Alarm for North Adelaide while another pillar closes

The liquidators were appointed to liquidate the Italian restaurant and caffe business yesterday after its owner terminated the lease, citing more than $ 330,000 of unpaid rent.

The Paesano group began its activities on the Cornu site in the 1980s before reopening and has become over the years an institution in northern Adelaide.

The bankruptcy of the company follows the closure of the Archer Hotel – located across the diagonal – a week ago.

The loss in two weeks of two long-established pillars of O'Connell Street has raised concerns about the future of North Adelaide's once thriving food and beverage scene.

"This could be the beginning of the end – or the beginning of the end," said Anne Moran, former city councilor and resident of North Adelaide Everyday morning, adding, "I hope not."

There is a deep problem that requires urgent and bold action.

North Adelaide's advisor, Phil Martin, said other O'Connell Street companies were also at risk of sinking.

"I know at least two other companies that have told me that they may have to close," he said.

"I doubt the information that was presented to me that they very much want to stay more than six months.

"The loss of the Archer and the closure of Paesano, as well as the impending closure of other businesses, is a sign that the board is grappling with a serious problem that requires urgent and bold action."

The North Adelaide Village Shopping Center, owned by developer Con Makris, terminated the lease of its bridge restaurant last Friday.

A notice of termination of the lease, posted on Paesano's storefront, indicates that the company did not pay $ 338,417 in rent.

The cancellation posted on the window of Paesano Cucina. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily

Accounting firm Hrvatin Koch was appointed yesterday to liquidate Paesano Cucina.

Director James Robertson said that it was too early to give a detailed description of the reasons for the bankruptcy of the company, but that this was late hire.

The Archer Hotel was placed under external administration last month, but failed to attract a buyer.

Moran and Martin both argued that the commercial rent charged on the O'Connell Street properties was often unreasonable and that the outlook for the street and suburbs was worrisome.

"The owners on O'Connell Street do not do favors on O'Connell Street … the rent is way too high," said Moran.

"The reasons for O'Connell Street's decline are many, as are those on Melbourne Street, Hutt Street and the country's main streets," said Martin.

"(But) that does not help the owners of O'Connell Street to ask what I consider to be unreasonable rents for a region that no longer provides the pedestrian traffic that it had had." Used to live. "

Martin argued that O'Connell Street was unique compared to the other major streets in trouble because Adelaide City Council now has the largest parcel of vacant lots there.

The council bought the former site of Le Cornu, which had been vacant for a long time, on the other side of the road, between archers Archer and Paesano last December.

Makris had owned the site and sold it to the board for $ 34 million (a price he claimed to be "significantly lower than its commercial value") but Everyday revealed in February cost several million dollars more than the highest professional valuation of the property).

The council has since established a set of guiding principles for territorial development and is seeking developers.

But Martin argued that a complete redevelopment of the Cornu site would arrive far too late for many businesses in O & # 39; Connell Street, and that the city council should quickly sell some of the land for attract new pedestrians to the area.

He argued that the process of identifying a developer and accepting the construction conditions would take years.

"It's time to stop talking about processes – it will probably take years to identify a savior who will redevelop the site to become an attractor," he said.

"(The council should) initiate the council for the development of an underground car park … and start selling individual plots on the site.

"Why do not we reduce it to smaller, more usable, on-site individual developments that would allow local South Australian businesses to enter?

He said the council's consultation process had clearly shown that people in northern Adelaide wanted an open space, a boutique hotel, parking and housing on this site.

Everyday tried to contact the owners of Paesano Cucina this morning.

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