Will patience pay off for owner of 16 Adelaide units?

2A Warwick Ave, Kurralta Park could be a developer’s dream.
2A Warwick Ave, Kurralta Park could be a developer’s dream.

He spent years slowly purchasing and personally improving every unit in this circa 1962 Kurralta Park apartment block.

Now the vendor that’s selling this immaculately maintained group of 16 one-bedroom strata-titled homes has found himself sitting on an investment and development hotspot.

The block was recently given urban corridor zoning, meaning it is ripe for rebuilding, according to selling agents Martin Betts and Matthew Anand, of Turner Real Estate.

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Urban Corridor sites offer easy access to the CBD and are suitable for major infill. This property’s marketing material suggests it would be suitable for “medium to high-density development”.

Betts says it is the most flexible zoning a property can have.

The property is only 5km from the CBD.

He understands this particular site at 2A Warwick Ave could be demolished and rebuilt as a multi-story mix of commercial and residential dwellings.

“You could get 30 to 40 apartments on there, depending on the design of it,” Betts says. He also suggests the ground floor of a new complex could be ideal for a community service provider, such as a childcare centre or medical practice.

Betts says he and Anand have had strong inquiries from a mix of local developers and investors interested in purchasing the block, which will go to auction next month.

“The level of interest has taken us by surprise,” he says.

All of the apartments come fully furnished and Mr Betts says the vendor has been using them for a mix of short and long-term accommodation, taking good care of them along the way.

“The owner goes there himself- it has taken him time to acquire it.

The apartments have been well maintained.

“He’s just a family man and investor and he’s still down there cleaning them — he’s done a lot.”

The units have been appraised as having rental income potential of $230 per week each (or $191,000 each per year), according to the marketing material.

But Betts says some of the short-term rentals have attracted significantly more than this amount.

The apartments have been well maintained.

“The tenants have been a real mix of students and people with short-term work. Plus there’s a couple of long-term tenants,” he says.

While the property is being sold as one package, Mr Betts says there is subdivision potential.

The block is located right next to a shopping centre, a mere five kilometres from Adelaide’s CBD and less than five kilometres from Adelaide Airport.

It also has easy access to Glenelg via Anzac Highway.

It will go to auction on Friday, August 9.

This article from adelaidenow originally appeared as “1960s Kurralta Park apartment block is a development hotspot”.