#VISION Liberal's railyard plan: new stadium & entertainment

[rhino]

it plays to the public's hang ups about entertainment, but for me personally its hard to justify spending big on all of this then skimping medical facility spending down to a 'patch-up'. It also doesnt really add much to Adelaide, apart from about 3 hotels: the plan looks great, but it seems to hinge on just replacing what are currently good, workable facilities with new versions of them for no apparent good reason than shifting them.

This pretty much sums it up. Sure, it looks great, but is it worth it, considering we've already got it all? Astro Boy also made some very relavent comments re the rail lines, which don't seem to have been taken into account at all, it's as if the planner had no idea of what is required in that field, and never bothered to find out if his idea was feasible before publishing it. I don't think it's a vote changer, but it could be if no-one of note points out the faults to a public that is all too eager to chase shiny hollow baubles.

[muzzamo]

it's as if the planner had no idea of what is required in that field

One mistake that crops up on this forum time and time again is failure to distinguish between thorough planning and concept work. I think the mistake you have made is to assume that this is a thorough plan. There are a million different problems that need to be anticipated in the planning process beyond simply the height of the trains and almost none of them are addressed in the concept stage. To give you an idea, the concept work for this would cost in the order of 10s of thousands of dollars and the detailed planning for something like this would cost in the order of 10s of millions.

I'm not a particular supporter of this concept either though

[Nort]

I would love for that to exist, but there is bugger all chance of it happening even if the Liberals do win.

New cinemas? Videogame arcades? A new snowdome? What makes those things economically feasible for private operators now? There is already a pretty damn good cinema complex sitting on Hindley street that is now used as a church. Arcades have disapeared from the city for much the same reason. There is already all the infrastructure for a snowdome just a few hundred meters down the road, again not used because the financials just don't work out.

A sports hub built by reusing an old gaol? A planning nightmare.

Not to mention the sillyness of replacing an entertainment center that has just in the last few weeks been upgraded!

If some mega-billionaire came in and decided to finance this entire thing as one piece then it could potentially work, as a real world development it will never happen though and reeks of desperation and just throwing every possible idea onto paper.

[Nathan]

It seems to me that most of this plan contains things that should be built and run by private operators. What in the world is the (potential) government doing proposing cinemas, snowdomes and not 1, not 2, but 3 hotels?

[rhino]

That tall spirally hotel near the proposed new interstate passenger terminal, the one in the flight path ... hang on ... have the rules changed? Oh, that's right, it's just a concept - it doesn't have to be anything like this.

[russo92]

This is a mind blowingly brilliant plan, almost fell off my chair with excitement. Has everything I could have wanted for the CBD, even boutique shopping and Cinema/entertainment facilities. Riverside motherf****r!! - song could be used for promotions? When I look at it, the only problem I see, like what rhino said, is the height restrictions that would prevent that amazing tower from being constructed.

However, I too pose the same questions overs have on this thread. Number one who's going to pay for and build it, Number 2 is it viable to actually build to this capacity over the railway lines, thats a shit load of buildings on a suspended level of ground (However probably wouldnt be impossible? Look at the Hyatt/Convetion Centre or Fed Square in Melbourne), Number 3, is the cities population actually big enough to sustain it? Melbourne has 4 million + people plus tourists to help fill out its entire southbank precint, I don't know, seems a bit of a stretch with the 1.2 mil Adelaide has, though in retrospect the amount of adolescents my age and younger I see wondering the streets of the CBD, or looking for parties or anything to do on a friday and saturday night, it would seem like the number 1 place to be, as well as no doubt an expensive family outing...

[Denny Crane]

G'day guys. You really need to look at the Liberal Policy with regard to this precinct to understand what this plan represents. This is a mock-up of what "could be" not what "will be" should the Liberals win government. What Isobel Redmond is saying is that this is the wrong site for a hospital. This is the last piece of Riverfront real estate in Adelaide, and the present Labor Government wants to waste it with a hospital. I challenge anyone to take away Melbourne's Crown Casino, or Sydney's Opera House or Brisbane's South Bank and replace these world class tourist facilities that are icons in their respective city's with a bloody hospital! You wouldn't!! The fact is that we're are so used to "second-best" and mediocrity in Adelaide that we have stopped dreaming.

Isobel has not committed to building any of this, but has committed to keeping the vision for a world-class sporting and entertainment precinct alive. She has promised to build a stadium and relocate Keswick. Many of you that have commented are quite right, the government will not be building private facilities like cinemas and shops, however, the government does need to provide the framework and the infrastructure to allow the private sector to flourish and get on with the job of making money.
I'm disappointed in the small-town mentality of many of you who simply brand this and many other proposals in Adelaide as "pie in the sky" or "never going to happen". The cynicism that you disguise as "being realistic" is the very reason that Adelaide does not have world class facilities and is still being ruled by dead-people like William Light.

And, if I can correct a couple of you that have pointed out issues that would ordinarily be dealt with at a design-development phase of a project:
1. The Adelaide Gaol will not be demolished. It is Heritage Listed. Living in Adelaide as long as we all have we should know the meaning of that phrase by now, surely. It will in fact form part of a new sports precinct that will be strategically located next to a stadium and transport hub, where it belongs - not at Gepps Cross.

2. The facilities that we would be replacing are not "perfectly okay" at all. And please don't mistake the new entrance of the Entertainment Centre as a redevelopment. All we have there is a giant multi-colored soccer ball and a new theatre for smaller shows. That facility is a tired old pig, its not in the city, and by the time this is done, even the new entrance will look tired. trust me.

3. As for the trains, people that are going to comment on this should go and have a look at the site, its depth, length width, the heights of bridges that trains have to currently pass under, and other things of the like. The fact is, the government of the day will hire a company like Coffey Rail that do nothing but solve issues like this and they will resolve the problems that could potentially arise. I don't think that they will be solved on this forum.

4. Commercial reality. People, lets be real. We're are not building anything new. We are simply looking to relocate and consolidate existing "profitable" assets that already exist all over the city. If they are profitable now in the burbs, then they'll be profitable here in the CBD where they belong. Remember, the big part of any feasibility for a developer is the cost of the land. Here, the land is virtually free. This proposal is not as far-fetched as it looks. Especially when the government has already said they will re-zone the land at Gepps Cross, West Lakes, Hindmarsh and Keswick and sell it to developers over the next 25 years in order to pay for the infrastructure that will bring this precinct to fruition.

Its important to dream my friends. This is why children are happy and many adults are not!

[russo92]

I'm not going to pass judgement on this, as again it's just a vision, there's no real information here as to how it can be justified from a business sense.

Instead I'm just going to go and vote Liberal because they are promising me half of Disneyland.
Awesome! Will I need to buy a new Annual Pass or can I use my Anaheim pass?

Ahahahahaha shit it is too! I thought it seemed a bit too full, and too 'amusement park like'. Can't believe people didnt pick it up right away. who the hell actually designed this, a proper company or someone in the liberals with some fancy photoshop and publisher skills?

[muzzamo]

I'm not going to pass judgement on this, as again it's just a vision, there's no real information here as to how it can be justified from a business sense.

Instead I'm just going to go and vote Liberal because they are promising me half of Disneyland.

Riverside.jpg

Awesome! Will I need to buy a new Annual Pass or can I use my Anaheim pass?

Well done. I'm tipping Crikey off about this.

[Howie]

Sorry apparently that was a work in progress. Will have the current version up shortly. Cheers

[muzzamo]

Sorry apparently that was a work in progress. Will have the current version up shortly. Cheers

I find this hard to believe. How close is your contact in the libs? It sounds more like they are pulling it and quickly patching it up now that it has been discovered that they used disneyland!

[Howie]

Well this one's titled 07 (press quality), the other was 03 or something. Looks like it'd take a bit of time to change that bit.. you can see for yourself, i've just uploaded it.

[Pistol]

Looks like a nice patched up job.
How are they going to get any of this approved when they are encroaching more and more onto parklands?

Not at all a vote changer.

[The Scooter Guy]

Riverside would be a very nice hotel complex! Even the fountains & fun park impress me!
RIVERSIDE, MOTHER F***ER!!

[Briggzy_03]

So it's the same vision released a few months ago with a little more explanation. I know they can't do anything cement due to the costs etc but so far this seems pretty.... meh.

Initial thoughts:

Like
- Having hotels or even residential (perhaps) built up around the precinct, establishes a constant flow of people in the area.
- Roof covered stadium BUT not if it's at the expense of a new hospital...

Dislike
- No liberal love for memorial drive?
- Simply saying they will retain the heritage of the gaol but will somehow be able to plonk a building over it.
- Entertainment centre wont happen considering the recent (good) job done down the road.
- The whole grandeur, they seem to just grab at all common interests (sports, arts, cinema, leisure) with no kind of.. uniqueness.

I like their vision's premise and it's something that Adelaide deserves. But I don't know... the whole idea seems generic, I need more time to work out a clearer response.