Invest in Unley

Immediately south of Adelaide’s CBD, Unley is one of 18 metropolitan councils that make up the Greater Adelaide metropolitan area. Unley is South Australia’s most established, densely populated and highly sought after areas. For a business, investor, developer or family looking to establish a future in a strong, stable and affluent environment, the City of Unley really is a community of possibilities.

Our residential neighbourhoods include South Australia’s most prestigious addresses and desirable postcodes. Our cultural life is active and rich, with locals able to access regular festivals, markets, community and sporting events, all within one of the safest communities in Australia.

Within Unley are five unique business districts clustering around the five main transport corridors leading from the south into Adelaide’s CBD. Each of these business districts has a unique culture and vibe and as such are recognised as presenting distinctive opportunities for shoppers and investors alike. 

Additional opportunities exist on our boundary roads such as Greenhill Road, Anzac Highway, South Road and Glen Osmond Road, where we are seeing residential uplift and high levels of employment.

Whatever your goals and ambitions, we hope to partner with you and realise your possibilities here in the City of Unley.

For more information about investment opportunities in the City of Unley, please phone Peter Hughes or Peter Tsokas on +61 8 8372 5104.

To find out what the City of Unley has to offer you, view our economic profile online.

The Unley Council has a pro-active ‘help, not hinder’ attitude to development, and is continually seeking to create greater local opportunities for visionary businesses and investors.

With strong support from the Government of South Australia, which is introducing many legislative reforms to encourage growth in the state’s urban centre, the City of Unley has enormous scope for new development, infrastructure and services. High-value aged care facilities and exclusive apartment developments are just a couple of the emerging opportunities.

The government has reduced stamp duty on ‘off the plan’ inner-city apartment purchases making them more attractive to buyers, allowed greater height limits of buildings in some locations and reduced red tape streamlining the bureaucratic process. Several important projects are currently underway or in the final stages of approval, paving the way for ambitious development activity.

King William and Goodwood Road revitalisation projects

Major revitalisation projects were initiated for the King William Road and Goodwood Road precincts in 2014 and 2015, with upgrades totalling in excess of $15 million. These will include:

• Pedestrian friendly environments
• Temporary and opportunistic space activation as well as permanent enhancements to facilitate outdoor dining
• Undergrounding of powerlines and upgrades to streetscapes, including new public art

Unley Central Precinct 

The Unley Central Precinct Plan explores the potential for:

• Higher and denser building forms to achieve new commercial and residential developments in and around the District Centre
• Quality mixed use developments
• Improvements to the public realm and movement throughout the area
• Refining major traffic and transport routes to enhance the viability and convenience of public transport
• Creating a model Age Friendly precinct – a precinct where people of all ages can live together.

Rich Community Heritage

Although firmly focused on encouraging and facilitating the City of Unley’s continued economic growth and development, we’re equally mindful of the need to do so without detracting from the rich, multicultural heritage of our City.

Key to our vision of sustainable development is the need to recognise and reinforce the streetscape and building character, iconic brand and vibrancy of the City’s distinct villages and neighbourhoods by:

• Retaining valued and architecturally significant building
• Sensitively incorporating new complementary higher-density, mixed-use developments
• Improving the City’s liveability, with enhanced local facilities, services and pedestrian-friendly roads with less traffic
• Encouraging enhanced public transport, cycling and walking networks 

 

The City of Unley presents an endless number of business opportunities, backed by a highly visible marketing program that highlights the City as the State’s premier destination for unique shopping experiences. 

With a unique mix of cutting edge fashion and design, homewares, services, and award winning cafes and restaurants, the City of Unley is truly where you will ‘find your everything’.

The City of Unley contains five of the best-known and most prestigious main-street precincts in South Australia: King William Road, Unley Road, Goodwood Road, Glen Osmond Road and Fullarton Road.

These bustling strips contain three small malls – the Metro Shopping Centre, Unley Shopping Centre, and Arkaba Shopping Centre. But the majority of retail activity is spread out along the main thoroughfares, where a vividly diverse range of businesses enjoy lower property and rental costs than their CBD counterparts, and high volumes of passing traffic and local resident support.

Many possibilities also exist on our boundary roads. Greenhill road for example, is a premier CBD fringe commercial and office precinct with added potential as an emerging premier residential address with its enviable location, access to services and amenities, and views.

Support for small business

A range of services and support is available for businesses in the area, such as:

• Mainstreet Trader Associations
• Networking events
• Business support and training through the Eastside Business Enterprise Centre

With a highly skilled workforce, cutting edge research and development, competitive labour costs, and strong collaboration between community, government, industry and academia, South Australia really is a place where your business can innovate and grow.

So why would you want to invest in South Australia?

• Australia’s top resources investment destination and the centre of Australia’s wind and solar power industries
• A leading agriculture region, with world-renowned premium food and wine exports
• A strong manufacturing base, including submarines, warships and high-value, advanced manufacturing – particularly in the health, medical devices and electronics sectors
• A world-class education system, with leaders in research and development 
• Encouragement for innovative investments towards achieving a carbon neutral future with net zero emissions expected in South Australia by 2050.

• Building on our partnership with Alliance Française and our sister-city relationship with the town of Pozières;
• Hosting French-themed festivals and events, such as Alliance Française annual French Markets;
• Offering French translation services to businesses, and encouraging traders to have shop signs in French;
• Partnering with Wayville-based Alliance Française d’Adelaïde language and cultural school to create a new resource centre in Unley; and
• Lobbying the State Government to select a primary school in Unley to base its French language school. The government has elected Highgate Primary School and Unley High School as the first bilingual schools in Adelaide.