As each new apartment block and warehouse renovation moves off the drawing board and on to the streets of Adelaide, more and more people are being offered the chance to live in the heart of the City.
According to the latest statistics, dwellings in the City increased 14.9% in the four years to 1996, with over 16,000 people resident in the City. This trend is expected to accelerate as the number of residential properties completed rapidly grows. The most recent count has 610 apartments either in the design or construction phase. This is on top of 360 apartments that have been built in 1998-99.
Some of the more notable developments and conversions include the $7.5 million Franklin Central, where a derelict office complex, the Southern Farmers Cooperative Building, has been converted into residential apartments only 200 metres from the GPO and the Adelaide Town Hall.
A partner in one of Adelaide’s most successful real estate firms, Greg Toop, confirms that the tempo for City Living has picked up dramatically in the past 12 months. “Before that, inner city real estate development was confined to the south eastern corner of the City, but now the enthusiasm for inner city property is spreading across the CBD,” he said.
A survey of City residents and ratepayers reveals that 37% of employed residents work in professions and almost 60% of new residents have moved into the city from the metropolitan suburbs. Adelaide City Council has been active in attracting new residents into the City, through a series of initiatives to assist potential owners, renters and property developers.
These include rate rebates, heritage incentive schemes, information kits on relocating to Adelaide, the City Living Bulletin, the City Home Buyers Guide and Renting in the City.
Council’s incentive are not just aimed at the residential market. Council has also embarked on initiatives to attract and promote new businesses in the City, specifically through its new City Centre Vital Fund. It is planning to approve $250,000 in grants under the first round of the scheme, assisting up to 10 businesses before the end of the 1999 financial year.
“More than other states, the economic wellbeing of South Australia is intimately connected with vitality of its Capital City,” says the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Dr Jane Lomax-Smith. “As we attract more residents and businesses into the City, we are able to increase its amenity, its resources and its prosperity,” said Dr Lomax-Smith.
“Adelaide is also fortunate that it is a very livable city. It has clean air and abundant Park Lands. “It is also an easily accessible city, for both motorists and pedestrians, well served by public transport and not congested with traffic.
“What is more, from a residential perspective Adelaide is highly competitive in terms of price compared to the East Coast Capitals. Housing prices in the City of Adelaide are about one third the cost of Sydney and 40% the cost of Melbourne.”
