What does Adelaide really want from a redeveloped Hutt Street?
The car-dependent, city-fringe high street is enjoying a boost of life that traders say is at risk from the City of Adelaide’s potential redevelopment plans.
For the owner/operator of Bar Torino, Nick Favaro, being based in the CBD’s outskirts is part of Hutt Street’s magic, which he said was threatened by proposed City of Adelaide upgrades.
“I can finish work and go for a drink at Nowhere Bar, at the Havey, go to Latteria for a drink, I go to Mascavado every single morning for a coffee,” Favaro said.
“That is what I love about Hutt Street, and that is what we’ve all stuck this out for.
“We’re all here for the same reason: because you love the street. We’re not going anywhere, and we’re all very protective of it.”
Favaro said the street had gone through an “organic, emotional life cycle”.
“And we are now finally, in a position where we are seeing absolute profit growth after losing everything on the street,” he said.
“Everyone on the street has persevered, and we’re now seeing people coming back to the street, and it is creating absolute momentum, vibe and a culture.”
Richard Libralato, owner of Hutt Street’s Ideal Shoe Repairs, said “the highlight of this street for many, many years over the decades is the fact that we had a community, a precinct, that is in the CBD but not actually inner city”.
“But now they want to take it away,” Libralato said.
There are currently 132 car parking spaces on Hutt Street, but plans presented to the council’s Infrastructure and Public Works Committee in August last year suggested cutting them by more than half.
The plans said a reduction in parking would allow for wider footpaths for outdoor dining and improved pedestrian movement.
Other proposed changes to the street included doubling the amount of garden beds, improving street lighting and reducing the speed limit to 30km/h through the “village zone” between South Terrace and Carrington Street.
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The Hutt Street community were then consulted and asked to take part in the Hutt Street Revitalisation project, where 1039 survey respondents voted for their favoured revitalisation option.
Half of the respondents were City of Adelaide ratepayers (this includes residents and business owners), while 92 people attended community events, and 36 Hutt Street businesses attended a business forum.
56 per cent of survey respondents voted for option D, which would only retain 72 on-street parking bays. This option was the most favoured and changes the layout from 60-degree angle parking to parallel parking, and is estimated to cost $29.2 million.
Other features include a public lighting upgrade, additional greening, and improvements to existing tree pits, among others.
According to feedback, what respondents liked about option D was: protected and separated bike lanes, wider footpaths, greater opportunity for outdoor dining and activation, renewing the street and creating more opportunities for businesses.
Option A was the second most popular option, with nearly a quarter of survey respondents voting for it as their first preference.
Option A would retain the existing 60-degree angle parking with targeted footpath repair. This option will retain approximately 132 on-street car parks. There are approximately 20 car parking bays to be reduced to address existing non-compliances with the current Australian Standard for On-Street Parking and Austroads Guidelines. This option is expected to cost just over $700,000.
According to feedback from the respondents on Option A, they liked: retaining car parks, easy access to shops/services, retaining existing character and more.
There will also be minor enhancements to tree pits where possible without impacting parking bays if Option A is pursued.
The plans are still subject to a council decision, but $465,000 has been allocated in the council’s 2025–26 budget to further detail designs and construction.
Libralato said the plans being proposed were causing uncertainty among traders.
“It’ll have an impact, we don’t know how much,” Libralato said.
“People still want to drive – we’re on the way, on the fringe of the CBD, we’re not Uber-ing to Peel Street, Leigh Street. We’re Hutt Street and that’s the biggest thing,” Favaro said.
“You cannot get a park on a Friday night [on Hutt Street]. Let’s say it’s eight something o’clock here, you cannot get a park here anyway, so I don’t know where you are going to park,” Tim Possingham, Adelaide Motorsport Festival event director, said.
“We are human beings. We are drawn to the easiest solution for something. If there is a shoe repair – although [Ideal Shoe Repairs] is iconic – or someone just wants to get something basic done somewhere, and it’s like ‘I can just pull up and run in, drop the shoes off and leave’, rather than having to come in and do a 30km/h zone and maybe the roads going in this direction this time…where can I park?’
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“They may choose to do something else.”
According to feedback from the community, a protected cycle path was respondents’ highest priority, followed by retention of on-street parking provision, then increased activity zones and pedestrian areas.
But business owners are worried that removing car parks isn’t in line with where the future of hospitality is going.
“If we’re in Christmas time, where is everyone parking? Are you going to carpool, are you going to Uber? No people usually drive in,” Favaro said.
“Not everyone drinks. [People can say] ‘Oh everyone Ubers in’. Hang on; we’re actually moving to non-alcoholic beverages.
“I understand the ideology of having more safe riding, and that can be incorporated into the street. I don’t know why that can’t be done. That seems a pretty manageable thing.
“The speed of the street going down, that’s all manageable – that isn’t going to affect us at the end of the day.
“But limiting people from coming to Hutt St [through] parking or…whatever they’re doing – if they’re going to the chemist, to see [Ideal Shoe Repairs], they’re going to Latteria, they’re going anywhere.
“If you reduce that, you’re hurting traders, and that is the biggest thing.”
Fewer car parks would also make the street less accessible, traders worried.
“[Ideal Shoe Repairs] caters a lot for elderly [and] disability, because we do orthopaedic work. We do work for NDIS. So, if you’ve got a slight disability, or you’re disabled, it’s just making it harder and harder to get down the street,” Libralato said.
“I know the argument is that if they make the footpath wider, it makes it easier for them to get down. But where are they going to come from?
“They’re not going to be able to ride a bike here. I know half of my clients wouldn’t.”
There are currently four existing accessible parking spaces that, at a minimum, would be retained and upgraded to current standards within the project area.
The City of Adelaide recently adopted the Integrated Transport Strategy, which includes a ‘measure of success’ as one accessible parking space per 50 on-street parking spaces across the City of Adelaide by 2036.
Favaro is worried these new plans for Hutt Street don’t “play to the strengths” of Adelaide, as it’s not catered to drivers.
“I think that they just need to think about not what they’d really like the city to be like, but in reality, what it needs,” Possingham said.
“Strengthen what it is, don’t make it what it’s not,” Favaro said.
“Understand what we are. Understand the abilities and restrictions of Adelaide as we are.
“We are what we are – you can’t change that – and just play to the strengths. That’s what makes Adelaide great.”
The council is expected to discuss the plans at a meeting on Tuesday.
