The nation-leading, half a billion-dollar Tapangka on Franklin (Tapangka) project is on the market, with the hunt on for a visionary development partner, or partners, who will add their flair, capability and development expertise to a project set to change the heart of Adelaide.
Renewal SA today announces it is inviting Registrations of Interest for Tapangka which seeks to redefine urban living in Adelaide, targeting a blend of residential dwellings, short-term accommodation, commercial and retail spaces across multiple towers.
Located at the former Adelaide Bus Station site at 111-129 Franklin Street, immediately adjacent to the Adelaide Central Market and Chinatown precinct, Renewal SA’s bold vision is for a dynamic mixed-use precinct includes a minimum of 392 apartments, incorporating both market housing and build-to-rent, while ensuring 35% affordable housing, across a consolidated 6,850m2 site.
It also includes a hotel/short stay accommodation and complementary commercial and retail spaces centred around a signature building, which is envisioned to make Tapangka an activated mixed-use precinct for up to 1,000 new residents, as well as workers and visitors.
Renewal SA Chief Executive Chris Menz said the project, which early estimates show has a potential market value of up to $500 million, aimed to provide a benchmark for genuinely sustainable and viable development investment in Adelaide’s CBD.
“Our plans for Tapangka aim to bring together home ownership and a range of housing tenure mix, sustainability, reconciliation and partnership by creating an entire precinct boasting a mix of market sale and rental apartments, visitor accommodation, commercial workspaces, café’s, restaurants, and retail,” Mr Menz said.
“In addition to delivering more housing options in the CBD, we think that the space outside presents the opportunity to create a street culture that blends between the Adelaide Central Market precinct, and adds further activity while setting a unique identity, with lifestyle, art and sustainability.
“The precinct will leverage Adelaide’s new confidence and investment outlook by being bold in design, clear in purpose, and focused on making people’s lives more sustainable and connected.”
Mr Menz said Renewal SA, the state government’s property development agency, had completed due diligence on the site and engaged global architecture studio Woods Bagot to design flexible development schemes for the project.
Renewal SA will act as the master developer for Tapangka by co-ordinating and partnering with one or more selected development and investment partners to deliver the project vision and elements, he said.
“Renewal SA has a proven track record of successful partnerships on market-leading projects,” Mr Menz said.
“We do this by working with the development industry and seeking their input and helping them succeed.
“With Tapangka there is a genuine opportunity for a development partner or partners to incorporate further innovation and development intelligence to the vision to bring the precinct to life.”
Mr Menz said Renewal SA had provided transparency around both Tapangka and a wider pipeline of state-shaping projects, totalling more than $2 billion, to give the development sector confidence in the process, visibility around future opportunities and the assurance of authentic and meaningful state government support.
“The opportunity is significant, as is the timing,” he said, highlighting that South Australia has a growing economy underpinned by transformational investments in defence, energy, health and infrastructure.
“And development partners who join with us in building some of these state shaping projects need to realise that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Tapangka is inspired by the experience of going on a journey: following a path to home ownership, towards sustainability and partnership. In the Aboriginal Kaurna language, this experience is known as Tapangka (Tup-un-gar).
A market sounding and Registration of Interest (ROI) for Tapangka is the first stage of the process and the ROI was released today.
Renewal SA has appointed Colliers as the sales agents for the development, which will lead the ROI process. Colliers are seeking early market engagement from visionary development partners with demonstrated capability and experience in built form projects of this scale and land-use mix.
Through stage one, Renewal SA is actively seeking feedback from the industry on all aspects of this opportunity to realise the project vision but also maximise the development potential from this rare strategic land parcel.
From there, qualified participants in the ROI stage will be invited to participate in a stage two Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
The outcomes of the ROI will inform the timings of the RFP process, which is earmarked for the first quarter of 2025.