The plans, lodged by Sydney-based developer Equinox Property (75 KWS) Pty Ltd, would see the vacant six-storey office building at 75-79 King William Street retained and refurbished with an additional four storeys built on top of it.

A ground-level retail area and basement restaurant also feature in the new hotel proposal, which was submitted to PlanSA on September 25 with hopes of obtaining planning approval before Christmas.

If successful, the project would activate a CBD corner site that has been vacant for more than five years and become a target for vandalism and graffiti.

The old Adelaide Metro infocentre on the corner of King William and Currie Street. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

The development plan for 75-79 King William Street. Image: Loucas Zahos Architects/supplied

The building was last occupied by an Adelaide Metro ticketing and information centre; the state government exited the site on September 13, 2019, and it has been vacant ever since.

The 10-storey hotel proposal comes after a much more ambitious plan for a 39-storey “Wyndham Grand Adelaide Hotel” – which at the time would have been Adelaide’s tallest building – fell through due to financing issues.

The original tower stood at 132-metres tall and featured 266 hotel rooms, 78 apartments and two restaurants. The State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) approved the project in 2018, but it was downsized to 36 storeys in 2021 before it was shelved entirely.

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The original plan for the old Adelaide Metro ticket centre. Image: supplied

Architect Michael Loucas of Loucas Zahos Architects worked on both the Wyndham Grand project and the current 10-storey proposal on behalf of Equinox Property.

He said the original 39-storey plan “became difficult from a number of angles, including funding and scope”.

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“This is a more modest development and much more achievable from the client’s perspective,” he said.

“[It] utilises, from an efficiency point of view, the existing quite strong bones of what’s there right now, and we’re building up on that.”

Loucas said the 10-storey building can be constructed much faster than the Wyndham Grand, estimating a construction time of 14 months compared to 40.

Image: Loucas Zahos Architects/supplied

He said the project would go out to tender in the new year with construction scheduled to begin between July and September 2025.

“Whilst less ambitious, I think for this particular client in the present economic environment it’s viable and a project that they’re keen and we’re keen to get on with,” Loucas said.

“It’s been subject to a lot of vandalism over the last three or four years, and that’s been an ongoing challenge for the owner to keep at bay.

The King William Street facade of the former Adelaide Metro infocentre. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

The Currie and King William Street facades of the redeveloped 10-storey hotel. Image: Loucas Zahos Architects/supplied

“There’s been graffiti and damage to the building, so I think once we can activate it with a long-term use – the other nice thing about a hotel is it’s 24/7 monitored, it’ll be a nice addition and also… will become a much more engaged part of the city rather than at the moment where it’s a target for vandalism and other city problems.”

Loucas said the hotel is hoping to attract “luxury type tenants” to activate the ground level retail space and a canopy will be installed over the King William and Currie Street footpaths. The two upper levels of the building will hold hotel suites, he added.

The four-storey addition is an attempt to “provide a contrast… between what the existing building is and the new addition”, Loucas said.

“The new addition is a lightweight addition to the building,” he said.

“It’s lightweight visually and also literally, so the structure is such that the building does not get overloaded.

“There will be and there has been engineering by (engineering consultants) RBG… to ensure the existing structure can support the addition.

“And we’ve kept the building as simple as neat and worked with the existing façade that’s there.”

The Currie Street facade of the former Adelaide Metro infocentre. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

The King William Street facade of the 10-storey hotel proposal. Image: Loucas Zahos Architects/supplied

Equinox Property has been the long-term owner of 75-79 King William Street and was behind the original Wyndham Grand Adelaide project.

The company’s director and secretary is Kaichang Mai of Guangdong China, according to ASIC records, with a registered business address in Point Piper, Sydney.

The Wyndham Grand Adelaide is one of many ambitious Adelaide hotel projects that fell over amid issues related with COVID-19 and financing.

Among the shelved plans include a bid to bring back the Hyatt brand to Adelaide with a new hotel on Gawler Place, a 16-storey hotel project behind the King’s Head Hotel in the southern CBD, and a 55-level, 180-metre-tall hotel and apartment tower that was slated for the corner of Pulteney and Flinders Street.