94 -100 Mount Barker Rd, Leawood Gardens.
A rare near city landholding that’s bigger than some Adelaide suburbs is giving mum and dad buyers the upper hand over developers.
The massive 23.67ha Leawood Gardens property is expected to attract interest from those seeking to build just one landmark home or even a dual-residence estate.
But developers, who would normally pounce on an opportunity to buy a sizeable landholding so close to the CBD, have been effectively blocked from submitting a single offer, with the property’s hills face zone prohibiting subdivision.
“This cannot, under any circumstances, for now or for the foreseeable future, be subdivided into anything smaller than it actually is,’’ said selling agent Angelo Svic, of Klemich Real Estate.
94 -100 Mount Barker Rd, Leawood Gardens.
94 -100 Mount Barker Rd, Leawood Gardens.
“If the government said, ‘Yeah, let’s go (subdivide)’ then I would go and buy it myself.
“But there’s no option (for subdivision). I’ve inquired at length with the state government, as well as the local council, about subdivision (without success).
“This is for someone who wants to buy something (to build a home) to live in now.’’
Amid a national housing crisis and ongoing land shortages, Mr Svic agreed the zoning could upset some.
But it will be a welcome relief to others looking to purchase a generous lifestyle property, that comes with a price guide of $5m.
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Just 10km from the CBD via direct connection to the South Eastern Freeway, the property is positioned alongside the Mount Osmond golf course and surrounded by Cleland Conversation Park and Waterfall Gully.
Mr Svic said it was the biggest privately held landholding so close to the CBD.
It was even larger than some suburbs, he said, easily dwarfing Medindie Gardens and Thorngate and similar in size to Heathpool, in Adelaide’s east, which is home to almost 600 residents.
“To get something (another landholding) this big, you would have to go to Angle Vale or Virginia – there isn’t anything that big (that’s so close to the CBD elsewhere),’’ Mr Svic said.
For decades, the property has been owned by two brothers who planned to build a house on each title to live in however, those plans had now changed, he said.
94 -100 Mount Barker Rd, Leawood Gardens.
94 -100 Mount Barker Rd, Leawood Gardens.
A half-completed home, consisting largely of house frames and roof, sits on the smaller of the titles that is nearest the freeway.
Within 24 hours of listing, two “genuinely interested’’ buyers had emerged – one who wished to use the property as a retreat, complete with bike trails, for disadvantaged children and another who wanted to build a large home near to the golf course and park trucks used by his business on the remainder of the property.
The land was keenly sought by a wellness centre operator and several religious groups when it was previously listed two years ago but Mr Svic said no sale eventuated because the potential buyers had requested “unreasonable’’ conditions, including years-long settlement periods.
It was unlikely a traditional church could be built on the property, Mr Svic said, due to zoning requirements that prevented spires or other tall symbols or statues.
The hills face zone was created in 1967 to prevent suburban sprawl and protect the scenic backdrop, biodiversity and natural landscape of the Mounty Lofty Ranges.
Despite subdivisions being prohibited within the zone, which stretches more than 80km from near Sellicks Beach, in Adelaide’s south, to Gawler, in the north, there has reportedly been 11 land division applications approved by the State Planning Commission in the past decade.
– by Lauren Ahwan
English (US) · 