The 2.8-hectare plot of land at 103 Fisher Street, Fullarton known as Highgate Park is currently up for sale following the permanent closure of the Julia Farr Centre in 2020.

The Centre was built in the 1970s and housed people with disability but stopped accepting new residents in 2014. All residents have since been moved into community accommodation or aged care.

The prime parcel of inner-south land also holds the Gosse International Student Residence, landscaped gardens and an adjacent car park.

There are also 27 regulated trees – including 11 significant trees – located on site, according to a government-commissioned report in 2017.

The land is owned by the Home for Incurables Trust, a charity established to support people living with disability.

All proceeds of the land sale, which could be more than $50m, will go towards supporting people with disability, the state government says.

Housing and “high-end hotels” are expected to be among the developer bids to transform the site.

Unley Council passed a motion in March to write to Human Services Minister Nat Cook – the sole trustee of the Home for Incurables Trust – to ask for open space to be set aside on the block.

The motion asked to “[set] aside 25 per cent of the Highgate Park site as a publicly accessible and useable green space in the form of a community park”.

It also authorities the council CEO to “enter preliminary discussions with potential developers to ensure that they know of our commitment to the long term goal of increasing open space and public amenity in our city”.

“Council strongly recommends a minimum of 25 per cent open space for the site, which must consist of a north south rectangular segment containing the bulk of the regulated and significant trees,” the motion states.

An aerial shot of the 2.8ha Highgate Park site, adjacent to Concordia College in Adelaide’s inner-south. Image: Google Maps

But in response to the council’s letter, Cook said there were feasibility issues with retaining open space on site.

“The retention of the site for open space may not be feasible as it may not maximise the returns to beneficiaries of the Trust,” Cook said in a letter dated April 6.

“This is not just a capital exercise, but important in regard to honouring the legacy of the Trust.”

Cook added that “any future development or repurposing of Highgate Park will be subject to the relevant planning authority”.

The City of Unley has long struggled with dwindling tree canopy. One council study in 2018 estimated the area’s canopy coverage on private land declined from 34 per cent in 1979 to 22 per cent in 2017.

We can’t keep losing open space and the capacity to grow trees on public land.

The council has set a goal to reach 31 per cent overall tree canopy by 2045, but estimates it will need a net increase of 14,000 trees – 11,000 on private land on 3000 on council land – to reach this target.

Asked to comment on the Minister’s response, Unley mayor Michael Hewitson said: “That condemns the City of Unley to cook.”

“If we don’t have new developments required to deliver tree canopy for the future and we keep losing it – we’re losing two Unley Ovals a year, that’s four hectares… we will cook,” he told InDaily.

Hewitson said the council needs new developments that increase the built form “to either help us buy land to plant trees on, or plant the trees”.

“We can’t keep losing open space and the capacity to grow trees on public land,” he said.

InDaily asked Cook whether she was opposed to the Highgate Park proposal including 25 per cent open space.

In a statement, Cook responded: “It is not appropriate to issue specific guidance to the market on open space or other matters while a process like this is ongoing.”

“As the sole Trustee of the Trust that owns the site, I have an obligation to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries and that’s exactly what I intend to do in consultation with South Australians with disability,” she said.

“Unley Council wrote to me recently, after the EOI (expressions of Interest) commenced, regarding higher levels of open space.

“I responded that this may not maximise returns to beneficiaries but it is impossible to know how various approaches to the site will balance different priorities until responses to the EOI are received and assessed.

“A key factor in both open space and financial returns will be whether proponents seek to retain existing structures on the site or develop new buildings – and any preferred proposal will then need to go through planning assessments and approvals before work commences.”

Cook also said the state government is “expecting a number of very high quality proposals for the site”.

According to documents published by Unley Council last week, CEO Peter Tsokas has already “communicated to one potential (Highgate Park) purchaser” the council’s desire for 25 per cent open space on the site. Administration has also told councillors there has been “significant interest in purchasing the site”, although a sale will likely take months.

Real estate firms JLL and Savills are managing the sale of the Highgate Park site on behalf of the Home for Incurables Trust.

Expressions of interest close on May 5.