An interesting development on the 42-56 Franklin St site.

Grocon plan for 2000 worker tower on Franklin St

INTERSTATE property giant Grocon is coming to Adelaide, with plans for a multimillion dollar office tower at Telstra’s former telephone exchange building on Franklin St.

The Melbourne-based company confirmed this week it has been holding talks with the site’s current owner, Tritan Corporation’s Greg Molfetas.

The talks are about buying the block and turning it into The Atrium, a multi-storey office complex with the capacity for about 2000 workers.

It comes just weeks after Lord Mayor Michael Harbison announced plans to recruit a dedicated development staffer to liaise with the industry, following his previous vow to lure East Coast developers to boost the city’s skyline. He said the local industry was too suburban-focused and lacked the skills to build city apartments, therefore preventing the council from reaching its population target of 25,500 people by 2012.

Grocon, which was set up by Luigi Grollo in the 1950s, has built such major developments as Melbourne’s Crown Casino, the Melbourne Convention Centre and Melbourne University. Both parties were tight-lipped when contacted by the City Messenger this week, citing confidentiality agreements. An application to bulldoze the old telephone exchange for a $44 million, 17-storey building with six levels of carparks plus ground-floor shops was approved by Adelaide City Council in 2007.

The joint venture was lodged by the Tritan Corporation and Moritz Group, and while the telephone exchange was later demolished, the site is still empty. Last October another application was lodged by Ambitio for an eight-storey carpark within the same site, which has gone to the state’s Development Assessment Commission for assessment because it is more than $10 million.

Mr Molfetas, managing director of Tritan Corporation, declined to comment but Grocon Group’s development general manager Carolyn Viney confirmed the company had “agreed to the terms of purchase” with Mr Molfetas.

“We’re currently working with a number of groups as potential tenants for the building,” she said. “It’s a great location and we’d be very excited to work in Adelaide.”

Mr Harbison was aware of the plans and said it was “fantastic news” for SA: “It’s still very hush hush but if it came to pass it would be great,” he said. “Adelaide is the place to invest in Australia, the market is less volatile and underpinned by very strong demand.”

The Mortitz Group could not be contacted before the paper’s deadline.

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