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Location

4km

south-west of Adelaide CBD

Scale

3.6

hectares

Council

City

of Unley

Reserve render

The 3.6-hectare site on Anzac Highway will be transformed into a food-orientated retail and residential community complete with South Australia’s first rooftop urban farm.

Project Type
Project Status
Timeline

About the project

The $250 million redevelopment of the Forestville site will deliver on an innovative master plan, combining a bustling market square with retail and services, outdoor dining and play spaces, an Urban Green School, short-stay accommodation, and apartment, terrace and townhouse living.

The result is a new heart for the city’s south-west corner.

Renewal SA has partnered with a consortium that includes Commercial Retail Group, Peet Limited and Buildtec to bring the site, formerly home to the old Le Cornu business, back to life.

Key features of the master plan include:

  • A mix of high-quality terraces and apartments including a diverse range of 71 medium density townhouses and 245 apartments across two buildings, providing homes to suit a variety of lifestyles.
  • A market square, known as The Agora, featuring a Chapley-owned supermarket, restaurants and specialty stores. It will also provide residents with direct access to Leader Street and Maple Avenue.
  • Concentrated retail activity and public activity at the western edge of the site along Anzac Highway.
  • Urban Green School, owned and operated by Youth Inc, where students will learn about sustainable food production, urban farming and business skills.
  • A rooftop Urban Farm spanning more than 3600 sqm practising regenerative agriculture and tended by students from the Urban Green School.
  • 30 per cent open and green space, about half of which will be 24/7 publicly accessible land.
  • Short-stay apartments within a six-level building on the intersection of Leader Street and Anzac Highway, catering for the growing visitor economy, from overnight stays and weekend visitors to longer-term relocators and those accessing nearby health and medical facilities.

An estimated 900 direct and indirect jobs will be supported during construction with a further 700 ongoing roles created across retail, services, education and hospitality.

Map

Project progress and status

  • In 2020, the 3.6-hectare site at Forestville was purchased by the state government.
  • In 2022, a consortium led by Commercial Retail Group with Peet and Buildtec were named as the successful proponents following an Expression of Interest process to identify a visionary development partner to redevelop the site.
  • In November 2024, the first of 71 townhouses were released for sale by Peet, marking the first residential release in the development.
  • In September 2025, a reconfiguration of the project’s master plan was released for community consultation. At the same time it was announced that almost two-thirds of the townhouses, which started construction earlier in the year, had sold.

Heritage and culture

The Forestville site has a rich industrial and manufacturing past, a history of transformation and deep connection to the Kaurna people.

The Kaurna people are the Traditional Owners of the land. The development consortium are committed to meaningful engagement with the Kaurna community, ensuring their culture and ongoing connection to Country are respectfully acknowledged and represented throughout the development.

Stakeholders and community

Community feedback was important in informing the vision for the project and will continue to play an important role as the development progresses.

In 2021, Renewal SA conducted online community engagement for the Forestville development to help us understand the community’s connection to and interest in the area. Following this engagement, a draft master plan was developed for the site.

In 2022, Renewal SA invited members of the community to share their views on the draft master plan at the Locale Forestville community drop-in session.

Consultation on the Revised Master Plan
Revised plans were lodged with the State Planning Commission and underwent assessment. The plans were publicly notified and accessible via the PlanSA Portal until 8 October 2025. During the public notification period, the community was invited to provide submissions to the proposal via the PlanSA Portal.

Resources

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