One of Adelaide’s most essential music venues, the Crown & Anchor hotel – affectionately dubbed “The Cranker” – has been saved from demolition.
The announcement was made by South Australia’s Premier, Peter Malinauskas.
Addressing the crowd at another “Save The Cranker” rally yesterday (18 August), Malinauskas stated that the Crown & Anchor would exist as a live music venue “forevermore”. The state government also promises to draft new laws to “save” the Cranker and other music venues from development.
“Together, we have saved the Cranker,” Malinauskas wrote on Facebook yesterday.
“This is what can happen when Government works in partnership with the private sector and the community so we can achieve a win-win-win outcome.
“The developer will abandon its plans to demolish all but the facade of the live music hotel.
“So the Crown and Anchor can continue as a live music venue.”
Malinauskas added that the South Australian government will prepare a “special-purpose legislation” to ensure that the Crown & Anchor hotel “cannot be demolished, that it cannot be built over, and that its current land use as a hotel and live music venue will be preserved.”
With the forthcoming legislation, the developer—Wee Hur—will be able to build on the site adjoining the hotel, and SA’s State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) “will assess the application within ten business days of the development application being lodged.”
Malinauskas concluded, “Subject to approval, Wee Hur will invest a further $150 million in the development to provide safe and secure accommodation to students in higher education while preserving the Crown and Anchor operation as a hotel.”
Fight To Save Crown And Anchor Heats Up With Council Motion
The SA government reached a deal with Singaporean development company Wee Hur to allow a high rise proposed for the Crown & Anchor site to be built nearby. The high rise is set to be 29 storeys – ten more than initially planned.
While the state government and consistent supporters of the Cranker worked to secure its future, there’s, unfortunately, a catch: the government stated that the venue might be forced to close for up to two years while development occurs next door, ABC reports.
Fight To Save The Crown & Anchor Draws 3,000 Protestors
Back in March, The Music reported that the Crown & Anchor was in danger of being partially demolished and turned into student accommodation.
Wee Hur reportedly proposed “partial demolition and adaptive reuse” of the listed buildings—including the Cranker—and an “ancillary shop on the ground floor and associated amenities, services and landscaping.”
Adelaide is Australia’s first and only UNESCO City of Music. The organisation aims to preserve the city’s cultural heritage, advocate for the value of music, promote South Australian artists globally, and connect the South Australian music scene to the UNESCO Creative Cities network.
