Aviary Site: Plans Under Way for $1bn Toowong Precinct

Moves are finally afoot for a long-dormant site at Toowong that has undergone multiple ownership changes and development proposals since 2020. Its current owners are now preparing plans for a billion-dollar commercial, residential and retail hub. A development application is expected to be filed in coming months for the inner-western Brisbane site, 4km south-east of the CBD, that has frontages on High Street, Sherwood Road and Jephson Street. The enlarged landholding now includes a heritage-listed building on High Street currently tenanted by a dry cleaner, the Sunlit supermarket and a commercial building at 88 Jephson Street. Project manager Verso Developments has enlisted architects KHA to create a design that considers community feedback collected during the past six months. The preliminary designs will open the ground plane to create a “highly activated space and a new heart for Toowong”. More detailed designs would be presented to the community for further feedback in the coming months, prior to finalisation of the development application, developers said. The site has a complex history. Beginning as one of Queensland’s first Woolworths supermarkets in 1956, it operated for several decades before closure. Stockland later proposed three residential towers for the site before selling the 1.3ha amalgamated property in 2019 for $40 million. The State Development Corporation and RW Capital acquired the site in 2020, unveiling plans for The Aviary Toowong—a $450-million mixed-use precinct designed by Nettletontribe and inspired by The Grove Shopping Centre in Los Angeles. The project featured a 25-storey luxury apartment tower with 150 units (later revised to 29 storeys with 15 additional apartments), a 20-level office tower, 30 curated retail spaces anchored by Harris Farm Markets, a cinema complex and an outdoor dining quarter. Despite receiving Brisbane City Council approval in October of 2020, the project was eventually abandoned. ▲ A rendering of the High Street view of Toowong Central. State Development Corporation managing director Ross McKinnon told The Urban Developer at the time that “Covid, then building cost increases and interest rate rises” led to the project being scrapped. “We gave it our best shot, but things were out of our control,” McKinnon said. During this period, the developers carved off a 4000sq m portion at 80-88 Jephson Street, selling it to Po Seng Group for $25.15 million with its own separate development approval. Brisbane-based investment company IJ Capital paid $53 million in 2023 for the remaining 9000sq m site at the corner of Sherwood Road and High Street. IJ Capital, led by Scott Lai, planned to team up with Po Seng Management to create a 1.3ha mega-site with considerable scope for development. The integrated project, known as Toowong Central, had an estimated end value of over $1 billion, with initial plans including 25,000sq m of commercial space, an equivalent amount of retail, and 700 apartments across four towers. “We will make it a better community precinct,” Lai told media. “There is a shortage in supply of medium to high-end [residential] and there is lack of high-quality restaurants in Toowong. We will deliver a very high quality, modern design.” The community will have opportunities to provide feedback on detailed designs in the coming months before the development application is finalised. “We understand the importance of the site and we look forward to delivering a high-quality outcome that meets the needs of the Toowong community and that is commercially successful,” a Toowong Central Investment Holding Pty Ltd spokesperson said.

Aviary Site: Plans Under Way for $1bn Toowong Precinct

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