Jane Lomax-Smith spoke after plans released on Friday revealed a developer had applied to demolish the local heritage-listed Crown & Anchor to build a 19-storey, 700 bed student housing block on the East End site.

While the historic Grenfell St hotel and longstanding live music venue owned by Adelaide’s Karidis Corporation would be gutted under the plan, Singapore developer Wee Hur Holdings planned to appease heritage planning concerns by retaining the front and side walls and restoring them to their 1920s appearance.

Examples of “facadism” can be found around the former East End Market sites, along Pirie and Grenfell streets and Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Lomax-Smith said the issue “highlights the problem this city has with heritage”.

The Crown & Anchor hotel would be destroyed and only the facade left under a bid for a 19-storey apartment block. Image: Brown Falconer/PlanSA

“Those hideous ideas; you keep the front wall and therefore that’s heritage – it looks hideous,” she told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning.

“It isn’t heritage. It doesn’t preserve the culture, and the point about heritage is it’s about us as individuals wanting to be in a place as having our social and cultural history honoured.

“If we’re not careful, the only people that will like Adelaide will be developers who’ve made money out of it.”

Adelaide City Council has no power over Wee Hur Holdings’ application, which will be considered by the State Commission Assessment Panel.

State planning laws do not take a building’s social or cultural heritage into account, and a heritage assessment of the Crown & Anchor commissioned by the developer found the 19-storey tower would not “dominate, encroach on or unduly impact” on the site.

Adelaide Labor MP Lucy Hood has posted a photo of herself in front of the threatened hotel, holding a letter she is sending to residents explaining that SCAP and not the state government would judge the application.

Hood gives guidance on making a public submission on the plan, saying it was “incredibly important” and that she and her team were available for anyone who needed help.

Hood also invited public feedback, saying it would inform her own submission on the controversial development.

It comes amid a grassroots campaign against the developer’s plan, spearheaded by the Save The Cranker Facebook page.

A rally will be held on Sunday, with organisers planning to march from the hotel to Parliament, led by a truck with a band playing on the back.

Image: Save The Cranker/Facebook

Public submissions on the proposed development, which address the application on specific planning considerations, can be sent to www.plan.sa.gov.au/en/public_notices until midnight on May 10, 2023.