Renewal SA has re-offered the 1960s Boiler House at Adelaide’s Tonsley Innovation District for sale and is once again targetting the likes of a brewery to take up the opportunity.
It was announced in 2018 that work would commence on a multi-million dollar revamp of the Boiler House for the Lady Burra Brewhouse. But the works never got underway and Renewal SA has since concluded its original agreement with Adelaide hospitality business Kidd Retail Group (KRG) that would have operated the planned brewery and bar. Beer & Brewer contacted KRG for comment but none was forthcoming prior to this story being published.
Renewal SA’s Todd Perry told Beer & Brewer: “Following an open tender process in 2017 under the former Labor government, Kidd Retail Group was named as the preferred proponent to redevelop the Boiler House site as a microbrewery by March 2019. Unfortunately, despite Renewal SA having negotiated extensively with Kidd Retail Group to deliver this amenity for the Tonsley community, no work ever commenced on site. The invitation to adaptively re-use the Boiler House has now been re-opened to the hospitality sector in the hope of attracting a new purchaser to expand the recreational offering at Tonsley.”
Up for offer now is approximately 3,000 square metres of land, which includes 920 square metres of internal space. The Boiler House was built in the 1960s to pump steam and supply electricity to Tonsley’s once thriving car manufacturing industry and it remains in its complete, original form.
Renewal SA said the site is considered ideal for a future restaurant, café, microbrewery or distillery.
“The Boiler House is in a prime location to leverage the growth of Tonsley Innovation District, which now boasts 1,700 staff, more than 8,000 students per year and a rapidly growing residential community, currently sitting at 260,” Mr Perry said.
“We are seeking a hospitality operator who is interested in adaptively reusing the Boiler House and honouring its industrial heritage.”
The site is close to a new train station, Flinders University and TAFE SA as well as the new Tonsley Village residential development to the north, which at completion will house more than 1,600 new residents. In addition, construction has already commenced on a new wetland and greenway while there is a proposal to build a retail precinct and supermarket at Tonsley.
Expressions of interest are being taken by CBRE and the EOI period closes on Thursday 6 May 2021 at 2.00pm (ACDT).