The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is set to spend at least $73.4 million to relocate its Adelaide offices into Festival Tower Two, Adelaide's first skyscraper currently under construction behind South Australia's Parliament House. The move, approved with the lease at the current premises expiring in November 2027, involves downsizing office space by about 40 percent—from 31,000 square metres to 19,000 square metres—which the ATO says will deliver "substantial long-term property cost savings."

Currently, the ATO and its more than 2,200 South Australian staff occupy levels four to 17 of an office complex at 26 Franklin Street, built in 2012 with a $54.2 million fit-out. The ATO has agreed to occupy 11 floors of the Walker Corporation development at Festival Tower Two.

However, the move has drawn criticism. Mr Hayter, a former director at Colliers International and member of the Save Festival Plaza Alliance opposing the development, described both the rent and the $73.4 million fit-out as "extravagant." He questioned the need to vacate the relatively new Franklin Street building, owned by Charter Hall, noting that while a 15-to-20-year lifespan for an office fit-out is typical, it is "hard to see that it's completely run its life" and that some of the existing fit-out "may well be... still usable with a bit of refurbishment."

The ATO, in a submission to the federal parliament's public works committee, countered that extending the lease at 26 Franklin Street "would not represent value for money" due to the building's "aging fit-out" requiring "a significant refresh to provide fit-for-purpose accommodation." The new office space is being promoted as "the best building in Adelaide," though critics question the necessity of the ATO occupying such premium space.

The relocation remains a subject of public and parliamentary scrutiny amid concerns over expenditure and the impact of the controversial Festival Tower Two development.

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