Boomers warm to ‘wooden’ apartment community living project
LOS ANGELES: A 100-home, $80m building featuring million-dollar apartments above a multistorey health centre has been revealed as one of the final pieces of Bowden’s urban renewal.
Adelaide developer Otello has been chosen for its “bold” project that mixes luxury housing with wellness facilities including physical therapy and pilates and a residents’ workshop, opposite Bowden Park.
The Gibson St building will feature a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments ranging from $530,000 up to $1.4m and more than 100 carparks for residents and guests, constructed around a mass-timber frame.
The health and wellness facilities will include a dedicated pilates centre, hot and cold pools, saunas and healthy food and drink options.
The project includes a ground-floor cafe, residents’ workshop and space for about 150 bicycles.
The communal workshop will include large workbenches, bike repair equipment and essential tools, shared space for practical tasks and creative projects and dedicated dog wash area.
To be known as Flowe Bowden, Otello’s vision was selected by Renewal SA from eight proposals for the land, which is one of the last remaining development sites in the city-fringe precinct.
Designed by Melbourne architects Fieldwork, the building will face Bowden Park, the community’s central meeting place, and food and retail precinct Plant 4.
Its revolutionary design incorporates natural materials built around a mass-timber frame.
The engineered, cross-laminate timber – or CLT – is being used more and more in residential projects.
The first high-rise in Australia constructed with CLT – which has much a lower carbon footprint – was the 10-storey Forte Apartment building at Docklands in 2012.
Usually the foundation and ground floor are made with concrete and steel while the factory-compacted CLT is used in the upper levels.
The Flowe site is currently home to the Adelaide Bike Kitchen, which the state government is helping to find a new home.
The vibrant volunteer bicycle hub has an extended lease until April but was notified last year it would need to move.
Housing Minister Nick Champion said Flowe’s health and wellness centre would be “bring the community together”.
Some apartments will have views of the CBD, Hills and the coast, 20 will be priced as affordable housing and 16 set as disability accommodation.
Expressions of interest open soon ahead of construction starting mid-2026.
Work started in December on a 12-storey affordable housing development on Third St, also opposite Plant 4, with 80 homes and 221 parking spots.
Otello has committed to a 5-Star Green Star rating for Flowe and will target electric-vehicle charging and double-glazed windows.
It expects to create up to 70 ongoing jobs at the wellness centre and around 200 construction jobs.
One development parcel in Bowden remains unsold, while another is under negotiation.
Along with Melbourne developer MAB’s adjoining Brompton Gasworks site, Bowden is on track to be home to more than 5300 people by 2035.
Otello was contacted for comment.
