Queensland Billionaire Reboots Newstead Apartments

Unison Projects has revised plans to further pare back its apartment tower on a Newstead site after taking the knife to it this time last year. 

Super Amart furniture founder John Van Lieshout’s private property development company Unison Projects acquired the 1821sq m site at 14 Maud Street with development approval in place in 2021 for about $5.7 million. 

The developer has filed amended plans for the Newstead property, which scales back the number of homes further. It acquired the site with approval for a Joe Adsett Architects-designed 52-apartment tower. 

Last year Unison Projects amended plans to scale it back to 41 apartments, and remove a cantilever over the neighbouring heritage Federal Boot Factory.

The developer engaged Ellivo Architects to reimagine the project for the current market conditions, off the back of a strong performance in the Newstead area with projects including the sold-out Alouette, Nero and La Vida developments. 

▲ Ellivo Architects have reworked original plans by Joe Adsett Architects to remove a cantilever over the heritage building and add a rooftop garden and penthouse.

The latest plans filed with the Brisbane City Council take the yield from 41 apartments made up of 24 two-bedroom apartments and 17 three-plus-bedroom apartments, to a total of 34 apartments with three or more bedrooms. 

Mewing Planning’s town planning report said the change application filed last year reflected the change in ownership of the site, and a refinement of intentions for the development of the property. 

The latest change application would create larger apartments through removal of one apartment from each level, and providing an additional apartment on Level 9.

“An additional unit is proposed to be located at the rear portion Level 9 [in line with] Brisbane City Council’s desire for increased rooftop garden spaces,” the town planning report said. 

“The change facilitates an improved extent of landscaped rooftop communal open space. The change also provides for an additional high quality residential unit, which is deliberately recessed from the level below.”

▲ The 1889 Federal Boot Factory will be restored and retained as ground plane retail space as part of the development of 14 Maud Street.

The communal open space has been relocated to the rooftop level and more than doubled in the revised plans. It comprises a pool, outdoor shaded seating areas, outdoor dining, barbecues and a yoga lawn. 

The Maud Street project would integrate the old Federal Boot Factory, which was built on its heritage 1012 sq m lot in 1889. 

According to the heritage citation, the development marks the first wave of industrial development at Newstead, which was a workers’ residential area at the time. The building would undergo an adaptive reuse as retail space.