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<p>Uncertainty is rife across the apartment market but the horizon looks less bleak, according to Charter Keck Cramer data for the first half of 2023.&nbsp;</p><p>Charter Keck Cramer national executive director Richard Temlett says there are “green shoots” emerging in the market.</p><p>Apartment projects that are able to get out of the ground are recording strong sales but the supply side constraint continues to flag as feasibilities don’t stack up, he says.</p><p>“Australia’s three biggest markets—Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane—remain critically undersupplied and overseas <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/national-population-australia-march-2022-2023" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/national-population-australia-march-2022-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">migration is very strong</a>, which is accentuating the mismatch between demand and supply,” Temlett says.</p><p>“Green shoots are starting to come through in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but for Brisbane developers the biggest risk is securing and retaining a builder.”</p><p>In Sydney there were 7300 apartments launched (for sale) to market in the past financial year. This is a 48 per cent decrease in apartment launches compared to the previous year and also a considerable decrease from the peak between 2014 and 2018.&nbsp;</p><p>Melbourne had just 4400 apartments launched to market, 82 per cent below its peak in 2016.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Launches and commencements: Sydney</strong></p><div id="6E5SbxQctMt1nvEKczheDi"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2Kd7sPqazcUhRIPJw2DjX2/38c460cae7ff453e2db65750a8e6d48a/Screen_Shot_2023-09-14_at_2.06.05_pm_copy.png" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2Kd7sPqazcUhRIPJw2DjX2/38c460cae7ff453e2db65750a8e6d48a/Screen_Shot_2023-09-14_at_2.06.05_pm_copy.png"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Source: Charter Keck Cramer<br><br></span></div><p><strong>Launches and commencements: Melbourne</strong></p><div><div id="4AYNWW4SzsMDmIWCfUc9RH"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7wx6DvJ4Qla3Dc1WA1fuqu/4e59fac9823b10064a1deeaa09a8d5ac/Screen_Shot_2023-09-14_at_2.08.02_pm_copy.png" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7wx6DvJ4Qla3Dc1WA1fuqu/4e59fac9823b10064a1deeaa09a8d5ac/Screen_Shot_2023-09-14_at_2.08.02_pm_copy.png"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Source: Charter Keck Cramer<br><br></span></div></div></div></div><p>Master Builders Australia is warning that at current building rates there is no way we will hit the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes.&nbsp;</p><p>And AMP chief economist Shane Oliver concurs.&nbsp;</p><p>Oliver says high interest rates are stymieing the industry and it would take a combination of faster land release, faster development times and a boost in the volume of institution-grade social and affordable housing to get anywhere near the proposed figure.&nbsp;</p><p>But there could be a way to grease the wheel and create upside in the build-to-sell apartment market.&nbsp;</p><p>Temlett says the Australian government should look to Ireland for guidance on how to support the housing industry and create momentum in the market.&nbsp;</p><div id="33QW6cqsyDZaplhPrqpqZA"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/xs5QFWkNjFr5hNLIaMhc0/240236c8d290fa9bc49e02f5680a6b19/1.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/xs5QFWkNjFr5hNLIaMhc0/240236c8d290fa9bc49e02f5680a6b19/1.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Apartments along the River Corrib at Galway, in Ireland’s west.<br><br></span></div></div><p>This year the European Commission approved a $750-million scheme to support the construction of build-to-sell apartments in Ireland.&nbsp;</p><p>The money is tied to the construction of four-storey apartment blocks in urban infill areas in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford where there is an acute shortage of housing supply.&nbsp;</p><p>It is designed to reduce the gap between construction costs and sales figures, which could, in theory, put feasibilities back in the black.&nbsp;</p><p>While Temlett acknowledges it’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem, it could, he says, create the momentum needed to get the build-to-sell market moving again.&nbsp;</p><p>“An Apartment Viability Fund would close the gap between what we can build it for and sell it for and make it feasible to build build-to-sell apartments,” he says.</p><p>“It would stimulate supply. They could target it to certain areas or even extend it to investors.”</p><p>Temlett says there is a significant number of sites across the country where there is an approved apartment development scheme but the project is not feasible in the current market.&nbsp;</p><div id="6E5SbxQctMt1nvEKczheDi"><div id="1cbWDlBABMHw3IBqAd2TJC"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4JVg8ps6Ah9yX9GUdf7CsY/7af043fab9cecca1dbee19549fb1cde9/4.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4JVg8ps6Ah9yX9GUdf7CsY/7af043fab9cecca1dbee19549fb1cde9/4.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Apartments at Burwood in Sydney’s west. <br><br></span></div></div></div><p>“Building costs have gone up between 30 and 50 per cent across the various cities. Having that subsidy could support these projects to get out of the ground and stimulate the apartment market and create momentum.”</p><p>Australia is staring down the barrel of a target of 1.2 million extra homes by 2029. Temlett says the apartment market can and should do the heavy lifting.&nbsp;</p><p>Research released this week from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute demonstrates that policy settings aimed at getting first homebuyers into the market have had the opposite effect.&nbsp;</p><p>“While high house prices are often cited as the biggest challenge faced by first homebuyers, our inquiry highlights that the problem is significantly more complex,” University of Sydney Professor Stephen Whelan says.&nbsp;</p><p>“Critically, we found existing policy settings are likely to have exacerbated rather than alleviated the challenge faced by first homebuyers to finance home ownership.&nbsp;</p><p>“Politically seductive measures such as first home owner grants and tax concessions have failed to arrest declining rates of home ownership over time.”</p><div id="41cIPEs7LHh9NhmzeI0Dc8"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1lAgPTF0szBtHWZKzdr7kw/27eaf35fd7b65922f6e036629e90038e/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1lAgPTF0szBtHWZKzdr7kw/27eaf35fd7b65922f6e036629e90038e/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ There are still “recalibration pains” in the pipeline for the residential sector.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Whelan says it is supply-side measures that could move the needle. He says making home ownership more affordable and accessible was crucial.</p><p>“Policy settings in Australia have focused almost exclusively on demand-side measures that boost first home buyers’ purchasing power, such as first home owners grants and stamp duty concessions,” he says. &nbsp;</p><p>“A mix of supply-side and demand-side approaches would help more households who would not otherwise be able to buy a home.”</p><p>Temlett says there are still “recalibration pains” in the pipeline for the residential sector. Buyers are facing confronting price tags but, he warns, these price tags will not be coming down.&nbsp;</p><p>“They are having a bit of a crisis getting their heads around what they can afford. It may be that they have to take a smaller property or move further out,” he says.&nbsp;</p><p>“The market is going to have to recalibrate upwards.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

Grease the wheel: An apartment viability fund might be the impetus needed for the stagnant build-to-sell market…

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<p>Major residential and hotel developer Crown Group has called in liquidators to bring a long-running dispute between its co-founders to a conclusion—and the feeling is one of relief, says co-founder Iwan Sunito.</p><p>“I'm really happy with the outcome, that the court has appointed liquidators,” Sunito told <em>The Urban Developer</em>.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s important to know that Crown is not being liquidated because of insolvency, but because two parties are having a deadlock and there is an inability to move forward.</p><p>“But I’m excited about the future, and of course the good thing about the liquidation is that it has a time frame, whereas the deadlock before has gone on for seven years without people knowing.”</p><p>Despite much back-and-forth in the media between the business partners, Sunito was positive about the legacy of Crown.</p><p>“I cherish the memories my business partner [Paul Sathio] and I have in developing the legacy of Crown. We were partners for many years and made contributions to the community and grew the business to this level together.</p><p>“And Crown Group has its own design legacy which is excellence in design and that’s something I want to continue.”</p><div id="XCqscaGWMakTo7BiLL0Zh"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5muHYwS6RQOztuv8OMRxPz/1d84d25ad49793b13c7020e4ebe1e6a4/Brisbane_West_End.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5muHYwS6RQOztuv8OMRxPz/1d84d25ad49793b13c7020e4ebe1e6a4/Brisbane_West_End.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Crown Group’s West End project was to be its Brisbane residential debut.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The NSW Supreme Court appointed provisional liquidators Andrew Sallway and Duncan Clubb from BDO earlier this month to navigate the disentanglement.</p><p>The liquidation is still in progress, which means that the future of the nearly 40 companies under the Crown Group umbrella, and their respective developments, is up in the air.&nbsp;</p><p>“At this stage we’ve only been appointed for a week and we’re just assessing strategy at the moment,” BDO’s Andrew Sallway told <em>The Urban Developer.</em></p><p>The liquidators have managed to visit many of Crown’s Sydney sites, with only the newly-approved West End site left to view.</p><p>It has already been confirmed that the company is offloading a <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/queensland-social-affordable-housing-build-to-rent-expressions-of-interest" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/queensland-social-affordable-housing-build-to-rent-expressions-of-interest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DA-approved 1.7ha property in Sydney’s inner south</a> which would deliver 368 apartments across five towers at 44-48 O’Dea Avenue and 52D O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo.&nbsp;</p><p>Colliers was appointed agents for an expressions-of-interest campaign.<em>&nbsp;The Urban Developer </em>understands it could sell for as much as $120 million.</p><p>However, the future of Crown Group’s 117 Victoria Street development, which <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/crown-group-iwan-sunito-west-end" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/crown-group-iwan-sunito-west-end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">marked Crown’s first foray into the Brisbane market</a> and was approved just last week, is also now in question.</p><h2><strong>The future of Crown West End</strong></h2><p><br>Sunito explained that the nature of the liquidation process meant that the fates of some developments, including Crown’s West End site, were yet to be decided.&nbsp;</p><p>‘What’s good about [the liquidation] is that it has now been mandated by court to look at ways to organise things,” Sunito says.&nbsp;</p><p>“There are many options including the disposal of the site to third parties, or the selling of the site within the company, or selling the business to one of the parties, if we can both agree on an approach.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><div id="36kAnCksJ3C45LFy4T77wm"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7H680ecuocZMA287dwdU9M/52867f0df14e26eff1c91af50fce32d9/Mid_article_resizes.jpg" alt="One Global chairman and chief executive Iwan Sunito: Macquarie Park was the perfect location." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7H680ecuocZMA287dwdU9M/52867f0df14e26eff1c91af50fce32d9/Mid_article_resizes.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Co-founder of Crown Group as well as One Global chairman and chief executive Iwan Sunito.<br><br></span></div></div><p>Mewing Planning Consultants announced late last week that it had assisted Crown Group Holdings Pty Limited to obtain approval from Brisbane City Council for the development.</p><p>The development would deliver 473 units across four towers, as well as a lagoon, communal dining and parkland areas.</p><p>Crown had already suffered a difficult planning process for the site after it was forced to relodge new plans by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma last year <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/crown-group-west-end-brisbane-kengo-kuma" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/crown-group-west-end-brisbane-kengo-kuma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">following community criticism</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>The new plans, a collaboration between Kengo Kuma, Plus Architecture and Urbis, “significantly increased” the amount of ground level landscape and publicly accessible open space.&nbsp;</p><p>They also introduced an inverted podium design to embrace the prominent corner of Victoria Street and Riverside Lands Park.</p><p>While the West End site is being considered within the liquidation, Iwan Sunito suggested that if it was feasible, he would like to retain control of the site.&nbsp;</p><p>“I can't say how we will go in Brisbane, but I like that we have the opportunity to expand that vision to build something amazing and I would love to continue to be part of it.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s an honour to be part of the development of a great site and to be so welcomed by the local community, so I want to see what I can do.&nbsp;</p><p>“While I’m not sure which way it will go at this moment, it’s been amazing for myself and [Queensland development director for Crown Group] Trent McLauchlan to bring in Kengo Kuma to design this building, and to bring the public into part of that private space, and having them design such a significant job in the city of Brisbane.”</p><div id="5FAjkomMwQa4fKGxd3IHUC"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4Qb1BMGE8PSfDMjSry2mFX/51f475045bf552dc475eef76be70e2ba/Victoria_Street.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4Qb1BMGE8PSfDMjSry2mFX/51f475045bf552dc475eef76be70e2ba/Victoria_Street.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Victoria Street development has been designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.<br><br></span></div></div><p>The liquidation process of course does not rule out a potential new developer for the site.</p><p>“My thought is whoever develops it, if it’s not me, I hope they will continue the legacy to create this building.</p><p>“It will be challenging for anyone, but the site is a unique and premium site, it commands a direct riverfront.</p><p>“I have been called by so many friends and local developers keen to buy the site, but the best option would be one which could help fund it, that’s if the liquidator decides to put it on the market.”</p><h2><strong>What’s next?&nbsp;</strong></h2><p><br>While the liquidation may mark the end of an era for Crown Group, it is certainly not the end of Sunito’s involvement and legacy within the property industry.</p><p>He announced at the end of last year that he had <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/iwan-sunito-crown-group-one-global-waterloo" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/iwan-sunito-crown-group-one-global-waterloo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched a new property company</a>, One Global Residences and Resorts, which is taking up much of his time—major projects such as <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/one-global-macquarie-park-apartments-sydney" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/one-global-macquarie-park-apartments-sydney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a $450-million development in Macquarie Park</a> are on the go.</p><p>“I’ve already been busy with One Global, I have two jobs active and another coming, and another significant job they want me to take the lead in organising it.</p><p>“I think people do see the things I can bring to the table, that ability to find a great site and then come up with an amazing design that inspires people—that’s what I’m excited about.”</p><div id="525jd8efwKQMe9eLqV32fU"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3zLBpJeaFLYNOW5cybc2w2/2ae8c9347d6e4dfcac1b4fb4694d6e21/Macquarie_Park.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3zLBpJeaFLYNOW5cybc2w2/2ae8c9347d6e4dfcac1b4fb4694d6e21/Macquarie_Park.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ One Global Residences and Resorts launched a 27-apartment and 100-room hotel development last year.<br><br></span></div></div><p>But the short term will be finalising the future of Crown Group.&nbsp;</p><p>“I’m busy organising and running Crown and making sure [the liquidation process is] efficient, I am the architect for the processes there, so it’s about [ensuring] the liquidation process is efficient.</p><p>“This is the only second week, there will be more clarity for [Andrew Sallway’s team] to enable me and my business partner to come to the table and figure out a good outcome.</p><p>“But my goal right now is by end of September to have a decision that everyone is happy with.”&nbsp;<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

 A major milestone for Crown Group’s major West End site was reached last week but it was overshadowed by the ongoing feud and liquidation at the developer….

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<p>As the saying goes, the bird who dares to fall is the bird who learns to fly.</p><p>But that’s not always the case in Australia’s high-risk property development sector—particularly in these turbulent times.</p><p>The Aviary, one of inner-city Brisbane’s biggest developments, is the latest major project to fail to take flight, succumbing to the prevailing headwinds of soaring construction costs and volatile market conditions.&nbsp;</p><p>It is understood the approved $450-million mixed-use precinct at Toowong—about 5km from the CBD—has been abandoned.</p><p>Touted as a “visionary new town centre set to become the beating heart of Brisbane’s inner-west”, speculation about the development has been rife with its cleared site sitting dormant for months.</p><p>“My understanding is it’s over … the building prices are so high it’s no longer viable,” an industry source told <em>The Urban Developer</em>.</p><p>An off-the-plan buyer in The Aviary’s sold-out 25-storey luxury apartment tower confirmed the development’s demise, saying he had been informed the project “was being cancelled” and all contracts were being terminated and deposits refunded.</p><p>“A real pity. It had great potential … I suspect there will be many more such projects doomed to failure.”</p><p><em>The Urban Developer</em> also has been told The Aviary’s developers—State Development Corporation and White &amp; Partners, the investment arm of the founders of Australia’s largest real estate group Ray White—are in the process of quietly offloading the shovel-ready site.</p><p>According to a local property industry insider, the prime 9000sq m holding fronting Sherwood Road and High Street is already under contract.</p><p>“We’ve been asking and we’ve been told that it's under due diligence to someone,” they said.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="7.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7bvrkrWB65jhb7eL2Aur3m/6578dc3b2eca65fb3c159df77f21cef5/7.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7bvrkrWB65jhb7eL2Aur3m/6578dc3b2eca65fb3c159df77f21cef5/7.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="1.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3yPtYuSJgXhmh7Sp7XihxS/0088d8c611fd7d89b899a1a7a394043f/1.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3yPtYuSJgXhmh7Sp7XihxS/0088d8c611fd7d89b899a1a7a394043f/1.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="Mid article resizes (47).jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5bfax4sZ9LbIC7mRLpY1KK/fdc3e0967ed53ca1eac17d08e5db1785/Mid_article_resizes__47_.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5bfax4sZ9LbIC7mRLpY1KK/fdc3e0967ed53ca1eac17d08e5db1785/Mid_article_resizes__47_.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br></p><p>However, parties involved in the deal remain tight-lipped. The buyer has not been disclosed or whether they intend to proceed with the approved development.</p><p><em>The Urban Developer</em> attempted to contact State Development Corporation founder and managing director Ross McKinnon for comment but at the time of publication there had been no response.</p><p>The high-profile Brisbane project joins a growing list of major off-the-plan developments across the country being dumped before they get out of the ground in the face of multi-million cost blowouts.</p><p>A crippling barrage of escalating construction costs, labour shortages, rising inflation and interest rates is putting the crunch on projects, making an increasing number no longer feasible to be delivered.</p><p>In an early sign of what was to come, Daydream Property’s <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/gold-coast-market-morris-property-group-da" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/gold-coast-market-morris-property-group-da" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold-out $140-million, 76-apartment Alegria residential tower project at Palm Beach</a> on the Gold Coast was cancelled in June last year due to spiralling costs.</p><p>The following month, Melbourne’s most prolific high-rise developer Central Equity abandoned plans to build <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/soaring-costs-kill-plans-for-gold-coast-super-tower" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/soaring-costs-kill-plans-for-gold-coast-super-tower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a $500-million luxury apartment tower at Surfers Paradise</a>.</p><p>It blamed “turmoil” within the Queensland building industry for its decision to shelve its 56-storey, 486-apartment Pacific One tower development on the beachfront at Garfield Terrace.</p><p>Only a couple of days later, developer Sirona Urban pulled the pin on its $165 million luxury residential tower 28 Lyall in South Perth, citing surging construction costs and a dire shortage of labour for the decision.</p><p>The 38-storey, 98 apartment development near the Swan River in South Perth, a joint venture with Singapore-listed property giant Chip Eng Seng, would have been one of the tallest residential buildings in Perth.</p><p>In April this year, developer Keylin mothballed the $140-million apartment tower in its <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/brisbane-tower-spring-hill-plans-mothballed-construction-crisis" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/brisbane-tower-spring-hill-plans-mothballed-construction-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oria development at Spring Hill</a> on the Brisbane CBD doorstep despite holding sales contracts for more than 80 per cent of its 121 units.</p><p>Its shelving came just six months after <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/keylin-brisbane-spring-hill-tower-dropped-development-application" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/keylin-brisbane-spring-hill-tower-dropped-development-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the other half of the twin-tower development, which was to house the city’s first Movenpick Hotel, was scrapped</a>.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><h2>‘Catalyst for revitalisation’</h2><p><br>Across the road from the landmark Toowong Village—a retail and commercial complex built in the mid-1980s—The Aviary had been heralded as a catalyst for revitalisation, creating a lifestyle destination that would “reshape” Toowong and “change Brisbane’s western suburbs”.</p><p>The precinct’s scheme was designed by Nettletontribe and inspired by lauded US outdoor shopping mecca The Grove in Los Angeles.</p><p>It was to have comprised a 150-apartment tower, 30 curated retail spaces anchored by <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/is-australia-feeling-the-waitrose-effect" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/is-australia-feeling-the-waitrose-effect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Harris Farm Markets grocery outlet</a>, a 20-level office tower, cinema and an outdoor dining quarter.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="6.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/51gejoYFKppgpLt5uGLKpD/f441ef845b8533e1a0d76f843ad61ff5/6.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/51gejoYFKppgpLt5uGLKpD/f441ef845b8533e1a0d76f843ad61ff5/6.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="3.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/24CmhSDPWkBCWKCd29Yvvq/0eb2b78e48ef4450ee6613f0dfe3aa86/3.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/24CmhSDPWkBCWKCd29Yvvq/0eb2b78e48ef4450ee6613f0dfe3aa86/3.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>The Aviary was given the green light by the Brisbane City Council in October 2020. Construction was initially scheduled to start the following year and completion was slated for later this year.</p><p>The last construction update posted on the development’s website in March 2022 noted it was “anticipating the builders commencing on site in the third quarter [of 2022]”.</p><p>“The development team is working closely with a builder and will provide more detail on the successful building company construction commencement date in the near future,” it said.</p><p>In early 2019, State Development Corporation and White &amp; Partners paid Stockland $40 million for the Toowong site—then a 1.3ha amalgamation. Later the following year, the new owners carved off a 4000sq m portion occupied by a five-level office complex in a $25.15-million deal with an offshore investor.</p><p>“It’s disappointing The Aviary isn’t going ahead but at the end of the day the apartments were going to cost more to build than they had sold them for,” the industry insider told <em>The Urban Developer</em>.</p><p><span class="mce-preview-object mce-object-iframe" contenteditable="false" data-mce-object="iframe" data-mce-p-allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-p-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZGAfKelQM10"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZGAfKelQM10" width="560" height="314" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZGAfKelQM10"></iframe><span class="mce-shim"></span></span></p><p><br>“At the moment, if you’re not selling your units for about $14,000 per square metre the project’s not going to proceed … you’ve got no chance of getting it up.</p><p>“I think when they first went to market they were only $8000 per square … and they bumped it up a bit after going back to the buyers with price increases but it was still not enough to make it viable.”</p><p>The off-the-plan buyer who spoke to <em>The Urban Developer </em>says&nbsp;he put down a deposit on a $2.9 million, three-bedroom “sky villa” in The Aviary two years ago.</p><p>Since then, he says the developers had asked for a couple of extensions and incremental price increases, starting with an initial rise of about 15 per cent.</p><p>“But with the extra delays the cost escalations have gone even higher.</p><p>“And I think that's what killed them in the end. They just delayed it so long, with all the cost escalations they couldn't build to that price and make a decent profit out of it.</p><p>“I’m disappointed, certainly,” he says.</p><p>“To be fair, however, the time for development is not easy. We can all understand that. It's naive to think otherwise. It's a struggle for all these guys to try and make something happen.</p><p>“So, I didn’t begrudge paying extra from what we signed on for. That’s all fine, the costs have gone up … it’s just a fact of life, isn’t it?”</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="5.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/BQ7kZMlJWT8xF1OWOXC08/c05c83f3bd4c0bb31e5552ef1c05e738/5.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/BQ7kZMlJWT8xF1OWOXC08/c05c83f3bd4c0bb31e5552ef1c05e738/5.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="2.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/KKq3OmiU4PPQdx9pbkCLO/087a48db542e7f23f50681d75959c850/2.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/KKq3OmiU4PPQdx9pbkCLO/087a48db542e7f23f50681d75959c850/2.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><h2><br>Labour rate nation’s highest</h2><p><br>Brisbane now has Australia’s highest hourly building labour rate, according to the latest construction market report by quantity surveying firm Turner &amp; Townsend.</p><p>As a result of skilled labour shortages and strong infrastructure investment in preparation for the 2032 Olympics, Brisbane’s construction wages have overtaken Sydney and Melbourne, reaching an average of $100.42 per hour.</p><p>This compares to Sydney’s $98.30, Melbourne’s $96.80, Adelaide’s $91.20 and Perth’s $87.15.</p><p>Overall, however, Sydney is the most expensive city&nbsp; in which to build with an average total cost of $4439 per square metre followed by Perth’s $3962, Brisbane’s $3854, Melbourne’s $3823 and Adelaide’s $3585.</p><p>But according to Turner &amp; Townsend property head Matt Billingham, with the ongoing challenges facing the industry and sheer volume of work expected to hit the Queensland capital's market during the next few years, Brisbane was at risk of becoming the country’s most expensive city in which to build.&nbsp;</p><p>“Brisbane’s market is impacted as a direct result of major investment in public infrastructure projects across health, transport and in preparation for the Olympic Games,” he said.</p><p>“It will be some time before high labour costs dissipate and the return of immigration eases shortages. With the housing slowdown, labour is shifting to major infrastructure and renewable projects as well as developments that are being planned for the Olympics in 2032.”</p><p>Given the uncertainty as well as economic and market turbulence continuing to batter the development sector, there is another avian-related saying with perhaps some more fitting words of wisdom.</p><p>A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.</p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

Deposits on the sold-out $450-million city-shaping project are being handed back amid rumours the project has collapsed…

[+] goodbye myer hello downtown.jpg

<p>ISPT and Vicinity will be looking for a little Uptown funk as Myer strips out its flagship store at the top of Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall.</p><p>While plans for the 1.27ha site remain under wraps, the shopping centre is ripe for redevelopment of its underutilised air space, and planning overlays could enable up to 30 storeys on the site fronting the mall.&nbsp;</p><p>The department store’s <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/myer-centre-retail-exit-brisbane-cbd" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/myer-centre-retail-exit-brisbane-cbd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final day of trading was on Monday</a> in its five-floor 28,000sq m tenancy, and it will now spend the next four to six weeks bumping out.&nbsp;</p><p>The newly rebranded Uptown shopping centre demarcates a new chapter for the retail landlord as it hunts for a new tenant for what is the CBD’s biggest retail space.&nbsp;</p><p>Earlier this year there were rumours that Griffith University was investigating moving its proposed $80-million city campus development into the space after it called for expressions of interest late last year.&nbsp;</p><p>The new campus was due to open in 2026, but <em>The Urban Developer</em> understands the university is not pursuing an Uptown tenancy for its students.&nbsp;</p><p>Joint owners Vicinity Centres and superannuation fund ISPT may choose to redevelop the 1.27ha site at the top of the pedestrianised mall, which incorporates the facades of four historic buildings.&nbsp;</p><div id="6Z7urISSyFYG4bMlKBujGL"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3B0hJCya4eaTCcbLcL6vih/289df6154b1ef440902b5b7da0907a46/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3B0hJCya4eaTCcbLcL6vih/289df6154b1ef440902b5b7da0907a46/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The landmark Brisbane centre is at the top end of the Queen Street Mall.<br><br></span></div></div><p>An industry insider suggested that a wholesale demolition job was not on the cards.&nbsp;</p><p>“The underground carpark is the most lucrative part of that shopping centre. If they demolished it they would never be able to get the same number of car parks in there with current planning constraints,” he said.&nbsp;</p><p>“Instead of demolishing it and spending $1 billion to create something new, they will likely spend $500 million to reimagine it.”</p><p><em>The Urban Developer </em>contacted both Vicinity and ISPT, but neither would comment on redevelopment plans.&nbsp;</p><p>Across the river Vicinity’s <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/shopping-centre-giant-gets-green-light-for-gabba-transformation" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/shopping-centre-giant-gets-green-light-for-gabba-transformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$750-million Buranda Village redevelopment was greenlit</a> earlier this year. The mixed-use precinct plans include retail and dining, 620 apartments and 50,000sq m of commercial space.&nbsp;</p><p>Further south its $900-million plans for build-to-rent and residential shoptop housing in joint venture with <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/salta-wins-approval-for-yarra-riverfront-build-to-rent" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/salta-wins-approval-for-yarra-riverfront-build-to-rent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salta at Victoria Gardens</a> are making progress.&nbsp;</p><div id="1YbIbFMvzqwn9xpspXQU5A"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3XiQaOe6vKNFxfGETRZGQY/87b8e367d88c9e3accb171efded67fff/3.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3XiQaOe6vKNFxfGETRZGQY/87b8e367d88c9e3accb171efded67fff/3.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A view of the centre’s ever-popular food court.<br><br></span></div></div><p>According to rebranded Uptown owners ISPT and Vicinity Centres, the new name reflected the brand and market position, as well as its physical location at the top of the mall.&nbsp;</p><p>In a statement a spokesperson said the plans for the development of the centre were “still in the works … the new name and brand is the first step in the reimagining of the iconic site’s exciting future”.</p><p>Vicinity Centres’ regional general manager Daniel Sutton said the shopping centre would be “pivotal part of the modern identity of Brisbane’s CBD”.</p><p>“The centre’s most vibrant days are ahead with Uptown set to create lasting memories and a home for the best of Brisbane.”</p><p>ISPT regional asset manager Leah Mienert said they “look forward to releasing our plan that will shape the heart of Brisbane’s CBD, and be worth going to town for”.</p><p>Speaking at <em>The Urban Developer’s </em>retail summit recently LocationIQ director Gavin Duane said institutional investors favoured build-to-rent developments above retail assets.&nbsp;</p><div id="25X0WfbJVfW5gqsHwD5doy"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/20EjkamROylJZYZuR1WCKA/3322149fd11f51fddf65ec689413f944/4.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/20EjkamROylJZYZuR1WCKA/3322149fd11f51fddf65ec689413f944/4.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The Myer Centre under construction in 1980 and the centre atrium.<br><br></span></div></div><p>“One of the great landscape changes for centres is they’re not just retail anymore, there’s other components such as medical, build-to-rent, housing,” he said.&nbsp;</p><p>“I think we’re getting to the stage where we’re realising our centres can’t keep expanding forever and a day, and using those air rights are much more important.</p><p>“And I think the institutions like the build-to-rent because they can control what’s above their assets, they can control their air rights.”</p><p>Once the height of experience shopping in Brisbane, the Myer Centre has been ravaged by the pandemic, significant competition from Queens Plaza at the other end of the mall, and there is now another high-end shopping precinct snapping at its heels.&nbsp;</p><p>Nearby in the Brisbane CBD, a new major luxury shopping precinct is nearing completion at the $3.6-billion riverfront Queen's Wharf integrated casino mega-project. Its three-storey, 6000sq m T Galleria Emporium was due to open last year but construction delays due to record rainfall pushed it back until later this year.</p><p>Among almost 40,000sq m of retail, food and entertainment space planned for the development, it is being delivered as part of a deal struck between global retail giant DFS—part of the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group—and Destination Brisbane Consortium, the joint-venture behind Queen’s Wharf.</p><p>According to most recent Australia Bureau of Statistics data retail trade was down 0.2 per cent month-on-month in June, and department store spending was down 5 per cent. Equally monthly retail turnover in Queensland was down 0.7 per cent.&nbsp;<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing&nbsp;<em>The Urban Developer</em>&nbsp;Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals.&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

While plans for Brisbane’s rebranded Myer Centre site remain under wraps, its underutilised air space is ripe for redevelopment…

[+] comm games axed edm.jpeg

<p>Three hours after Premier Daniel Andrews announced Victoria would no longer be holding the 2026 Commonwealth Games, property developer Jevan Clay was due to meet a major international hotel operator.</p><p>Until Andrews’ announcement, Clay was confident one of the two international brands he was in talks with would agree to manage his 168-room hotel development, Cunningham Place, on Geelong’s waterfront.</p><p>Now he’s not sure.</p><p>“Well, we’ll find out in the next couple of hours as we close these negotiations,” Clay says.</p><p>“But the Commonwealth Games were certainly an attractive element to both of those operators. So, we’ll just see what the next two weeks brings.”</p><p>When Clay’s Amber Property Group won approval in April for the $250-million mixed-use project, which includes the luxury hotel, a 5000sq m conference facility with a 650-seat auditorium and an additional 60 apartments with views over Corio Bay, it was billed as <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/geelong-largest-private-permit-cunningham-place-amber-property-plans-approved" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/geelong-largest-private-permit-cunningham-place-amber-property-plans-approved">the biggest private project to be granted a permit&nbsp;</a>within the City of Greater Geelong.</p><div id="2CnWZF2HgokTXbLlviRnhm"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3qRbSIzG1s6c7ZsibdTa8c/c1d5bc626b41385d2feb82b8ec01c6c6/1.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3qRbSIzG1s6c7ZsibdTa8c/c1d5bc626b41385d2feb82b8ec01c6c6/1.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Amber Property Group’s Jevan Clay. His Cunningham Place hotel development in Geelong was expected to be ready for the Commonwealth Games.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>In fact, Victoria’s minister of planning Sonya Kilkenny’s office contacted him, saying “the approval of the project underpins the 2400-room shortage identified in Geelong and the Surf Coast”.</p><p>Construction starts in 12 weeks. Negotiations with hotel operators have been going longer than that.</p><div id="2CnWZF2HgokTXbLlviRnhm"></div><p>“Their offers were very, very generous on the basis of occupancy performance from day one,” Clay says.</p><p>“Look, we’re going to motor ahead with it, regardless. But we were hoping to be finished for the Commonwealth Games or at least have that hotel component open and were relying on that to give it a major kick from day one.</p><p>“This is a real disappointment for us because we’ve invested heavily in regional Victoria and Geelong in particular.”</p><div id="3daYYpUlqZpLkysUmALA7N"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2MxfshmxfVqVLwkKC1jFl8/101071dec8d3919a51ebba7cd9a62fe3/Mid_article_resizes__38_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2MxfshmxfVqVLwkKC1jFl8/101071dec8d3919a51ebba7cd9a62fe3/Mid_article_resizes__38_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Property Council of Australia’s Victorian executive director Cath Evans and a render of the indoor sports venue slated for Geelong.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>Clay’s sentiment has been widely echoed in Victoria and around the World with all levels of the industry reacting with a mixture of shock, disappointment and disbelief.</p><p>The Property Council of Australia’s Victorian executive director Cath Evans says the cancelling of the Games was “a devastating blow for regional Victoria and for the many businesses across the state” that had committed to support delivery of the event.</p><p>She called on the Victorian government to provide more details on what support would be available to those companies financially impacted by the decision.</p><p>“Our members have been heavily engaged in preparation for the Games and have been enthusiastically supporting the state government in delivering what would have been a historic event for Victoria,” Evans says.</p><p>She says steps needed to be taken to shore up Victoria’s international reputation at a time when investment certainty in the state was under pressure.</p><p>In a departure from the norm, the Victorian government had announced the 12-day Games would be held outside Melbourne and hosting shared among Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton.</p><p>Up to 72 member countries would compete in 20 sports, as well as nine fully integrated para sports.</p><p>The Games would bring jobs, tourism, housing, showcase the state’s culture and leave a lasting legacy of infrastructure in regional Victoria.</p><p>“The 2026 Games is about sport and much more—it’s about pride of place, creating jobs in Geelong, driving economic growth and leaving an enduring legacy of accessible, inclusive and fit-for-purpose housing and community infrastructure,” Victorian minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/geelong-commonwealth-games-victoria-work-begins" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/geelong-commonwealth-games-victoria-work-begins">Harriet Shing said just two months ago</a>.</p><div id="7zkUydgbcka7UqiVVlCGkM"><div id="7zkUydgbcka7UqiVVlCGkM"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3j3FSFZB8XHbnZ6dkA1GSM/38124fd7a90a3dd6ccd0c6bd98f38db6/Mid_article_resizes__36_.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3j3FSFZB8XHbnZ6dkA1GSM/38124fd7a90a3dd6ccd0c6bd98f38db6/Mid_article_resizes__36_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Victorian premier Daniel Andrews refused to say what the termination would cost.<br><br></span></div><p>This week the minister—who also holds the portfolio of regional development—stood beside Andrews as he told journalists the Games would cost the state more than $6 billion, which he said was more than double the original estimate.<br></p></div></div><p>Ballarat town planner and project manager Tim Stevens is unimpressed.</p><p>He’s spent the past five years securing development approval for two six-storey hotels in the key Games-hosting cities of Ballarat and Shepparton.</p><p>“We received planning approval for both of them late last year,” Stevens says, “so it was great to know after Covid that we not only had the Covid recovery but we also had the announcement the Commonwealth Games were coming.</p><p>“But now it puts these $40-million hotel developments in question.</p><p>“Should we actually go forward with them right now? That’s the discussion I’m literally having today with my client.</p><p>“It just seems absolutely short-sighted and ridiculous.”</p><p>Victorian boutique residential property developer Illan Samuel agrees that regional accommodation projects of all types will be the hardest hit by the cancellation.</p><p>“Whether it’s short stay in a private setting or whether it’s hotel or hybrid, where the regional areas haven’t had much, I think that will be most affected,” Samuel says.</p><p>“Developers were looking at these towns and saying, ‘Well, we need to host a lot of people’.</p><p>“And then following that there’s going to be perhaps a more permanent base here because people have come up here and they’ve liked it. And perhaps it’s retail, whether it’s bulky goods, or places for people to spend their money.</p><p>“Because, again, populations will grow in these areas off the back of better infrastructure.”</p><div id="3e0teWKFM3KgNNn57wVYZm"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/BZPGcHRS9aBPTxn7K2Kv6/f5f5bbc5e78274fc23ca235bfee0ea65/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/BZPGcHRS9aBPTxn7K2Kv6/f5f5bbc5e78274fc23ca235bfee0ea65/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Ballarat mayor Des Hudson and the city’s Mars Stadium.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>The Commonwealth Games Federation, the international body that oversees the direction and control of the Games, says it was given just eight hours’ notice before the cancellation was announced.</p><p>But spare a thought for the regional municipalities that first heard about the decision when journalists began calling for comments.</p><p>Greater Geelong City’s mayor Trent Sullivan says it was a very disappointing result.</p><p>“Geelong and the other regional host cities had been promised a huge amount of tourism, economic, social, and sporting benefits would flow from hosting the Games,” he says.</p><p>He says they expected more than 7500 jobs would be created before, during and after the Games, and more than 1200 goods and services procurement opportunities were to be available.</p><p>“Councils entered into this arrangement with the state government in good faith and have invested time, resources and funds to help deliver a successful Games.”</p><p>Geelong had been promised events such as aquatics, beach volleyball, rowing, women’s cricket, gymnastics, golf, hockey, table tennis and triathlons.</p><div id="6T1RIO4vtjej9x5GKRZLpU"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5Xp2yQwdJxP6p7dSkbOxKd/1626d9373b9c2d5dfc9e8d6bdce51d09/7.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5Xp2yQwdJxP6p7dSkbOxKd/1626d9373b9c2d5dfc9e8d6bdce51d09/7.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of the Armstrong Creek Aquatic Centre in Geelong. The city had scored the swimming events for the Games.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>The premier refused to say how much he thought it would cost to terminate Victoria’s hosting agreement.</p><p>But deputy premier Jacinta Allan—also the minister responsible for the Games—confirmed there would be a $2-billion support package for the regional communities affected by the announcement.</p><p>“Each and every one of the community sporting infrastructure projects that we had been in detailed planning, design and conversations with councils and local communities [for]... each one of those sporting infrastructure facilities will be going ahead,” she says.</p><p>In Ballarat—which was to host athletics, mountain biking and boxing—the mayor welcomed the pledge.</p><p>“I’m disappointed by this morning’s news,” mayor Des Hudson said on the steps of the council offices.</p><p>“We are certainly committed to ensuring that government delivers on what they committed to for our community.</p><p>“And, I certainly have great confidence that that will be the case.”</p><div id="7JZ6VWO8rWGzg1Tel5ijKO"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2ODhsh9yE5YQa3fciXqslp/684b51ebd9564ed881cc88652ea3377f/6.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2ODhsh9yE5YQa3fciXqslp/684b51ebd9564ed881cc88652ea3377f/6.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A moment from the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>This year <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/victoria-planning-dilemma-solutions" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/victoria-planning-dilemma-solutions">Samuel Properties walked away from a property purchase&nbsp;</a>and development in Ballarat—where it had originally planned a hotel in time for the Commonwealth Games.</p><p>“I think everybody was looking at it closely and feeling like they would cement these locations as really strong regional areas that people would put roots down in based on the sort of infrastructure the Games would bring,” Samuel says.</p><p>“But I’m certainly very glad that we didn’t push on with Ballarat.</p><p>“There’ll be things in train in these areas that none of us even know about in terms of sites or zoning or redevelopments.&nbsp;</p><p>“And you just wonder about some of those phone calls happening this morning, whether people are still comfortable to go ahead or whether they’re thinking about what else is going to change next.</p><p>“You’re only looking at a decision that might have been made one or two years ago with these Games in mind and then there’s the build costs and the interest rate costs involved in a private development.</p><p>“You don’t really need one more bad thing to come your way.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing <em>The Urban Developer</em> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

Shock, disappointment, disbelief—the Andrews government’s announcement has left the property industry reeling…

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<p>The Star Brisbane’s signature luxury hotel has been revealed.</p><p>Part of the $3.6-billion Queen’s Wharf Brisbane precinct, The Star Grand, Brisbane’s newest five-star hotel, will offer 340 luxury rooms across two arc-shaped towers overlooking the Brisbane River.</p><p>A sports bar, Brisbane’s largest hotel ballroom and a reimagined Fat Noodle restaurant by celebrity chef Luke Nguyen were also part of the plans revealed.</p><p>Hotel guests will have exclusive access to three pools on the resort’s Leisure Deck, a 12,000sq m open-air “oasis which delivers two football fields of public space, plus direct access to The Star Brisbane’s Sky Deck, a 250m rooftop runway of restaurants and bars 100m above the Brisbane River”.</p><p>The hotel offering includes four Skyline Penthouse Suites with oversized freestanding bathtubs where “guests can soak in sunset skies”.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="3.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4rU9S1gOLits0J3XUXSwqT/82a13f36060130fd4649ac55b60c9f59/3.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4rU9S1gOLits0J3XUXSwqT/82a13f36060130fd4649ac55b60c9f59/3.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="4.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4wJ5kyDqgRc3t9cKKg4cR3/acf1b004edfca923df1de4982a066047/4.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4wJ5kyDqgRc3t9cKKg4cR3/acf1b004edfca923df1de4982a066047/4.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="5.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2HodoAgpu02Hph1zZF99qM/3850037dabcc637bb9949a1207bf2f37/5.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2HodoAgpu02Hph1zZF99qM/3850037dabcc637bb9949a1207bf2f37/5.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="6.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/140BYxtbff5Zd4eFa6Dvn6/208e5dfe7599aca00ca37cf6c7a908db/6.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/140BYxtbff5Zd4eFa6Dvn6/208e5dfe7599aca00ca37cf6c7a908db/6.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>In June, The Star announced it had again <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/queens-wharf-brisbane-the-star-opening-delayed" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/queens-wharf-brisbane-the-star-opening-delayed">pushed back the opening of Queen’s Wharf</a>, this time to April 2024.</p><p>The development had been slated to open at Christmas 2023, which was itself a delayed due date.</p><p>Queen’s Wharf and Dexus’s $2.5-billion Waterfront Brisbane are <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/brisbane-tradespeople-labour-shortages-hutchinsons-mirvac." data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/brisbane-tradespeople-labour-shortages-hutchinsons-mirvac.">stretching the already constrained labour market in south-east Queensland</a>, driving up the cost of skilled trades.</p><p>Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson told <em>The Urban Developer</em> a major bugbear for the industry was the <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/scott-hutchinson-builders-formworkers-2023-predictions" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/scott-hutchinson-builders-formworkers-2023-predictions">increasing number of mega projects that were dragging on</a>.</p><p>“Queen’s Wharf needs to get off the books … it’s going much longer than expected, so it’s holding huge numbers of people on the site and not releasing them,” Hutchinson said in February.</p><p>Meanwhile, late last year <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/the-star-pyrmont-sydney-casino-licence-suspended-fine" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/the-star-pyrmont-sydney-casino-licence-suspended-fine">The Star Entertainment Group’s casino in Sydney was fined $100 million</a> and the NSW casino watchdog suspended its licence to operate after a damning report into its operations.</p><p>The Star Brisbane chief operating officer Kelvin Dodt said this week’s unveiling was a glimpse of what’s to come as Queensland’s newest entertainment and leisure destination moves towards its opening next year.</p><p>With more than 50 new food and beverage venues to be a part of Queen’s Wharf, some of the world’s top chefs have signed on for the precinct, according to The Star.</p><p>Celebrity chef Luke Nguyen is among them with his popular South-East Asia restaurant Fat Noodle confirmed for a “reimagined experience” as part of The Star.</p><p>Nguyen has enjoyed a decade-long partnership with The Star at its Brisbane and Sydney resorts.</p><p>“Brisbane is on the precipice of being the next foodie capital of Australia; the food offerings, the art and culture, and tourism is growing, and the city is making a name for itself in its own right,” he said.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="10.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/toycgWLT8LMQ7uY1ZF0MI/3d9bbd8b4a2cb0b424852d09525c1a25/10.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/toycgWLT8LMQ7uY1ZF0MI/3d9bbd8b4a2cb0b424852d09525c1a25/10.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="9.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3MLl7S6sng7CV1cHxlZTVu/d862405dd1c96428636cbaf7dc35ad1b/9.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3MLl7S6sng7CV1cHxlZTVu/d862405dd1c96428636cbaf7dc35ad1b/9.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>“There’s an undeniable buzz about town that is only going to be supercharged by the opening of The Star Brisbane next year.:”</p><p>The Star Brisbane will also home to a 732sq m Sports Bar; “the city’s premier venue to celebrate the world’s biggest matches, races and games”.</p><p>Endorsed by “homegrown heroes” such as the Brisbane Broncos, The Star said the Sports Bar would have more than 100sq m of mega-LED screens and stadium-like surround sound, plus three exclusive VIP booths large enough to seat an entire NRL team.</p><p>Also confirmed is The Star’s signature cocktail bar Cherry, a companion to The Star’s Sydney and Gold Coast venues by the same name, which will “reflect the atmosphere and energy of its central location within the resort, offering a vibrant and bold 360-degree bar to enjoy a cheeky mix of cool cocktails,” according to The Star.</p><p>Also revealed was The Star Brisbane’s Event Centre.</p><p>Anchored by Brisbane’s largest hotel ballroom, with the capacity to cater for up to 2000 guests, the state-of-the-art Event Centre “draws inspiration from Queensland’s subtropical landscape and signals a new era for events in Brisbane”.</p><p>Set to commence a staged opening from April 2024, the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane is set across more than 12ha on the Queensland capital’s river edge.</p><div id="3TPEipVzJwqpcexkUOt4iF"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7iQLxjnyIyT9LAtTScEsf1/d3fbab501ed3cb067fa91a4994f1733e/8.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7iQLxjnyIyT9LAtTScEsf1/d3fbab501ed3cb067fa91a4994f1733e/8.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of The Star Grand Event Centre, revealed as a part of the coming Queens Wharf development.<br><br></span></div></div><p>It is expected to attract an estimated 1.4 million additional visitors each year once open and will provide a pedestrian link between two of Brisbane’s largest cultural and lifestyle precincts, connecting South Bank and Brisbane Convention &amp; Exhibition Centre (BCEC) to Queen’s Wharf and The Star Brisbane via the Neville Bonner Bridge.</p><p>Queen’s Wharf Brisbane is being delivered by Destination Brisbane Consortium, a joint venture led by The Star Entertainment Group alongside its Hong Kong-based partners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.</p>

The lid has been lifted on the luxury hotel, plus the city’s largest hotel ballroom and Luke Nguyen’s reimagined Fat Noodle restaurant…

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<p>A Sydney real estate funds manager has filed concept plans for a giant $900-million redevelopment of the 5ha heart of Tweed Heads just inside New South Wales on the border with Queensland.</p><p>Elanor Investors Group is seeking a staged redevelopment of the Tweed Shopping Mall, which comprises 13 new buildings of up to 15 storeys on the corner of Wharf and Bay streets, just a couple of blocks from the Tweed River and less than a kilometre before it spills into the ocean.</p><p>The plans before Tweed Shire Council are for more than 1400 townhouses and apartments, 45,000sq m of retail space—including three supermarkets, fresh food market, and food and beverage outlets—a 52-key hotel, 14,000sq m of office space, a medical centre, a cinema complex, a childcare centre for up to 200 children, wellness centre and gymnasium.</p><p>The masterplan will take about a decade to complete and is estimated to&nbsp; cost about $907 million.</p><p>In documents before the Tweed council, Sutherland and Associates Planning said the concept plan “begins with the introduction of a new street and pedestrian network which will integrate with the pattern of the existing road network and street blocks in the locality”.</p><p>At the centre of the development will be a so-called “green heart” among the 13 buildings, some of which will rise to 49.5 metres.&nbsp;&nbsp;About half the site, or 24,665sq m, will be open space.</p><p>There will be parking for up to 2500 cars.</p><div id="6odLFP7dkQuKQlRTwkwfvl"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5C7Ew20RdXkWrOXOQD6l9N/523c07921a48800173cc1c7ac4f42267/Tweed_Mall_1_Mid.jpg" alt="An artist's impression of what the $900 million redevelopment of the Tweed Mall might look like." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5C7Ew20RdXkWrOXOQD6l9N/523c07921a48800173cc1c7ac4f42267/Tweed_Mall_1_Mid.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of what the $900-million redevelopment of the Tweed Mall.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>“The residential development will comprise a diverse housing stock including two-storey terraces, maisonettes and apartments to accommodate and foster a diverse community of residents,” Sutherland’s report said.</p><p>That comes as welcome news to Tweed mayor Chris Cherry, who told&nbsp;<em>The Urban Developer</em>&nbsp;she hoped the concept plan would bring housing for the town’s key workers.</p><p>“We have quite an issue at the moment with housing for workers and as a consequence of that we have a lot of gaps in our labour market, and businesses are finding it very difficult to get workers,” Cherry said.&nbsp;</p><p>She is in Canberra attending the Australian Local Government Association's national general assembly, alongside council leaders from most of Australia's 537 local governments.</p><p>“We need accommodation that is affordable for them.”</p><p>And jobs.</p><p>“Right here on the border, Covid border closures showed us just how vulnerable we are to the vagaries of politics and government decisions,” Cherry said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“So I’m hoping that it’s going to provide a lot of employment for the people within our shire.”</p><div id="6YMzzV9S6AccBD1mZPVtx5"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7DAumnqg5Nd7tVI2heLczn/06480fa6ad99de7c019e627a8f43332a/Tweed_Mall_2_Mid.jpg" alt="Local government leaders are hoping the 10-year masterplan will provide jobs and housing." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/7DAumnqg5Nd7tVI2heLczn/06480fa6ad99de7c019e627a8f43332a/Tweed_Mall_2_Mid.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Local government leaders are hoping the 10-year masterplan will provide jobs and housing.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>In fact, in a report on the economic benefits of the development, the council was told construction on the project alone would create 520 jobs a year over the next decade. About $790 million is expected to be injected into the Tweed Heads economy over the same period.</p><p>The council has put together a panel of design experts which first met in August last year, eventually refining the concept plan to remove height variations, and to increase public domain and deep soil areas.</p><p>The need for an architectural design competition was waived by the NSW Government Architect on the understanding an alternative design excellence process would be conducted.</p><p>Elanor Investors Group, a publicly-traded entity established in 2009, manages more than $2.9 billion of real estate investments across Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on commercial office, healthcare, retail, hotels, tourism and leisure sectors.</p><p>The existing, single-level Tweed Shopping Mall first opened in 1973 and counts three supermarkets as well as 62 specialty retail stores.</p><p>Elanor acquired the site in August of 2016, paying $65.5 million, according to online documents.</p>

A Sydney real estate funds manager has filed concept plans for a giant $900 million redevelopment of the five-hectare heart of Tweed Heads just inside New South Wales on its border with Queensland.

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<p>A vast swathe of rural land is about to hit the market in Sydney’s south-west.&nbsp;</p><p>The 359ha amalgamated site at 690-950 Cawdor Road and 420 Old Razorback Road at Cawdor, 70km south-west of the Sydney CBD, is close to the planned M9 motorway orbital and was acquired for $53.5 million by Golden Capital Commercial Logistics Pty Ltd in September last year.</p><p>KPMG partner Ryan Eagle said he was acting as mortgagee in possession for this landholding after it was seized in the Australian Federal Police raid as part of Operation Avarus-Midas, an international money laundering investigation.&nbsp;</p><p>In February the AFP charged nine members of an international $10-billion money laundering organisation and restrained more than $150 million in Sydney property, cash and luxury items, including the Cawdor site. One member of the group charged, Steven Xin, is the former business partner of fallen global casino industry tycoon Alvin Chau.</p><p><em>The Urban Developer</em> understands that the Cawdor site is the only property currently being sold.</p><p>Other properties on the syndicate’s portfolio included a $22-million St Leonards tower, and a $21-million five-storey property near Pitt Street Mall and two luxury properties at Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s east.&nbsp;</p><p>The AFP alleged the group enabled multiple transnational serious and organised crime (TSOC) groups to launder funds derived from criminal activities.</p><p>It was alleged the group laundered more than $150 million of their own profits from this enterprise, between 2018 and 2022.</p><p>The AFP was contacted for further detail on the legal proceedings but had not responded at the time of publication.&nbsp;</p><p>The seven contiguous plots of land are zoned both RU1 and RU2 and subject to council approval could be turned into a masterplanned community.&nbsp;</p><p>The existing zoning is for agriculture and rural industries, cemeteries and education and the amalgamated site is being marketed as “one of the largest aggregated land holdings offered to market in 2023” according to Colliers agent Matthew Meynell.&nbsp;</p><p>“Sites of this scale are scarce in such close proximity to the Sydney, Liverpool and Parramatta CBDs, providing an opportunity like no other,” Colliers’ Nick Estephen said.&nbsp;</p>

A significant amalgamated site south-west of Sydney that was seized by the AFP in a money-laundering raid has been taken to market...

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<p>Plans have finally been filed for a 59-storey skyscraper proposed for a site in Sydney’s CBD area.</p><p>The plans for the site at 4-6 Bligh Street have been lodged by Sarkis Nassif’s Holdmark as a State Significant Development Application.&nbsp;</p><p>With an estimated end value of $700 million, the 200m hotel and commerical skyscraper would comprise a 200-key hotel on levels 14 to 56 plus a rooftop bar.</p><p>There would also be eight storeys of office space, meeting and event rooms, restaurants, bars and retail space.</p><p>“There’s no question that Sydney is on the path to becoming a truly global city and we’re excited to be part of that,” Nassif said.</p><p>“We think there is enormous potential for tourism and that there is a long-term opportunity at the top end of the hotel market.”</p><div id="7jI9SxoFXO1D1bOuEsc3QF"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1OOUGhjwy60XRSlPsQp9LP/7ad2ae00ee1214550bd9de1e0e5974e1/Aerial_view_of_4-6_Bligh_Street_and_the_Sydney_skyline_wide_shot__2_.jpg" alt="A render of an aerial view of the proposed 59-storey tower on Bligh Street in Sydney's CBD." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1OOUGhjwy60XRSlPsQp9LP/7ad2ae00ee1214550bd9de1e0e5974e1/Aerial_view_of_4-6_Bligh_Street_and_the_Sydney_skyline_wide_shot__2_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ A render of the proposed 59-storey tower on Bligh Street in Sydney’s CBD.<br><br></span></div></div><p><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bligh-house-sale-deal-falls-over" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bligh-house-sale-deal-falls-over"></a></p><p>The Woods Bagot-designed plan was chosen via a design competition for the site.</p><p>“We’re extremely proud of this design which is the first project to take advantage of the Central Sydney Planning Strategy by the City of Sydney and allows us to get the height we’ve been able to achieve,” Woods Bagot principal and project design leader Ian Lomas said.</p><p>“We wanted to make a strong design statement and the architectural concept has been conceived as a simple sculptural form that contrasts against an unruly and congested skyline.”</p><p>The City of Sydney director of City Planning, Development and Transport Graham Jahn said the design “displayed a masterful architectural clarity and precision”.</p><p>“The slender hotel tower and infill podium will complement the extraordinarily rich setting of superb heritage-listed buildings that surround the site,” Jahn said.</p><div id="7jI9SxoFXO1D1bOuEsc3QF"></div><p><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bligh-house-sale-deal-falls-over" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/bligh-house-sale-deal-falls-over">Holdmark bought the site, home of the refurbished 17-storey Bligh House office tower on it</a>, last year from Singaporean firm SC Capital Partners for a reported $210 million in a sale brokered by Fortius.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="rcOtn.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1pD8qpupIpgc3G353MwCnS/059f790d4fb63e03422fd99f609e17c1/rcOtn.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1pD8qpupIpgc3G353MwCnS/059f790d4fb63e03422fd99f609e17c1/rcOtn.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="z2WZj.jpeg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2JXf3AEdNbRdwJMQnAUCdD/f14686c8d770afe9cdd5441c51581393/z2WZj.jpeg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/2JXf3AEdNbRdwJMQnAUCdD/f14686c8d770afe9cdd5441c51581393/z2WZj.jpeg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>It was the second time SC Capital Partners had tried to sell the asset with the Salter Brothers reportedly interested prior to the pandemic.</p><p>The site is opposite one of the planned entrances for the future Sydney Metro Hunter Street Station.</p><p>“We bought the asset purely on a commercial basis because we love the location, it has great development potential and is 100 per cent occupied, which indicates that quality well-located buildings will stand the test of Covid and the test of time,” Nassif said.</p><p>Holdmark said the Blight Street project was part of its diversification strategy for the company, which started with residential projects in western Sydney 30 years ago but is increasingly moving into commercial, retail and hotel developments, including InterContinental Parramatta.</p><p>Late last year Holdmark won approval for its <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/holdmark-burwood-town-centre-approved" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/holdmark-burwood-town-centre-approved" target="_blank">$600-million Burwood Place</a> project with more than 1000 apartments across five buildings in the inner western Sydney suburb.</p>

The Bligh House site will see an entirely new tower in its place if Holdmark’s newly lodged plans for a skyscraper get planning permission…


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<p>Private developer Crown Group is offloading a prime 1.7ha property in Sydney’s inner south—already approved for five residential towers—amid a public falling-out between the company’s two co-founding partners.</p><p>Colliers has been appointed agents for an expressions-of-interest campaign for the 16,921sq m block at 44-48 O’Dea Avenue and 52D O’Dea Avenue at Waterloo, 4km from the centre of Sydney.</p><p>The property comes with approved plans for 368 luxury apartments and almost 2200sq m of retail built across five very different buildings designed by three well-known global architectural firms—Japan’s Kengo Kuma and Australian firms Koichi Takada Architects and Silvester Fuller.</p><p><em>The Urban Developer </em>understands it could sell for as much as $120 million.</p><p>Colliers director of investment services James Cowan confirmed the sale was due to “a partnership dispute” and not “necessarily a stressed sale”, but would not go into further detail.</p><p>However, a bitter feud between founder and chief executive of development Iwan Sunito and his co-founder and chief executive of construction Paul Sathio has been playing out in public in recent weeks, across traditional and social media.</p><p>The two men, both Indonesian-born and NSW-educated, founded Crown Group in 2015. The group won approval for their flagship development, known as Mastery, in December of 2018.</p><p>Crown’s website, which bills Mastery as a $520-million development, says its sales team had sold $40 million in total retail space as of February 2021, but while Colliers says “significant early works” have begun, the site remains empty.</p><div id="12kNK1bkyOPWgFR3Yrn8eQ"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/71wZ6dmKZAGOo5yPt6OMl/b517f4b1bdfc31a3406e2eafe645f175/Waterloo_Sale_1_Mid_800_x_650.jpg" alt="An aerial photograph of the 1.7-ha site in Sydney’s inner south.  Colliers says significant early works have been undertaken." data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/71wZ6dmKZAGOo5yPt6OMl/b517f4b1bdfc31a3406e2eafe645f175/Waterloo_Sale_1_Mid_800_x_650.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The 1.7ha site in Sydney’s inner south. Colliers says significant early works have been undertaken.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>“This is simply one of the last sites left of scale in South Sydney,” Cowan said. “And any other site over a hectare has a long-term existing use subject to leases or has been already activated into mixed-use development.</p><p>“You can find 30,000sq m of gross floor area in Macquarie Park and Chatswood, but not split over medium density residential.”</p><p>The plans are approved for a gross floor area of 34,537 square metres.</p><p>Cowan said the development application included a 6000sq m land give-back to Sydney City Council.</p><p>“Where you’ll have public walkways, laneways, parkland, pedestrian thoroughfares through to Green Square.”</p><p>The sales campaign formally starts on Monday and Cowan believes there will be a lot of interest, particularly from major build-to-rent players.</p><p>“I’d certainly think there’s a strong build-to-rent angle on this particular site given the development can be staged in the five different construction points,” he said.&nbsp;</p><p>“It would not surprise me if a hybrid purchaser came along and did a part build-to-rent and part build-to-sell. For example, you could just pre-commit the whole building, like a whole stage, just to build-to-sell.”</p><div id="74HxcXdlxuctMLROdZjNBw"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/46p55I3Eh8cexEr0Z2hoA8/6289668573cf0c65f691f9df68d37882/Waterloo_Sale_2_Mid_.jpg" alt="An artist's impression of one of the buildings designed by Silvester Fuller.  Three different architects were used to design the five buildings approved under the development application.  " data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/46p55I3Eh8cexEr0Z2hoA8/6289668573cf0c65f691f9df68d37882/Waterloo_Sale_2_Mid_.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Three different architects were used to design the five buildings approved under the development application. This one is by Silvester Fuller.</span></div><div><br></div></div><p>Cowan said he expected as many as 15 offers on the site.</p><p>“I still think build-to-rent forms a niche part of the market,” he said.</p><p>“But I do think they’ll be pricing it most aggressively, so if I was to guess it’s still going to be a third build-to-rent and two-thirds build-to-sell.</p><p>“However those build-to-rent operators will all be in the top half of the bidding, in regard to pricing.”</p><p>Most recently, Iwan Sunito announced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/iwan-sunito-crown-group-one-global-waterloo" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/iwan-sunito-crown-group-one-global-waterloo">he was launching a new company&nbsp;</a>to provide luxury hotel-style amenity to apartment residents in mixed-use hotel and residential projects.</p><p>He told <em>The Urban Developer</em> at the time the first property to become part of the new brand—One Global Residences and Resorts—would be the Mastery project.</p><p>Both Sunito and Paul Sathio have been contacted for comment on the Waterloo sale.</p>

Private developer Crown Group is offloading a prime 1.7-hectare property in Sydney’s inner south—already approved for five residential towers—amid a public falling-out between the company’s two co-founding partners.

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<p>Meriton boss Harry Triguboff is celebrating a court win against the City of Parramatta over the developer’s planned 30-storey Epping tower.</p><p>A stoush over carparking was at the heart of the disagreement, leading to a trip to the Land and Environment Court, which ruled in favour of the developer last week.</p><p>Meriton filed plans for a 30-storey tower on a 4970sq m site <a data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/meriton-oxford-street-epping-development-application" href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/meriton-oxford-street-epping-development-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at 37-41 Oxford Street last year</a>.</p><p>The Scott Carver-designed, 29,000sq m project initially offered 211 apartments and six levels of basement parking, replacing an existing unused three-storey office building.&nbsp;</p><p>However, it has faced backlash over multiple issues, forcing the prolific developer to change its plans.</p><p>Among the detractors, the Epping Civic Trust raised concerns with the council over parking, suggesting that additional parking provision on two additional basement floors “runs contrary to council’s recent requirements to limit parking in highrise apartments with green travel plans to encourage public transport use and discourage private vehicles”.&nbsp;</p><p>Sydney Central City Planning panel rejected the proposal in September due to these parking issues, height variations that were initially requested, and a clause in the Hornsby Local Environmental Plan which does not allow floor space variation to be approved for shoptop housing.</p><p>As a result, Meriton cut its number of apartments to 204 and redesigned its basement carparking to five levels with basement envelope changes to levels two and three.&nbsp;</p><p>This resulted in an increase in bicycle parking from 65 to 148 spots, and a reduction in carparking spaces to 299 from 317.</p><p>This was the central issue in the court case, as the council reportedly would only allow 220 spots.</p><div id="793xzmQQ0EnPGh61re0U6J"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3CEZOKLeNEB7WFP6awN75B/c79fb31e6e723936bfe57400e358d19d/Meriton_30_storey_mid.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3CEZOKLeNEB7WFP6awN75B/c79fb31e6e723936bfe57400e358d19d/Meriton_30_storey_mid.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ An artist’s impression of Meriton’s proposed 30-storey Epping apartment project. Image: Scott Carver </span></div></div><p><br>Trigoboff claimed the win was a “major victory”.</p><p>“It is clear that more and more people want to live in apartments but when council imposes conditions that go against the market then we have an obligation to fight for what is right,” Triguboff said in a media statement.&nbsp;</p><p>“Our buyers and renters rely on their cars. Some use them during the week, others may only use them on the weekends, so to assume hundreds of residents would move into a building with inadequate parking is naive.”&nbsp;</p><p>Triguboff criticised outdated rules and inflexibility for the issue.</p><p>“The council rules only allowed a number of car spaces, which the council was prepared to approve.&nbsp;</p><p>“However, the rules were out of date and the court agreed with us that the number had to be increased. This is a very important victory because developers must understand that if the rules are out of date, they can stand on their rights and they will win.”</p><p>Triguboff said that councils needed to help increase unit production, and blamed the Department of Planning pushbacks and delays for Meriton building fewer apartments.</p><p>“We fought for 80 parking spaces for a year. They are doing nothing to increase the unit production, instead they are slowing it down,” he said.</p>

A dispute over carparking requirements held back Meriton’s 30-storey residential plans for more than 12 months…

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<p>Women are taking the lead on major projects, planning, proptech solutions and construction, increasing visibility and representation in the property sector. While two female chief executives, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz and Alison Mirams, are stepping down from their posts this year, <em>The Urban Developer</em> takes a look at the women who are shaping the built environment in Australia’s biggest cities.<br>&nbsp;</p><hr><h2><strong><br>Emily Wombwell</strong><br><strong>Studio Director</strong><br><strong>SJB</strong></h2><p><br>Wombwell has been spearheading design in large mixed-use projects for more than nine years, with some significant city-shaping precincts and projects under her belt. She says one of her earliest projects, the award-winning Quay Quarter Lanes in Circular Quay, was influential in her career.</p><p>“We started working on it in 2014 and it took over seven years to reach completion. Not only did this project have an aspirational brief and a special site but the collaborative process of working with multiple design firms on a postage stamp site, in the heart of Sydney, was highly formative and inspiring for me,” Wombwell says.</p><div id="2zpFC2drPTTqWCO693T8LX"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/e4sFOad9fjrywWXVpc4Xq/8e9dba065d7c54381a5b0d7a33aca3d6/Emily_Wombwell_MID.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/e4sFOad9fjrywWXVpc4Xq/8e9dba065d7c54381a5b0d7a33aca3d6/Emily_Wombwell_MID.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Emily Wombwell is studio director at SJB and has some big place-making projects under her belt. </span></div></div><p><br>Wombwell also says designing the Newcastle East End precinct in her hometown, and collaborating with six other design firms on the 16ha Canberra Brickworks project were also highlights.&nbsp;</p><p>The architect also co-founded Perspectives seven years ago to create a cross-disciplinary platform for women in creative industries.</p><p>“At the time women were very obviously the minority voice at most industry events and that wasn’t always due to lack of invitation but sometimes also due to lack of confidence or time to get involved,” Wombwell says.&nbsp;</p><p>“We wanted Perspectives to be a supportive environment for both established and emerging female creatives to present their story.”</p><p>Wombwell says there is no shortage of brilliant female architects in Australia, paving the way for the next generation.<br>&nbsp;</p><hr><h2><strong><br>Katya Crema</strong><br><strong>Director of Projects</strong><br><strong>Hip V. Hype</strong><br></h2><p><br>“Healthy, enduring homes that get better with age and are embraced by<br>community are the projects we want to be delivering.”</p><p>And Melbourne-based Hip V. Hype is hitting the mark when it comes to sustainable, design-led architecture that is improving the built environment. Katya Crema is director of projects, alongside partner Liam Wallis. The couple and their two young children live and breathe the ideals and have lived in three of their own developments.&nbsp;</p><p>“We use lived experience to constantly improve the homes we design and build,” Crema says.</p><p>“We strive to design and build projects that look better in 10 years’ time than they did the day they were built.”</p><div id="1VaLpMjFlBx9YGWZBDfEzd"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/42Xw2xOoypp1np0QUJgGhv/27b667770986b7816722d47e83e8bc01/Katya_Crema_MID.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/42Xw2xOoypp1np0QUJgGhv/27b667770986b7816722d47e83e8bc01/Katya_Crema_MID.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Hip V. Hype director of projects Katya Crema is an advocate for female representation in development and together with partner Liam Wallis is developing sustainable design-led apartment projects. </span></div></div><p><br>Crema says she admires the women behind Armitage Jones, Sonya Miller and Olivia Christie, who are delivering “impressive scale projects across commercial and residential sectors”.</p><p>“They seem to be one of the very few property development/project management businesses in Victoria led entirely by women. In an industry so heavily male dominated, particularly property development, what Sonya and Olivia have created is inspiring the next generation of women<br>into this industry. Huge respect for those women.”</p><p>But Crema has also been working in the background to develop grassroots connections in the industry and develop a pathway for more women into property development.&nbsp;</p><p>“Women’s networking events go a long way in helping women to connect, share experiences and build networks, which in turn helps to retain women in the industry.&nbsp;</p><p>“From my own personal experience, a grassroots initiative like the Women of ABP, an alumni networking group I formed with fellow colleagues graduating out of the University of Melbourne’s Architecture, Building and Planning faculty, has had a significant impact on my own female network in the industry and has provided me with a platform to engage and work with other female leaders across the industry.”</p><p>Hip V. Hype recently launched a hotel experience at its Ferrars and York carbon-neutral apartment development at South Melbourne. The curated short-stay experience enables people to experience sustainable apartment living firsthand and showcases the intersection between design and sustainability.&nbsp;<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Simone Desmarchelier<br>Chair<br>City of Brisbane Investment Corporation (CBIC)</h2><p><br>With more than 25 years’ experience in real estate across Australia, United Kingdom and Europe, recently appointed chair of the CBIC Simone Desmarchelier is well-equipped to take on Brisbane’s investment mantle.&nbsp;</p><p>Desmarchelier says CBIC’s growth ambition is appealing, as well as a return to her hometown after many years living in the UK, working with Deutsche Bank and in Milan, working as the consul-general and senior trade commissioner to Italy.&nbsp;</p><div id="R07ksgUKzPkXyfg3o8a3a"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6yLwjlTIKQd1cCMCEtP8vA/66e2a5350d03d9c228bfe83f1855ec9f/Simone_Desmarchelier_MID.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6yLwjlTIKQd1cCMCEtP8vA/66e2a5350d03d9c228bfe83f1855ec9f/Simone_Desmarchelier_MID.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Newly appointed CBIC chair Simone Desmarchelier brings more than 25 years of property investment background to the role and is looking forward to watching Brisbane take shape ahead of the Olympic Games. </span></div></div><p><br>She is also relishing the idea of helping to shape the city ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games and enabling the Brisbane City Council to invest in more green space for her 10-year-old son to enjoy.&nbsp;</p><p>“What I like about CBIC is that it is conscious that it’s investing for the benefit of not just one but multiple generations of people in Brisbane, so the approach to investment always comes back to that long-term focus,” she says.&nbsp;</p><p>“Although a commercial return is important, CBIC is mindful of who is going to benefit in the long run.</p><p>“CBIC has delivered solid performance in its core real estate investments since its inception. In the last financial year, it delivered an overall return of 13.8 per cent, outperforming its original return target.”</p><p>Desmarchelier says there are plenty of women in top jobs in the property sector creating pathways for younger generations, including QIC chief executive Kylie Rampa and ADCO chairman Judy Brinsmead.&nbsp;</p><p>“I think that more is being done, I think people who are in a position to promote and appoint people are more conscious of seeking out both male and female candidates for similar roles,” she says.</p><p>“But I still think it has to come down to who has the right skill set and temperament for that role.”<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Mina Radhakrishnan<br>Co-Founder<br>:Different</h2><p><br>Mina Radhakrishnan is solutions focused. The mother-of-two and proptech company co-founder brings her Silicon Valley experience to the property sector in Australia to disrupt and streamline property management.&nbsp;</p><p>Radhakrishnan has worked for Google, Goldman Sachs, and joined Uber as their 20th employee before launching her own proptech company :Different.</p><div id="3AP6ia9fgdHWCPq810OyOm"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3xnuw4fZLh80vV5BAAETb7/01a3258b619ec6ea43f4c578cfb833fd/Mina_Radhakrishnan_MID.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/3xnuw4fZLh80vV5BAAETb7/01a3258b619ec6ea43f4c578cfb833fd/Mina_Radhakrishnan_MID.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Mina Radhakrishnan runs a 200-employee Australian proptech firm that is disrupting the real estate sector. </span></div></div><p><br>She says the proptech firm launched its property management rent roll solution in October last year and expected to sign up thousands of real estate agencies.&nbsp;</p><p>“Last year we launched our latest project :Different for Agencies,” she says.</p><p>“It’s an operation and management of rent roll solution, which brings together a team of property experts and a proven tech platform solution.</p><p>“For many agencies they want to focus on growth and sales, what we do is really solve this problem, we take away the pain of property management.”</p><p>Transparent data is a crucial plank in the platform’s operations, according to Radhakrishnan. She says the platform provides real-time property management portfolio tracking for agencies as well as insights and recommendations on asset performance and profitability.&nbsp;</p><p>The proptech company operates across the eastern seaboard with about 200 employees across Australia and Sri Lanka.&nbsp;</p><p>Radhakrishnan says the technology enables seamless logging of maintenance and property management issues, and a single point solution that tracks issues through to completion.&nbsp;</p><p>She says parenting her two small children while running :Different is a challenge, but she says she puts two hours aside each day for family time when she is offline.&nbsp;</p><p>“As a leader making those decisions, that makes it okay for others to set those boundaries too. It gives people space to do it.”<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Alice Hanna<br>People and culture manager<br>Kapitol</h2><p><br>Alice Hanna is at the coal face.</p><p>As the people and culture manager at one of Australia’s newest and most innovative construction companies, she says she wants to drive change in the industry.</p><p>“Kapitol focuses on innovation, experimentation and pushing the boundaries to improve the industry as a whole,” she says.</p><p>She says Kapitol is focused on attracting and retaining good staff because it drives the success of the business. &nbsp;</p><div id="5nCh6fAoNqwF3Ots8Ubb6d"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4aTCZ1PPiCvSvfBrKbhJvW/25862ff3e746808a35f4171c3689fe61/Alice_Hanna_Kapitol_MID.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/4aTCZ1PPiCvSvfBrKbhJvW/25862ff3e746808a35f4171c3689fe61/Alice_Hanna_Kapitol_MID.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ Alice Hanna says wholesale change is needed across the construction industry to make it a more viable employment option for women.<br><br></span></div></div><p>But Hanna says “wholesale change is needed across the board” in the construction sector.</p><p>“We need more senior female role models so that young women can see themselves reflected in the industry, meaning the structural, cultural and bias barriers preventing women reaching those roles need to be broken down,” she says.</p><p>“The culture of the industry needs to change to be a more safe, welcoming, equitable and inclusive industry.”</p><p>Hanna also points to structural change to work hours to enable a Monday to Friday work week.</p><p>One in five construction jobs is held by a woman, according to Procore data, and these tend to be office-bound roles.</p><p>But it’s not only about gender equality in construction.&nbsp;</p><p>“The research clearly shows the more diverse workforces are more successful, both in terms of quality of outcomes, profit and candidate attraction and retention. Diversity also promotes innovative thought and let’s be honest, the industry is behind the 8-ball when it comes to innovation.</p><p>“There’s a huge opportunity for the industry to improve itself through a diverse workforce and huge opportunities for women that they don’t currently have equal access to.”<br><br></p><hr><p><strong><br>You are currently experiencing&nbsp;<em>The Urban Developer</em>&nbsp;Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals.&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans" data-mce-href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><strong>Click here to learn more.</strong></a></p><div id="2GhuueZl01Zwo2aFfjNVi2"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg" alt="TUD + Banner" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/12UMq5eMSEOh0QxJVBYaDt/d7507cf4ceb1365cc9ce7eaff84d06cc/tud___banner.jpg"></picture></div>

Women are taking the lead on major projects, planning, proptech solutions, and construction, increasing visibility and representation in the property sector. The Urban Developer takes a look at the women who are shaping the built environment in Australia’s biggest cities...


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