16-storey tower proposed at Piccadilly Cinema as $500m fund opens

According to InDaily, most of the cinema building would be demolished while its facade is kept. The spiral staircase, some art deco interiors, the mezzanine and the stained glass windows would also stay. Cinema One upstairs would be replicated and reinstalled, and the downstairs boutique cinemas and front bar rebuilt. Walter Brooke Architects is credited on the renders. InDaily adds that the cinema has been beset by structural problems, and that flooding in July led to the postponement of the state Liberal Party’s AGM there. Premier Peter Malinauskas said Adelaide needs to be prepared to do things differently to get homes built.

Wallis Entertainment director Deanna Flynn Wallis said the project is “about ensuring people can continue to enjoy films” there for decades.

The numbers

The tower is proposed at 16 storeys.

The state announcement came alongside it. Premier Peter Malinauskas’s government opened a $500m pre-sale guarantee fund for off-the-plan apartments, which InDaily says now reaches beyond the Adelaide CBD to take in North Adelaide and the Port Road precinct. The Urban Developer reports it targets Port Road, the CBD and North Adelaide, plus a corridor from Thebarton and Southwark to Hindmarsh. Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said that, after industry feedback including from the Property Council, the program will give priority to projects in those strategic areas, helping developers meet lender pre-sale requirements and secure construction finance sooner.

On eligibility, The Urban Developer says projects must have at least 20 homes, be already approved and be able to start within six months.

What’s next

InDaily reports voluntary community consultation was due to begin the day after the 2 November announcement, with no end date given. It says the plan will then go through the normal assessment process.

The fund sits alongside the state’s height push elsewhere. A separate code amendment would lift allowable heights in parts of Hindmarsh to 20 storeys, as covered in our earlier Hindmarsh story.