Renewal SA is managing the sale of Highgate Park, along with agents JLL and Savills, on behalf of the Home for the Incurables Trust which owns the site.
The urban renewal authority completed its market sounding process late last year.
A Renewal SA spokesperson said the agency is now “finalising preparations” to release the site to market via an expression of interest process, which is expected to commence “in coming weeks”.
The property is expected to attract interest from a wide range of local and interstate developers for various potential outcomes that may include residential, seniors living, aged care, mixed use and high-end hotels.
“Renewal SA was very pleased wxjmtzywith the response from interested parties both locally and interstate,” the spokesperson said.
“We note further interest from interstate has emerged since the market sounding and as restrictions have eased.”
The spokesperson said the eventual purchaser will determine the future use and development of the site, subject to approvals.
“It is a unique offering in terms of location, size and existing built form, and the market will determine its value through the Expression of Interest process,” the spokesperson said.
“The property is expected to attract interest from a wide range of local and interstate developers for various potential outcomes that may include residential, seniors living, aged care, mixed use and high-end hotels.”
Proceeds from the land sale will be “strictly” earmarked to benefit people with disability, the State Government says.
Minister for Human Services Nat Cook is the sole trustee of the Trust which owns Highgate Park.
Cook said while the sale was a “complex undertaking”, it is being “driven by ongoing consultation with people living with disability, their families and their support workers”.
“The HFI Trust was established to support people living with disability and improve their quality of life – all sale proceeds will go towards this purpose,” she said in a statement.
JFA Purple Orange CEO Robbi Williams, whose disability organisation is advising the trust on its future governance and how to best use its incoming funds, said there wasn’t an expectation the site would be repurposed into a facility specifically for people with a disability.
“In terms of the perpetual trust, you obviously want to get as much money in as possible,” he said.
“If [the site] is converted in a way that produces as maximum a yield as possible to the Trust then we think that’s a good thing.”
He said the “only caveat” was ensuring the development “contributes to a sense of inclusion in Australian society and communities”.
“There’s nothing about what Renewal SA is saying that would in it of itself cut across that,” he said.
The Department of Human Services conducted two rounds of consultation on the Highgate Park site in 2020 calling for suggestions on the best way to repurpose the facility.
Among the recommendations the Department received were for purpose-built housing for people living with disability, a training centre for disability carers, a disability childcare centre or a disability recreation hub.
A DHS spokesperson said in March last year that “any decision on the future of the site will meet the Trust’s objectives to benefit people with disability, including any assets belonging to the trust”.
