Licastro Swoops Again in Hamilton Riverside Hotspot

The urban renewal current is strengthening along Hamilton’s riverfront in Brisbane’s inner-north.

As the Queensland Government ups the ante on its housing and infrastructure gameplan for the precinct, developer Frank Licastro is already doubling down with designs in the works for a second tower proposal along its Kingsford Smith Drive corridor.

Licastro’s Frank Development has swooped on a 1640sq m site at 60 Kingsford Smith Drive in a deal understood to have been inked for about $16.5 million.

Sitting across the road from the city’s historic Breakfast Creek Hotel, it is also just a couple of doors down from 92 Kingsford Smith Drive, where Licastro has a 19-storey, 85-apartment play in the pipeline.

“We just see significant value and opportunity for this pocket,” Licastro told The Urban Developer. “There’s a lot more activity now.

“It’s an evolving suburb and I think that’s what we really love about it.

“It’s a bit of a blank canvas for us to kind of bring something new—design-wise and product-wise.”

Licastro said while “60 KSD” (Kingsford Smith Drive) would in essence be a continuation of what Frank Developments was already creating in Hamilton with a similar feasibility model to its Alba project at “92 KSD”, he added: “This one is a little bit more unique”.

“It’s quite exciting with three three street frontages and being next door to the Brekky Creek Hotel.

“It’s also the entry to Brisbane, a position that everyone drives past.

“So there’s a great opportunity to do something design wise with a little bit of a twist, something a little bit more out there which we are exploring at the moment.”

▲ A rendering of the developer's previously approved tower at 92 Kingsford Smith Drive—upscaled plans were filed in November.

The plans for 60 Kingsford Smith Drive are in the pre-lodgment phase but a development application is expected to be filed within the next few months.

Melbourne-based architecture firm Studio Kennon has been engaged by Frank Developments to design the scheme.

“I’m holding my cards close because there’s a few ideas from an amenity and product mix point of view as well that haven’t really been done in Brisbane before,” Liscastro said.

In November, Frank Developments filed upscaled plans for its site at 92 Kingsford Smith Drive, adding three storeys and 13 apartments to the initially approved 16-storey scheme comprising 72 units.

Meanwhile downriver, the Queensland Government has moved to unlock 6ha at Northshore Hamilton—formerly earmarked for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics athletes village—to enable the delivery of 3000 homes as well as restaurants, bars and retail.

More than $100 million is to be invested in critical infrastructure, including new roads and key services, in a bid to “bring forward 10 years’ worth of critical housing supply” in the designated priority development area.