The council’s Infrastructure & Public Works Committee on Tuesday considered a series of upgrades to the high-profile street, including fast-tracking footpath works next to the Eighty Eight O’Connell apartment development.

The plan also considered reduce speeds from 50km/h to 30km/h, stating that the 50km/h speed limit results in “a high frequency of rear end crash incidents at the Main North Road intersection”. 

Reduced speed limits are subject to approval from both the council and the Department of Transport. 

Cutting the speed limit and changing car parks is also the focus of changes to Hutt Street being considered by the council.

Eighty Eight O’Connell is built at the former Le Cornu site, which the council bought in 2018 for $34 million, and comprises two 12-storey-high towers and one 14-storey tower, due to be complete in mid-2025.

The footpath upgrades in front of the development, between Archer Street and Tynte Street will be the first works implemented as part of the overall main street upgrade to O’Connell, with the rest of the works slated for 2026.

The plans rely on the underground parking at Eighty Eight O’Connell to take the pressure off when their main street upgrade will limit street parking in peak hours.

The development, which reached its full height of about 61 metres in July, will include a below-ground car park, retail and hospitality tenancies, commercial suites, amenities and about 160 apartments. 

Render of the proposed three towers making up the Eighty Eight O’Connell development. Photo: Adelaide City Council

Between 7am and 9:30am, there will be no parking in 51 spaces at Southbound lanes on O’Connell. From 3pm to 6:30pm, there will be no parking in 48 at Northbound lanes. 

According to the plans, Eighty Eight O’Connell will have 116 publicly available parks and will be free for the first two hours, which results in no parking loss despite the new restrictions in peak hours. 

North Ward Councillor Mary Couros said she welcomed “long overdue” upgrades to the precinct but was concerned about parking, particularly as visitation to the North Adelaide precinct grows.

“Don’t forget, they’re going to have doctor surgeries in [Eighty Eight O’Connell], they’re going to have medical clinics, and that brings a whole range of people coming into the area as well,” she said.

“We need to be very mindful that we’ve actually thought about all of the aspects of the changes that are happening at Eighty Eight O’Connell.”

The view of the Eighty-Eight O’Connell development from Tynte Street. Photo: Adelaide City Council

The flagship tenant for Eighty Eight O’Connell is Italian food retailer Mercato, which has a store in Campbelltown. Their restaurant, bar and gourmet marketplace will occupy the entire retail space beneath the Tynte Street tower. 

Couros said that with increased visitation and new business she did not want to see parking pressure put on side streets.

“I haven’t seen what Mercato are doing, but my understanding is it’s going to be pretty special and, you know, that would create a big interest,” Couros said.

“Then you’ve got all the other small businesses, the ones that I do not want to be impacted are the ones the small businesses that we have already on O’Connell Street, they’re the ones that we’ve got to work in unison with so they have an understanding of how their customers are going to continue coming to their business, not just Eighty Eight O’Connell.

“We have to look at the precinct holistically overall.”

BEFORE: 

O’Connell Street, North Adelaide. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

AFTER:

The designs also include protected cycle lanes, increasing the number of trees, adding 510 square metres of garden beds and 13 raised road safety thresholds throughout the street. 

The proposed view looking west at Tynte Street intersection. Photo: City of Adelaide

The central median zone will be left free of any substantial work to allow for a future tram line extension down O’Connell Street in the future, according to the plans. 

The council agenda documents state the “design will continue to be serviceable and adaptable in the future when the tram network extension to North Adelaide is endorsed and adopted”.

The Adelaide City Council have been advocating for an extended tram network to North Adelaide and Prospect for years. 

“The tram will be very key to help with the load of people coming to North Adelaide,” Couros said.

“It would limit the people with being reliant on their car, the people that live in the area as well, and including people that are from Prospect, from the inner north, it would create more of a balanced approach in regards to accessibility into the city.

“But we need to take all of that into account. How many [people] do we expect? When is the tram coming? We don’t know. It could be another 10 years, what do we do in the meantime to help support the precinct?” 

The Malinauskas Government has not committed to the North Adelaide tram extension. 

The former Weatherill Labor Government pledged in 2018 to bring trams back to North Adelaide. Their tram extension project was a two-kilometre line running down O’Connell Street with stops at Adelaide Oval, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Archer Street and the Piccadilly Cinema.

A computer image of the Weatherill’s Government proposal to extend the tramline to North Adelaide. The project was shelved by the Marshall Government.

O’Connell is one of five main streets receiving an upgrade through the council’s Mainstreet Revitalisation Program, along with Gouger, Hindley, Hutt and Melbourne Streets. Final designs will be released publically for consultation before major works are undertaken. 

The O’Connell Street design has a budget of $1 million, with future costings to be determined by the council in 2025.