building at all,” he says.

Changing the intended usage of a heritage building immediately triggers a landslide of red tape.

“You might as well start tearing money up and throwing it to the wind – it really becomes a very, very expensive exercise,” says Burton.

“All those compliance issues are really difficult to get around without opening a whole Pandora’s Box.”

The Darling Building on Flinders St. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

He says the cost of meeting various code requirements stacks up relative to the potential revenue from such a venture, and similarly argues that Government incentives would work more effectively than disincentives.

“Three million dollars later, you’re sitting there thinking ‘I haven’t actually done anything yet!’ Instead of just chucking a big stick around, I’m sure there are more avenues – such as tax concessions or incentives – for the Government to take.”

He suggests diverting infrastructure funding away from road “beautifications” towards grants for upgrading dilapidated heritage buildings – an outcome that would significantly enhance the amenity as well as generating economic activity.

“What probably has been the case with quite a few of those buildings along North Tce and Grenfell St is there’s a limit to the net lettable you can get out of it; you’ve got an end product price of what your building might be worth, and that gives you how much you can afford to spend on it…and they quite often don’t match!”

With projects such as Gawler Chambers, Le Cordon Bleu and the Darling Building, the passion of the developers is obvious, despite the stark commercial realities.

“A lot of them, I think, end up being projects that have a level of altruism, where someone wants to achieve something…and that’s great,” says Burton.

“But you’re only going to get that in a few instances.”

He says it’s not about developers “running around with your cap out”, but about fostering an environment that encourages investment. With the Darling Building, the investors found SA Power Networks were only able to supply 200 amps to a building nestled smack bang in the centre of the city; the consortium has now invested $200,000 for gas-fired air-conditioning.

“The fact you can’t get more than 200 amps in a city building next to Adelaide’s newest development seems a bit ridiculous to me … Those are things that are more important than saying: ‘Here’s a fistful of money!’”

The question for Government then, is “how can they make it more affordable for people to do business”? And, according to Burton and others, the answer lies not in doling out big cheques or brandishing big sticks, but in “making the pathway easier”.

For now, it’s a pathway paved with good intentions, still a long way from its destination.