Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the historic deal to save the Crown & Anchor Hotel after Sunday’s rally ended at Parliament House.

Sunday’s Save The Cranker march to Parliament House was the second. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Premier Peter Malinauskas announces the deal with Save The Cranker campaign chair Evan Moroney at Parliament House. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Under the deal, the state government will introduce “special-purpose legislation to secure the long-term future of the Crown and Anchor Hotel as a live music venue and provide ongoing protection for key live music pubs in the City of Adelaide against noise complaints from future residents”.

In exchange for the pub being spared from demolition and losing that development space, Singapore’s Wee Hur Holdings Ltd will be able to increase the height of its student housing tower next door to 29 storeys – up from the 19 originally proposed.

The building will rise on the site now home to popular venues Roxies and Chateau Apollo, also managed by the pub leaseholder.

The state government says that a condition of the deal was also that the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) will assess Wee Hur Holdings’ new application within 10 business days of it being lodged, dramatically fast-tracking the usual planning approvals process.

The developer’s original plan would have gutted the Crown & Anchor and left only a facade, which would be overbuilt with a 19-storey tower. Image: Brown Falconer/PlanSA

The Crown & Anchor will also have to close to allow for significant renovations and soundproofing, but legislation will outline that the shutdown must not exceed two years.

Hotel leaseholder Tom Skipper said that while the deal saved the pub, there were still many issues to be worked through in order for the business to survive, along with the jobs of more than 70 staff across the venues.

“To be fair, we’re losing half our business in Roxie’s and Chateau Apollo but there’s a small win and we get to preserve what’s important here, which is the Crown and Anchor and live music,” Skipper told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“There’s a lot to sort through, there’s no solution yet,” he said, adding that a lengthy shutdown of what was a successful business was “less than ideal”. 

“I am working with the government to look at alternative options in terms of a proposed temporary site,” he said.

“Let’s call it a Cranker pop-up – that would be the desired result. There’s no way that we could afford to have a two-year shutdown and it would be a blow to the live music industry, a blow to my staff, the 71 staff on my payroll.

“You know, first and foremost, I want to look after them and find a home for it.”

Opposition development spokeswoman Michelle Lensink welcomed the breakthrough but raised concerns about how the state government had bypassed the planning process.

More than 1300 public submissions were lodged to save the pub, with the state government recently extending the state heritage assessment process for three months until November, with SCAP unable to consider Wee Hur Holding’s application until after.

“I think everybody who loves the Cranker will be really pleased with some outcome which saves the pub, but there’s a few concerns with the way the Premier’s gone about this, charging in on his white horse,” Lensink told the ABC.

“Previously, I think we were relying on the decision-making of the planning process, the SCAP, and we’ve been urging people to make submissions to that, and that’s been deliberately by the parliament’s design an independent process so that would be done and hundreds of other people made submissions to that process.

“My understanding too, with this particular proposal, the 19 storeys, was already over the zoning height for the capital city zone for that place, so now it’s going to be over that. So I just don’t know where this leaves the independence of our planning system, which, you know, the parliament thought was a good idea a few years ago. Now the Premier can just change things on a whim.”

The compromise tower would be up to 29-storeys in exchange for not building on the Crown & Anchor site. Image supplied: State Government.

Malinauskas replied that a solution had been found which “everybody supports”.

“My simple question to Michelle Lensink is, what method would she choose in order to be able to save the pub without compromising the developer and hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into our city in terms of investing new student accommodation?” he said.

“There is no one opposing this, except for maybe Michelle Lensink. I can’t work it out and if she does oppose this solution, is she going to vote against it in the parliament? That’s the first question and then the second question is, what would she do instead?”

Planning Minister Nick Champion said the Crown & Anchor issue was “a pretty unique set of circumstances”.

“In the normal course of events within the planning system, we’re dealing with thousands of applications a year which basically cause no public consternation, and they flow through the system and create economic growth, create housing,” he said.

“We know that the beloved hotel, we know it’s very loved in terms of live music and we’ve had numerous people asking us, essentially to come up with a bespoke approach to this particular site, and that is what we’ve done with this legislation and the good news is it’s win-win.”

Sunday drinks at the Crown & Anchor after news of the compromise development deal. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Property Council executive director Bruce Djite said the outcome was “a good example of where there’s a will, there’s a way”.

“We’ve got a housing crisis who requires a crisis like response, and I think the Premier’s shown an example of that,” he said.

“Maybe the State Commission Assessment Panel needs to have more flexibility, maybe it does need to be tweaked a little bit so that it can have something to satisfy, provisions that allow 10 business days for approvals of large scale developments.”

See the rally pictures

Rally attendees in Victoria Square. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Kat Birch at the Save the Cranker rally. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Rory Brown (L) and Jaydon Ford (R) at the Save the Cranker Rally. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Save the Cranker supporters marching down King William St. Photo: Dave Eccles/InDaily

The Cranker Supergroup performing on a truck, leading the march down King William St. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

Rally attendees in Victoria Square wearing customised Save the Cranker jackets. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily

The Save the Cranker group at the pub after the announcement. Photo: Helen Karakulak/InDaily