eKourier April 2020

FEATURE

NEW LIFE FOR THE ADELAIDE MAIL

S hortly after we opened our first Adelaide centre in Panorama in 2000, I was driving through the CBD and noticed this huge concrete and brick box. This enormous building dominates everything around it. It was built-for and used-by Australia Post as a mail sorting centre, serving the Adelaide CBD postal customers. I noticed it particularly because it was also perfectly suited to adaptive re-use for a KSS centre. Securing locations for our business in a CBD market is always very difficult. They are often too expensive as we compete with commercial, retail and residential buyers. The strong residential and commercial activity as well as high barriers entry for competitors means these CBD markets are always attractive. Opportunities are rare. Since its original design, construc- tion and use the postal business has been impacted by one the worlds greatest technological disruptions - email. The building eventually became obsolete. Australia Post mostly now ship parcels which require large single level warehouses, and large truck access. Over the following years, I would continue to drive-by and see if there were any changes in the use or signs Above: KSS Artist Impression. Right: As it stands today

the property would ever come on market. The decline of the letter postal business has been well known for some time. It did seem inevitable. THIS MASSIVE BUILDING CONSISTS OF FIVE LEVELS IN EXCESS OF 4,100 SQUARE METRES EACH, PLUS A BASEMENT So finally in late 2019, over 15 years since first seeing it, the property finally came to market. Pleasingly we were successful in the acquisition. This massive building consists of five levels in excess of 4,100 square metres each, plus a basement. In addition, most of the roof is actually concrete and holds an extensive range of air conditioning and ventilation systems to service the building. The concrete roof could eventually also be developed and would provide approximately 3,000 square metres of additional floor space, but this is not envisaged in the immediate future. The basement is a further 1,700 square metres containing a back up generator, ‘ ‘

diesel tanks and two large secure vaults.

Maybe the generator will be useful if South Australia has another black-out! All combined, the existing gross floor area for the entire building is 23,832 square metres. We plan to convert the building in to a mixed-use development. On the ground floor, we will do large storage spaces and enterprise spaces, KSS office and retail spaces on the street front. On the upper levels, we will re-use existing offices for commercial use, build enterprise spaces and typical self storage spaces. The vaults will likely find a future use for gun storage and deposit boxes. The basement will also be an ideal space for more wine storage. In the end, our mixed-use and self storage development will ultimately have over 15,000 square metres of rentable area. This is a large and exciting project which will take a number of years to build-out and fill. The conversion project will commence in late 2021 when Australia Post finally vacate and move to their new warehouse in Wingfield. Our opening is expected in 2022. Sam Kennard Chief Executive Officer

6 Kennards Kourier April 2020