A proposed four-storey mixed-use development just outside Adelaide’s CBD could grow to eight floors, delivering 300 new dwellings in a bid to activate a prime real estate site.
The property at 12-22 Richmond Rd, Keswick, was initially earmarked five years ago for a glass-walled office complex by local developer Maras Group. Now, the vision has shifted, with James Arsenikakis of Cambridge Private Capital joining forces with high-profile Adelaide businessman Theo Maras to bring the project to life as a housing development.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, Maras highlighted the site’s advantages:
“This is as close to parklands as you can get and equally close to the CBD. It has public transport and a train station across it,” he said.
“It is walking distance to the CBD, it has shopping facilities in every direction, and it is between the sea and the city.”
The location sits alongside Anzac Highway’s Urban Corridor zone, where numerous apartment buildings have sprung up over the past decade. Planning firm Future Urban also noted the site’s proximity to the Adelaide Showground train station, bus stops, and parklands, as well as its potential for sweeping views of both the CBD and the coastline.
Maras underscored the project’s role in addressing South Australia’s housing needs.
“It is surrounded by major work opportunities for people who want to work in the city or western suburbs.
“It will be affordable housing and key worker housing – for teachers, trades, chefs, firefighters, police officers, and public servants,” Maras said.
With South Australia facing a growing housing shortage, Maras stressed the urgency of new developments.
“I think that’s what we need – we are talking about a shortage of people to fulfil any position, and if you do not have housing, how will people come to SA to work?” he said.
“We’ve got to have housing for people to migrate to SA from overseas or from interstate.”
The immediate priority, he added, is securing planning approval.
“We hope that with the program the government has set itself, once it gets that, we go to the feasibility stage and proceed from there.”
No design plans have been lodged yet, and it remains unclear when PlanSA will decide.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion signalled openness to increasing building heights to accommodate the project’s revised scope.
“It makes sense to explore whether building heights should be increased,” Champion said to the Advertiser.
Maras is optimistic about the project’s future.
“I think it will go ahead. We have an unprecedented shortage of housing,” he said.
