Comiskey Warns Time’s Almost Up to Beat Games Construction Crunch

The Olympics are six years away and property sector big guns are warning the clock is ticking for South-East Queensland’s building boom opportunity. If finding tradies wasn’t hard enough now, the River City’s tilers, plasterers and builders are about to be swept into state-run Games projects. Comiskey Group director Rob Comiskey says there is no way to fill the demand for workers in the state. The group is a prolific developer and major player in the hospitality and retail sectors. Its portfolio includes major venues such as the Eatons Hill Hotel, Sandstone Point Hotel, Samford Hotel, and The Imperial Hotel at Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast as well as shopping centres including Cashmere Shopping Centre and Eatons Hill Shopping Village. “I think we’ve got less than 12 months left, then we are really going to feel the pinch regarding labour. It’s going to get tighter and tighter as we head to the Olympics,” Comiskey says. “We saw it when Queen ’ s Wharf started—we had tilers working for us who went off and got $250,000 a year. “I really don’t think that we’re going to be able to build everything we need to build by that time with the current workforce. “Even if they all come up from Victoria and New South Wales to work in Queensland. “We’re gonna have to bring in a skilled workforce from overseas as well.” Comiskey joined Frank Licastro of Frank Developments, Alexandra Stuart-Robertson of Gallery Group and Steve Laffey of Verso Projects at The Urban Developer’s long lunch in Brisbane to discuss the big projects and the big plans of the coming year. ▲ Rob Comiskey of Comiskey Group, Steve Laffey of Verso Projects, Frank Licastro of Frank Developments and Alexandra Stuart-Robertson of Gallery Group on stage during the event. The biggest pointer to the looming construction crunch? All four private developers have in-house construction teams to power their development engine room. Comiskey Group has a construction and development team of 150, and has more than 900 hospitality staff—two industries that will surge during the next few years. “We’ve got a couple of projects that we’re doing that will benefit highly from the Olympics,” Comiskey said. “But I think with us it’s got to be sustainable before to be sustainable after, so really the Olympics is just a bit of cream on top.” The Moreton Bay-born and bred developer plans to stick to the area they know best, including a massive expansion of the golf course next to Eatons Hill, details of which will be revealed in the New Year. ▲ A rendering of the Comiskey Group’s proposed $250-million expansion proposal for Sandstone Point. Resorts, festival sites and town centres are all on the cards for Comiskey who hopes to power through the Olympic season, construction shortages and all. That includes building in the newest city in the state—Waraba, just west of Caboolture. Comiskey said there were two or three projects they could build at the emerging Sunshine Coast hub. “One of them ... we’ve signed a memorandum of understanding, so we’re going to do a big pub,” he says. “We’ll probably do retail and hotels—there’ll be 70,000 people in that area in the end, so we’ll be crazy not to. “It’s not something you can look at in 10 years, you got to be able to buy land, hold it and that’s why we’re in there. “For us, that’s not a problem, we’ve got so many approved developments so when we’re ready to go, we’ll go.” ▲ A rendering of Comiskey’s Country Club Hotel at Strathpine, which is under construction. Comiskey says the thing that keeps him up at night is not the size of the project but getting them finished and opened quickly. “It’s just the amount of work that needs to get done in such a short time, keeping every ball in the air,” he says. “We’ve got more projects than we’ve ever had before.” There are about $1-billion worth of projects on the books for the family-run group including a “mini-James Street” just north of Brisbane. “We bought the town square at North Lakes, about $180 million to build. It’s got a 130-room, five-star hotel that we will own and operate and obviously build it,” he says. “It has a large venue there about 3000sq m, which also has another add-on about 2900sq m of bowling and arcade and a boutique supermarket.” The Bureau Proberts-designed scheme revealed in September will be built in two stages over five years. ▲ A rendering of the Comiskey’s $180-million precinct proposed for North Lakes. The other major project is a $250-million expansion of the Sandstone Point hotel and holiday resort on Pumicestone Passage, opposite Bribie Island. Meanwhile, construction is continuing on its industrial-style sports and pub complex at Strathpine. In March, the group will begin work on the Aura Hotel at the Aura Stockland site, about 90km north of Brisbane. “That’s about a $65-million build for a hotel and pub with the second largest band room in Queensland, just below The Fortitude (Music Hall),” Comiskey says. The plans at the centre of the Stockland community back on to a 5ha South Bank-style parkland include six bars and three levels to create the biggest music venue on the Sunshine Coast. Stockland announced on December 11 it had appointed FDC Construction &amp; Fitout to build the first stage of the Aura Town Centre shopping hub. Construction is expected to begin about the same time as the hotel and open in late 2027. And while Bruce Springsteen is Comiskey’s dream pick to open the new venue, regardless of whoever does the honours, hospitality is proving its merit, be it a time of boom or crisis. ▲ A rendering of the outdoor area planned for the Aura Hotel entertainment hub. “We haven’t seen much of downtown at all, [with the cost of living crisis],” Comiskey said. “I think that alcohol is kind of one of those things—when it’s going bad you want to have a drink or whether it’s going good, you’ll have a drink.” In the interim, eyes will continue to watch the group that is growing Queensland’s tourism industry, proving big projects in the ’ burbs can be just as successful as the city.

Comiskey Warns Time’s Almost Up to Beat Games Construction Crunch

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