Rundle Street neighbours locked in twin towers tussle
A developer’s court bid to win approval for a rejected 21-storey apartment tower on Rundle Street has been delayed because a neighbour says it will interfere with their own high-rise plans.
An image of an apartment block proposal that was rejected for the corner of Rundle Street and East Terrace, with a neighbouring developer wanting to also build a high-rise. Image: Tectvs Architecture/Future Urban/InDaily
Melbourne-based developer Ross Pelligra’s company, Pelligra Group, was last year refused planning consent to build a 67 apartment tower at 292-300 Rundle Street.
The prime East End corner site opposite the Stag Hotel is currently occupied by dessert bar San Churro and Sicily Pizzeria.
The State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) ruled that the 21-storey tower had “excessive mass and scale” that would be “considered likely to diminish the value of SHPs (state heritage places) in the locality”.
An aerial shot of Pelligra’s rejected development from the eastern park lands. Image: Tectvs Architecture/Future Urban
Pelligra Group last year appealed the SCAP’s refusal in the Environment Resources and Development (ERD) Court.
But that appeal has been delayed because a next-door landowner wants to be a party to the court proceedings.
The adjacent landowner is an entity called 292 Rundle Street Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of South Australian and Victorian development company Hines Property.
Hines Property purchased 292 Rundle Street for a reported $5.5 million in 2015.
The 1800 square-metre site is currently leased to Palace Nova Cinemas, but Hines Property’s website says the land “provides significant future development potential”.
The land at 292 Rundle Street, which is mooted for a future high-rise development. Pelligra Group’s tower proposal is directly adjacent on the right. Photo: Hines Property
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard an appeal from Hines Property’s subsidiary company to be a party to the Pelligra Group case in the ERD court.
Barrister David Billington, representing Hines, said his client was concerned that the 21-storey tower proposed by Pelligra would “unreasonably severely limit” any future development at 292 Rundle Street.
“It is the interface between the western edge of that development (Pelligra’s) and what may happen in the future on my client’s land – which is intended to happen on my client’s land – which is another high-rise development of some sort,” Billington said.
“It’s that interface which is of primary concern to my client, and that’s why he wants to be joined.”
Billington said Pelligra’s 21-storey proposal was “hard up against the boundary” of 292 Rundle Street and would create issues if his client wanted to build a similar-sized building.
This included the potential proximity of two towers, which he said would mean “you’d have bedrooms two metres apart looking into each other”.
The two-storey scale of the Rundle St precinct. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily
Pelligra Group’s rejected tower. Hines Property’s plans have not been publicly revealed. Image: Tectvs Architecture/Future Urban
Billington also said it did not matter how far along his client’s development proposal was, they still have an interest that warrants them being a party to the case.
“It’s clearly a city development site, it’s in the heart of the Adelaide CBD, it’s got zoning which is particularly permissive for development, it’s the same zoning at least in part as the subject land (owned by Pelligra),” Billlington said.
“It was bought for the purposes of redevelopment, redevelopment will occur in the future whether there was a specific design or not.
“What we need to be joined to do is to explain to the Environment Court all the ways in which this sheer-faced development on our boundary is going to cause problems because we won’t be able to put bedrooms within this distance.
“It’ll be an exercise in explaining the constraints that will then be applied to my client’s land, rather than the simple exercise of working out whether two sets of plans would work together.”
ASIC records show Adelaide-born and Victorian-based property developer James Hines, managing director of Hines Property, is the sole director of 292 Rundle Street Pty Ltd.
Hines declined to comment on his plans to InDaily.
Michael Roder KC, representing Pelligra Group, opposed 292 Rundle Street’s application to be a party to the case.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, he also told Judge Judy Hughes: “My client would like to get on with its appeal as soon as it can.”
Hughes reserved her decision for a later date.
