King’s COUNSEL€¦ · King’sCOUNSEL ISSUE 19 • SPRING 2002 OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF KING & CO PROPERTY CONSULTANTS West End at the crossroads: Is it to become a gentrified monoculture

King’s COUNSELI S S U E 1 9 • S P R I N G 2 0 0 2

O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R O F K I N G & C O P R O P E R T Y C O N S U LTA N T S

d at the crossroads:rified monoculture or a place for all of us...ing industrial development?

West EnIs it to become a gent

includ

The West End and its surrounds are common-ly recognised as inner Brisbane’s most demo-graphically diverse area, comprising every-thing from heavy industries on Riverside Dri-ve to ethnic cafes lining Boundary Road to anAboriginal presence around Musgrave Park.

It is also a community at the crossroads, withforces at work, both Government and marketdriven, that will decide what direction this450ha precinct is to take over the next 10-15years: Will it, for example, simply becomeanother “gentrified monoculture”, wherewell heeled denizens can, as one wag put it,“find 35 types of croissants but can’t get theirshoes fixed.?” ...or can the West End be al-lowed to “evolve into a place of diverse, vi-brant and safe living environments based on acompatible mix of residential, commercial,industrial and recreational activities”...whereaffordable housing clusters and small manu-facturers are just as welcome as the upmarketresidential high rise unit blocks earmarked

CoP R O P E R T Y C O N S U LTA N T S

INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

Tunnels, tunnelseverywhere and not

a critic in sightWhaddya know! Notmore than three yearsago, local pollies ofnearly every stripe wereoffering a dismissive“no way” when it cameto even consideringKing & Co’s proposalsfor additional connec-tions across the Bris-bane River. Now, leaders of both major parties find themselves in arace to introduce a veritable panoply of tunnel or bridge visions,each touted with a vigour that would lead the casual observer tothink the whole concept was of their own making. Considering themomentum this competition has generated, we can only assume thatthe next Council election will produce a virtual tunnel/bridge bid-ding war as the need for them is the one key issue upon which bothsides now agree...something the public did ages ago.

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Brisbane industrialsales market

rebounding stronglyRecent, small increases in interest rates by the RBA to limit over-heating of the residential market has had no impact on Brisbane'sindustrial market. This market is expected to remain robust even ifinterest rates rise 1% over the next year as predicted by econo-mists. Continuing share market volatility is redirecting capitalfrom the equity market into property.

While the latest Valuer General's statistics substantiate what isgenerally known, importantly, they emphasise the huge changes in

Continued page 3

The Ins and Outs of Brisbane’s Industrial Suburbs see page 3

for the riverfront or ‘ live and work’ spaces atthe western portion of Boundary Street?

Midwife to much of this choice is the WestEnd/Woolloongabba Local Area Plan, part ofa Brisbane City Council process to “tailorland use outcomes and other issues to theneeds of a specific community” then incorpo-rate its recommendations into the City Plan2000 via Amendments, now in their draftstage. In this case, how to absorb an antici-pated 7,500 new residents into the presentpopulation of 19,000, and do so “within aframework that provides sustainable and re-sponsible development, while meeting the re-quirements of the Integrated Planning Act1997.” It is also intended to take into consid-eration needs relating to transport, amenityand the delivery of services.

Needless to say, a potential expansion of thismagnitude has precipitated a significant jumpin industrial land values within areas rezoned

for residential unit development...and in thecase of riverfront sites, sometimes more than250%! No wonder many industrial propertysales agents covering the West End find it in-creasingly necessary to have a workingknowledge of the residential market.

West End/ Woolloongabba Local AreaPlan:an overview Although three years have transpired sincework commenced on the West End/Wool-loongabba Local Area Plan, its recommenda-tions have yet to become an “official” com-ponent of the City Plan and probably won’t beuntil July of next year...a situation due, inlarge part, to State Government tardiness insigning off on guidelines vis-a-vis AffordableHousing contributions, the latter a sine quanon for Councillor Tim Quinn, mooted as acandidate in the next race for Lord Mayor andrepresentative of this precinct in the BCC.

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the market since the introduction of GST.From a high of $675 million sales for cal-endar year 1999, the market plummeted to$435m for calendar year 2000. In 2001 cal-endar year, the market moved upwards to$535m. Anecdotal evidence, and our sellingexperience, suggest this growth has contin-ued with current sales around the previoushistorical high of $650m.

The number of sales over the calendar year2001, however, did not increase at the samerate - the average value per sale increasedfrom $580,000 to $735,000.

The southside of the Brisbane River is againshowing its strength pulling further awayfrom the northside, particularly in vacantland sales. Improved and strata sales duringthis period were close to equal.

Brisbane Industrial Sales…- Continued from page 1 The Moving Annual Totals for Industrial Sales in BCC

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Source: RP Data/HTW

The Ins anBrisbane’sBulimba, Morningside,Murarrie, Hemmant, Tingalpaand Lytton

Sales: Stephen FergusonLeasing: Aaron Dahl

Industrial property in rapidly gentrifying Bu-limba is at a premium since most stock is be-ing redeveloped for residential use under theauspices of the Urban Renewal Task Force.One of the last large parcels to be razed aspart of this process encompassed six 4,000m2

sheds at Stuart Street, in the ex-Hornibrooksite. What’s left is very tightly held by ownerswaiting for even higher prices, however thishiatus has provided some short term leases inthe $70/m2 to $80/m2 range. As might be ex-pected, many businesses are compelled to re-locate, generally to Lytton and Hemmant.

Morningside has remained popular over thepast few years due to its close proximity to thePort and City. Food related industries tend tocluster in this area, particularly as it’s nearcold storage facilities.

Previously, Morningside had a number of200m2 to 400m2 rental units available butstock of this size has since dried up. Similar-ly, there are only three larger buildings forlease, a 2,500m2 office/warehouse, a 2,200m2

cold room facility and a freestanding,1,300m2, tilt panel office/warehouse.

Fortunately, a few new developments will besoon coming onto the market, for examplefour 500m2 units on Beverley Street, and 9larger units in an estate along Lytton Road,the latter to rent for $110/m2 to $150/m2.Meanwhile, smaller, second hand units areselling quickly but a preference for free-standers has made the sale of 600m2 to 700m2

units very difficult, and 400m2 to 500m2 unitsare in oversupply.

d Outs of Industrial S

Murarrie retains similar popularity, mostlyfueled by Pradella’s 62 ha Metroplex on Gate-way...a four stage, high end development thathas recently attracted the likes of WamflerGroup subsidiary,SCA Distributors, whichleased a 1,265m2 purpose built facility at 3/9Archimedes Place and is paying $111,320 paon 8+5 year terms; Jack in the Box, whichpurchased an existing 1,300m2 tilt panel uniton Borthwick Street, and a 2,000m2 office/warehouse on Smallwood Place has beenleased to Gribbles Analytical Laboratories.Two office buildings were also taken up, oneby Yokogawa Australia, and highlights the factthat the estate is not purely for industrial users.Rates are from $80/m2 for office/warehousesand up to $150/m2 for commercial.

In addition, property investor MacquarieGoodman Industrial Trust has bought the laststage of Metroplex, previously earmarked foroffices and a hotel. According to reports thiswould give the Trust approximately 12 haof land within the estate for industrial devel-opment.

Hemmant has also been attracting much in-terest, but a shortage of stock has left manypotential tenants and owner/occupiers unableto find something that meets their require-ments. More specifically, it lacks the mediumto large leasing stock so desired by transportcompanies or heavy industry, with no specdevelopment in the pipeline. The supply ofsmaller sizes should increase, however, ashighlighted by Pam Pacific’s new develop-ment on Londor Close, where GI allotmentsare selling for $105/m2 to $120/m2, and the200m2 to 500m2 units intended for AquariumAvenue. There is also an extreme shortage ofsmall, freehold land.

This suburb’s desirability should becomeeven more intense as Stage 1 of the 5 km,$196 million Port of Brisbane Motorway

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uburbsheads towards completion in 2003. Mean-while, Lytton Road from the Gateway Bridgeto the Hemmant industrial strip is to be com-pletely refurbished by the end of the year...and already has been alleviating traffic.

Anticipating a future demand for D & Cs,Dan Williams has bought up a large parcel ofland off Anton Street and seven blocks at Mu-rarrie Road, one of the latter sold to GambleProperty Holdings for some units.

Tingalpa is providing some of the medium tolarge warehouse space that Hemmant lacks,especially in Millenium (sic) Place wherebusinesses can lease new tilt panel facilitiesfrom 650m2 to 700m2, at rates between $70/m2

to $80/m2, and can buy a 1,200m2 freestander.There is also a 2,000m2 block available for de-velopment just of Wondall Road.

The older part of this precinct, at New Cleve-land and Ingleston Roads, remains popularwith Bayside residents owning companies re-quiring dry storage and yard at an affordableprice. Elsewhere in Tingalpa, buildings with alarger than average office component have at-tracted larger corporations at Graystone andEnterprise Streets.

Together, these suburbs are seeing the reloca-tion of numerous southside businesses, partic-ularly from Brisbane’s southwestern industri-al corridor, a trend that should continue dur-ing the next six months.

In Lytton, Stage 5 of the Department of StateDevelopment’s 22 ha Lytton Industrial Estate,at Trade and Freight Streets, only has 5 of itsoriginal 30 lots remaining. They range in size

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from 4,000m2 to 1.08ha and can be bought byany Port related user from $390,000 to$810,000. Anticipating good takeup, the DSDis planning to bring on line all or part of theremaining property by the end of next year.Depending on interest, there will be addition-al 13 blocks made available, ranging from4,200m2 to 3.7 ha, plus the possibility of 13more, between 5,600m2 to 8ha.

Eagle Farm, Hamilton, Pinkenba,Banyo, Northgate and Hendra

Sales: David FieldingLeasing: Paul Anderson

Eagle Farm continues to suffer from a lack oflarge industrial buildings, vacant freehold landor redevelopment sites, a scarcity that has, forexample, pushed up land prices by 10% to20% per annum over the last 5-6 years andforced many businesses to look farther afield.

If that weren’t enough, uncertainty as to theexact location of property to be resumed be-tween 2007-2011 for the duplicate GatewayBridge, and its extensions, has all but stoppedsales around French and Harvey Streets. TheRowland Co, as sub-consultant to GHD(which took over EGIS, the original consult-ant), has been undertaking a feasibility studyfor Main Roads, and says this informationwon’t be available until at least April 2003.

The Ins and Outs....- Continued from page 3

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Due to many of the circumstances notedabove, leasing has shown slower than normalactivity, with only a dozen deals completedduring the last 6 months, mostly secondaryspace around 500m2 and renting for $60/m2 to$70/m2. Indeed, once Brambles took up a3,600m2 building in the Voxon Estate at 121Holt Street, Eagle Farm only had 2-3 buildingsavailable in the 2,000m2 to 4,000m2 range.

“...a scarcity that has,for example, pushed upland prices by 10% to20% per annum overthe last 5-6 years and

forced many businesses to look

farther afield”Elsewhere in Eagle Farm, the BCC has de-ferred the sale of its 30 ha Tradecoast Centraluntil March of next year to allow time for amaster plan to be commissioned and to re-solve infrastructure problems. Reflecting thesite’s promise as a greenfield or englobo de-velopment area, the Council received 60 Ex-pressions of Interest before shortlisting appli-cants to around ten. It’s expected there will beenormous pent up demand once this landcomes onto the market in 21/2 years or so andshould significantly enhance the value of

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nearby stock even before then.

While Isuzu Trucks is moving into its 1.5 hasite on Fison Avenue, another 2-3 majortruck/car wholesalers are looking for verylarge lots with frontage and finding them dif-ficult to find.

Also in Eagle Farm, the Port of Brisbane hasbeen attempting to sell its 19,000m2 TollTransport NQX tenanted distribution centre atHolt Street and is expected to achieve around$19 million. Conversely, the Port is reported-ly going to tender for Laminex’s 22,000m2

distribution and storage shed. The company isreportedly considering an offer to relocate toa new premises on Thynne Road, Colmslie,but that was before its recent takeover byFletcher Building, a New Zealand firm.

Hamilton, previously a good industrial area,has seen long term inhabitants like Patricksrelocate to leasehold land at Fisherman Is-lands as this part of the riverfront makes wayfor a new cruise ship terminal. Also at Fisher-man Islands, the Port of Brisbane is develop-ing a 10 ha complex for a 50,000m2, $30 mil-lion purpose built distribution centre to beleased to New Zealand based discount retail-er, The Warehouse Group. This is reportedlyone of the largest leases in Brisbane’s history.In 2001-02, it was reported that 27.9% of the

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Port’s $96.4 in revenue came from rental in-come and is forecast to grow by 1.1% duringthis financial year.

Pinkenba, particularly its secondary sitesaround Randle Road, has benefited from short-ages in Eagle Farm and elsewhere, but suffersfrom land with a lack of servicing, fill or theproper zoning. For this reason, rates may varyfrom $15/m2 to $50/m2. Spacerack has, howev-er, taken a 7 year lease on a 1,600m2 buildingat Orient and Orsova Streets and will relocatehere from Eagle Farm on completion.

Although the Hendra/Banyo area has beenexperiencing a shortage of land as well, therehave been some significant sales in the3,000m2-4,000m2 range and up. For example,a 1.5 ha site at Nudgee and Toombul Roadssold for approximately $145/m2 and 4.1 ha(2.7 ha usable) at Navigator Place sold for $3million. Both transactions reflect the huge de-mand for land in this area.

These suburbs also lack buildings between4,000m2 to 10,000m2, forcing many potentialoccupants to look elsewhere. On the otherhand, there’s an oversupply of new and sec-ondary strata titled units. With the formerslowly being leased for only $90/m2 (or soldfor $900/m2), owners of the latter are beingforced to lower their prices to meet the market.

Also in Hendra, the Stockland Trust Groupcompletely re-clad its 14,000m2, 19 building,Hendra Distribution Park at Hedley Avenueand has only 5,000m2 remaining vacant. Ten-ants in the estate include K-Mart, Coles Myer,MPG Logistics, Securapark, Fletcher WoodPanels, Woolstock, Pauls and Fastways Couri-ers, most of whom were already tenants andrecommitted during the process via directdeals. The average rent is $55/m2. Last yearthe Stockland Trust Group had a gross revenueof $631.5 million, nationwide, and acquiredthe Hendra Distribution Park in 2000 for $41.8million. The complex was originally construct-ed during the 1940’s then substantially refur-bished during the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Northgate only has a couple of blocks forsale, eg land at Crockford Street, which isavailable from $100/m2 to $140/m2, and Hunt-ington Place from $130/m2 to $150/m2.

Windsor, Stafford, Enoggeraand Kedron

Sales: Steve BrownLeasing: David Fien

In Windsor’s old Bretts site, a new, $35 mil-lion K-Mart anchored Homezone Centre at142 Newmarket Road is 85% precommited,leaving only a couple of 300m2 modulesavailable. As expected, this project has givenan enormous boost to the area’s popularity andimmediately reduced the outflow of tenantsmoving to the Valley/Newstead precinct. Forexample, only one unit is left in either 101 or121 Newmarket Road and only two out of 14are available at 104 Newmarket Road… thelatter because space in this complex can beused as quasi retail, but at lower rates than at


the Homezone. Prices should escalate in rela-tion to future scarcity, however are now$95/m2 to $110/m2, depending on office fitout.Windsor’s industrial sales, on the other hand,tend to be slow because so much of its stock istightly held or bought for residential use.

“It’s expected there willbe enormous pent up

demand once this landcomes onto the marketin 21⁄2 years or so andshould significantlyenhance the value of

nearby stock evenbefore then”

After a slow period, Stafford has become amuch sought after light industrial precinct dueto its proximity to the CBD and major arteri-als as well as the growing residential suburbsof Wilston and the Grange. With a BunningsWarehouse opening mid 2003 at the ex-Southcorp site on Stafford and Shand Roads,this whole area should enjoy an additional up-lift, particularly for properties along Windo-rah Street, which will now have access to thenew development. Further enhancing thisprecinct, the Stafford City Shopping Centre ismaking way for a much needed bus lane fromHayward Street through the Centre toStafford Road. The next 6 months should seean “explosion” of interest in sites around theWebster and Stafford Roads intersection,much of it from prospective tenants who findNewstead a bit too pricey or congested. Thosewho relocate here will find a good choice ofproperty, however rental rates are expected torise before too long.

Because Stafford is so tightly held, owner/oc-cupier or investment stock is more difficult tofind, exceptions being a freehold 2,320m2 tiltslab building on 2,022m2 of LI land at 25Harvton Street, which sold at auction to a su-per fund for $965,000; a 598m2 unit at 2/15Hayward Street sold for $398,000 and a ten-anted 359m2 office/warehouse in a 5 unitcomplex at 482 Stafford Road, was purchasedfor $580,000. Units in the latter will be usedas quasi retail space at $165/m2 to $175/m2,instead of the $350/m2 in Stafford City only 1km away. In addition, owners of the 2,000m2

ex-Energex site on Hayward Street have sub-mitted a Development Application to convertit into a place of worship.

Enoggera is similarly tightly held, with fewleaving, particularly on Pickering Street.Nonetheless, because of a semi-retirement, anoffice/warehouse at 83 Pickering Street wassnapped up for $570,000. Vendors are onlytaking short term leases due to a 10 year planto redevelop everything to the Wardell Streetoverpass, with 30 Pickering Street being theonly space rented in the last 6 months.

Kedron also has little stock, although someoffice/warehouses are available on Glentannaor Araluen Streets, between $65/m2 and

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$80/m2, depending on size, and two new prop-erties can be rented at 536 & 538 Rode Road.

Milton, Taringa, Indooroopilly,Kenmore and Chapel Hill

Sales: Warwick EdgeLeasing: David Fien

During the past three months Milton has seena significant revival of both sales and leasingactivity, largely due to the present and antici-pated impact of projects like the Inner CityBypass, the Lang Park stadium reconstruc-tion; the refurbishment of the railway station,with 260 residential units being built atop therail line fronting Railway Terrace; a 3,000m2

high density residential block between Walshand Manning Streets, also fronting RailwayTerrace, and residential development beingprepared for the space behind Savoir Faire onPark Road... all of which could add over 600residential units to an already well populatedprecinct... plus, of course, the additionalrestaurants etc to service them. It should benoted that some of this resurgence can also beattributed to areas like Fortitude Valley andNewstead pricing themselves out of the mar-ket when compared to Milton’s more realisticcosts psm, plus its ease of parking. For exam-ple, rental rates here are only $180/m2 to$190/m2, as opposed to $250/m2 for similarspace in the Valley.

This trend can be seen in the 29 unit MiltonVillage, where competitive pricing has seentwo recently leased,with the eight remainingreceiving increased enquiry. At Milton Circle,meanwhile, 2 of 9 units are available, while 2units in the 15 unit Camford Street wereleased at $180/m2 nett.

Elsewhere in Milton, 30 Douglas Street is theonly vacancy on that street, although small of-fices on the River side of Milton Road areavailable. Across the way, towards the stadium,space at Fishwick Street went for $180/m2 andan A grade office/warehouse at 9 ParkviewStreet was taken up at $185/m2 . As might beexpected, buildings around the stadium are un-dergoing some refurbishment but very few arefor sale, especially sought after standalones.

In Taringa, approval is imminent for a newmixed use development at 188-196 MoggillRoad. Construction will commence in early2003, providing 50 basement car parks overtwo levels, 950m2 of retail at street level, andtwo floors of 20 residential units.

Consolidated Properties continues to have astrong presence in Indooroopilly, with abulky goods retail development under con-struction on the corner of Musgrave and Mog-gill Roads, beside the Shoppingtown. Tworesidential developments have also begun onStation Road and Riverview Terrace and willprovide approximately 190 units.

In Chapel Hill, the “Metro West” conven-ience centre on Moggill Road has been fullyleased. It occupies a prominent site, with

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ingress off Moggill Road and exit onto Mar-ket Street. The centre’s excellent tenancy mixand location should ensure long term success.

Further west, at Kenmore, another conven-ience centre was completed in June 2002, at2060 Moggill Road. Popular, and with onlytwo vacancies, it should be fully leased byChristmas. Tenants include a restaurant, astorage facility on the lower basement level, a7-11, a Cake it Away, a hairdresser and a fash-ion store.

Northgate, Geebung, Nundah,Virginia and Zillmere

Sales: Aaron BatesLeasing: Richard HallThe northside continues to have a scarcity ofstock for sale, particularly freestanders, with,for example, secondary units around Prosper-ity Place, Delta Street or Kingtel Place, Gee-bung, achieving as much as $1,000/m2. In-deed, as soon as any good investment proper-ty becomes available it’s snapped up, literallyovernight... even if it’s a functional, 30 yearold shed with a short term lease. A case inpoint is a large unit at 3/263 Toombul Road,which was purchased for $928,000 afterspending two years on the market.

A lack of land is reflected by the renewed in-terest in the Santaluccia Group’s estate atCrockford Street, Northgate. On the marketfor 3 years, it has recently seen negotiation onseveral parcels and Jack van Riet built a1,300m2 freestanding office/warehouse onland he bought a while ago and is seeking ten-ants at $80/m2. Land here is of good quality,with a 3.4 ha block listed for $98/m2 andsmaller ones at the front receiving interest atrates between $115/m2 and $130/m2.

Developers, meanwhile, seem reluctant tobuild speculative rental stock above 1,000m2,forcing many tenants to stay or relocate to thesouthside. This shortfall, however, hasn’t re-sulted in rate increases because the active D &C market is simultaneously exerting down-ward pressure.

That being said, there is a significant amountof building going on in other sizes and types,for example construction is to begin on a 48unit corporate park at 269 Robinson Road,Geebung, and is said to provide lots of vary-ing sizes to accommodate different users, in-cluding possibly retail. The 6 ha Bloxsom Es-tate on Zillmere Road, Zillmere, is also doingwell and is seen as a good source of land forthose unable to find any in Geebung. There isalso a number of medium sized freestandingbuildings completed on Toombul Road, 78Frederick Street and 48 Zillmere Road, allleased as soon as they became available. Inaddition, the small unit market is quite active,and, if well presented, can get a good price.

Some areas and streets, however, still suffer asurplus of leasable industrial stock in the500m2 to 1,000m2 range, whether cheapermetal, clad or new clearspan, for example atHuntington Place, Banyo, Armada Place,



Banyo and Basalt Street,Geebung. The resultis that older style, non clearspan sheds havebeen getting nearly impossible to lease, evenat $40/m2... stock mostly found within the StVincents Road, Toombul Road, Edgar Streetprecinct of Northgate. To encourage tenantsto rent long vacant properties, it’s expectedthe next six months will see developers andinvestors commit to the refurbishment of cer-tain medium size buildings in Geebung, atGranite, Delta and Basalt Streets

With a BunningsWarehouse opening

mid 2003 at theex-Southcorp site onStafford and Shand

Roads, this whole areashould enjoy anadditional uplift

As elsewhere, residential needs have been en-croaching on these heretofore industrial areas,in this case the BCC is intending to incorpo-rate a couple of hectares of GI land on RyanRoad, Nundah, as part of a planned renewal ofthis suburb, ala Stones Corner and thanks tothe bypass along Sandgate Road. Within twoyears or so, businesses will be forced to moveelsewhere on the northside, with so-called“dirty” users (ie panel beaters) opting to moveearly while stock lasts. Meanwhile, ToombulRoad has been receiving renewed interest be-cause of a proposed extension to the airport toease pressure on the East West Arterial and re-duce accidents at the roundabout.

Acacia Ridge, Rocklea,Archerfield, Yeerongpillyand Moorooka

Sales: Rod BrownLeasing: Daryl Sluggett

This once blue chip southside precinct of Aca-cia Ridge, Rocklea and Archerfield continuesto see many of its larger companies relocate tothe Australia Trade Coast, Heathwood or even-tually as far out as Wacol/Carole Park, particu-larly if they’re export/import or food related,eg Southcorp and Woolworths, while Laminexis thought to be considering a move. Althoughsome of this trend may be based on superiormarketing, or the attraction of “newness”, thereasons most given are these suburb’s lack ofaccess, serviceability and traffic flow, specifi-cally the massive congestion around Granardand Beatty Roads and at the top end of Cole-bard, Success and Achievement Streets; aproblem that will only get worse unless there’swidening of Beatty and Boundary Roads and aflyover coming from Granard Road into Beat-ty Road. Presently, for example, vehicles areoften backed up from Kessels Road toBeaudesert Road then onto Ipswich Road...thereby incurring very expensive delays fortransport companies, where income is basedon tight scheduling. Next year should see thebeginning of the BCC’s extension of BalhamRoad through to Beatty Road in order to alle-

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viate east/west traffic flow problems.

To meet the market, rental rates around thispart of the southside have decreased 15%while land prices fell 15%-20%. Needless tosay, those looking for larger warehouses willfind plenty to choose from. Rates for this sizeare $60/m2 to $90/m2, but some southern own-ers are going as low as $55/m2 just to get prop-erties off their books. In the same vein, devel-opers who borrowed when the area was morepopular are being hard pressed financially be-cause less costly secondary stock coming on-to the market is making it difficult for them toget tenants or sell, and what’s leased is gener-ally for very short periods. New buildings, forexample, are going for $90/m2 to $100/m2,while their secondary equivalents are onlyachieving $60/m2 to $70/m2.

On a brighter note, smaller firms, with 15-20staff, are staying in the area and even refurbish-ing, particularly at Bradman and ActivityStreets. The 1,500m2-2,500m2 stock needed tomeet their requirements is less available but canbe rented for $60/m2-$75/m2 or purchased for$500/m2-$700/m2, depending on age andfitout...much cheaper than 3-4 years ago. Small-er stock is being taken up quickly but there’s lit-tle available under 250m2. 400m2 to 800m2 of-fice/warehouses are, however, plentiful.

Nearby, Yeerongpilly remains upmarket andactive, but with little vacancy. What is avail-able goes for $80/m2 to $100/m2. Moorookacontinues to offer largely older stock for$50/m2 to $70/m2.

South Brisbane, West End,East Brisbane, Coorparooand Woolloongabba

Sales: Callum StensonLeasing: Rod Finlay

Virtually all sales in South Brisbane havebeen for residential use, with most commer-cial or industrial developers and owner/occu-piers priced out of the market. Among the fewexceptions is the sale of an office/warehousebetween Merivale and Cordelia Streets, at theex-Boral building, which has already beenhalf leased and should be showing a 7% re-turn during the first year.

The West End also has a paucity of industri-al stock, a situation exacerbated somewhat bythe perceived residential emphasis in theBCC’s Woolloongabba/West End Local AreaPlan (see accompanying article) and, ofcourse, simple economic realities: ie a vendorcan receive almost 21⁄2 times more for devel-opable residential land than he/she can get forland intended for office/warehouse use, par-ticularly around the waterfront.

That being said, a caveat to those who alreadyown industrial or commercial sites in the WestEnd and would like to get on the residential“bandwagon”: If your property lies outsidethe Riverfront Precinct it will be worth lessthan you might be anticipating in today’s mar-

Continued page 8

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ket. Indeed, you would be better served ifyour property was used, rented or sold, ratherthan wait the 5-10 years it might take for de-mand to catch up... at least if the NewFarm/Teneriffe/Newstead/Valley experienceis any measure.

Examples of this trend include a large site,bounded by Montague Road, Anthony Streetand Donkin Streets: Initially sold for com-mercial development, its new owners aremooting the property for residential. Similar-ly, Pradella, the force behind Metroplex andnumerous other high quality end projects, hassubmitted a Development Application tobuild a 65 unit complex on heretofore indus-trial land between Buchanan Street and River-side Drive, next to the old McWilliams Win-ery site. After a February launch, constructionis to begin in June, with Pradella contributing$1,000,000 towards affordable housing viathe Brisbane Housing Company. This levy isa prerequisite for BCC approval of any largeresidential project in the West End.

Also in the West End, FA Pidgeon & Son’sdevelopment company, Cornerstone, is start-ing the last stage of its $25 million West EndCorporate Park, a 1.3 ha site, with frontagesto Montague Road, Davies Park and River-side Drive. On completion it is to compriseseven buildings, including the presently oper-ating upmarket cafe on Montague Road. Ten-



Ph: (0

ants include the developer, the National Safe-ty Council, the Personal Trading Post, Bee-line Technologies, Beringer Blass and thegaming machine maintenance division ofJupiters Ltd. Rates are reportedly achievingaround $250/m2 for commercial and $200/m2

for industrial.

“As any goodinvestment propertybecomes available

it’s snapped up,literally overnight...”

Meanwhile, there is still some good stockavailable for sale or lease and are attractinggood enquiry. For example, a 2,100m2 24 yearold office/warehouse at 82 Victoria Street justsold at auction to an investor and a smallerunit at 1/15 Anthony Street leased at full pricewithin 48 hours of being listed.

There’s almost no industrial stock left to buyin East Brisbane, a scarcity highlighted whena 796m2 building on 1,500m2 of land at 187Wellington Road sold at auction for $850,000and, at 1,000/m2, set a precedent for the area.

Coorparoo also has a lack of stock, however3 of 5 strata tilted units in a strip complex atat 377 Cavendish Road were clearly popularand sold to small investors for between$370,000 and $420,000... just two weeks af-ter coming onto the market.

8

7) 3245 47

Elsewhere in Coorparoo, 1,000m2 to 2,000/m2

buildings have been slow to lease, even of-fice/warehouse with good truck access... a rarefeature in the south City fringe. An example isthe 2,049m2 ex-Compass building at Turbo Dri-ve, which is getting little enquiry despite its low$70/m2. Across the street, at 54 Turbo Drive,good commercial property is also taking a hit,with a quality office, has been sitting for a longtime regardless of its $110/m2 asking price andgood parking. It would appear this precinct isstill perceived to be further out than it really is.

Woolloongabba remains the area’s “sleepinggiant” and will one day come into its own asa prime area for investment, even more sowhen the (now approved) mixed use develop-ment above the Gabba Hotel become a reali-ty and the rumoured home centre along Lo-gan Road gets built. Indeed, if you can findan investment property in Woolloongabba, doit now and wait for higher interest rates todrive up the tenant market. You may take low-er initial yields, but sooner than later capitalgrowth will be realised. That being said, thescarcity of ready made investment stock maymake it necessary to buy an empty buildingthen rent it. Meanwhile, good sales were hadat 42 Balaclava Street, 16-26 Balaclava Streetand 154 Ipswich Road, while smaller leasingstock is always available.

Continued page 9

11

The next six months, however, should see thissmaller leasing stock being taken up, whilerentable larger buildings “just sit there” astheir owners landbank them for future resi-dential use.

Fortitude Valley, Newstead,Bowen Hills, Albion and Herston

Sales: Lex DuncanLeasing: Paul Anderson/David Fien

Like the West End/South Brisbane, sales inFortitude Valley/Newstead are driven by everincreasing prices for land with residential po-tential, a prime example being 82 BerwickStreet, where an old 900m2 warehouse soldrecently for $1.16 million after being pur-chased six years ago for $390,000. As withsimilar stock, it will be knocked down for amulti unit development. Nearby, at 57-59Berwick Street, two circa 1960 industrialbuildings were replaced in June with a twostorey, 600m2, modern style office with 20basement car parks.

In Newstead, on Masters Street, at the cornerof Longlands Street, 6,300m2 of Light Indus-try land with three street frontage was report-ed to have sold for $6.5 million and should seethe construction 75 residential units, possiblywith a commercial/retail component. Acrossthe way, at 24 Masters Street, the owners haveknocked back offers up to $1.25 million be-cause they anticipate future appreciation.

At the corner of Skyring Terrace and WyandraStreet, a multi storey office building is beingconverted into residential and at 13 & 25Montpelier Road, a trust paid more than $1.5million for 3,700m2 of 6m high industrialproperty for eventual conversion into residen-tial/retail. This project will involve moving thebuildings back to provide extra car parks, fit-ting out attractive showrooms at the front, andcreating six, two storey townhouses at the topand back. In the interim, the new owners areasking $100/m2 for short term tenants on an“as is” basis and $140/m2 for longer term andoffering an upgraded facade. On the 20,000 m2

wedge shaped parcel on Montpelier Roadroundabout at the old Rotary fountain, threebuildings are, or soon will be, “up and run-ning” including Harvey Norman’s Domayne, a7,000m2 retail/showroom that has been pre-sold to Challenger International for $27 mil-lion, and two multi-level buildings. Across thestreet. Anthony Johns’ Emporium mixed usecomplex will further enhance the area, as willthe inclusion of more downmarket bulkygoods showrooms for balance. Near theseprojects there are three larger industrial build-ings for rent, either at 47 Doggett Street, 117Commercial Road (a sub lease of Guests) and110 Commercial Road. At around $140/m2,they should be taken up quickly. Leasing of of-fice/warehouses around 400m2 has also beenquite active in the last 2-3 months, especiallyaround Kyabra Street, Leopold Street, RossStreet and Breakfast Creek Road.

In areas peripheral to the more well knownstreets, there’s a bit of opportunity to purchase


existing industrial/commercial premises atmuch lower prices. In the Valley these can befound at Costin Street, Constance Street, partof Water Street and Anderson Street, while inNewstead one has to look on Maud Street,Evelyn Street and Austin Street. Further north,there’s good stock in Herston at 6/43-49 But-terfield Street, where you can still purchase a380m2 office/warehouse for under $1,000/m2,as compared to $1,300/m2 to $1,880/m2 inprime precincts. It should be noted that thearea between Breakfast Creek Road and New-stead Terrace, where most of these streets ex-ist, some Development Applications for resi-dential conversion have been rejected due toflood concerns and, therefore, an inability toprovide basement parking. This includes thesouth side of Maud Street and the middle ofAustin Street. Out of the flood area is a5,294m2 block at Newstead Terrace, which hasbeen vacant for 20 years but is expected tofetch $4.4 million for residential development.

“If your property liesoutside the Riverfront

Precinct it will be worthless than you might beanticipating in today’s

market”Tenants are also finding these and other pe-ripheral streets less expensive, particularlysince the more trendy areas have seen outgo-ings jump dramatically in the last year or two.Before, one would need $15/m2 to cover theoutgoings, but this has risen to $28/m2, large-ly due to increased rates and insurance premi-ums as well as higher body corporate fees inthe larger unit complexes.

Meanwhile, the impact of the now completedInner City Bypass has been dramatic in termsof relocating peak hour traffic off the main ar-terials in and out of the CBD/Valley corridor,ie Breakfast Creek Road and Ann Street (a50% to 25% reduction, respectively, accordingto the BCC). This has had a very positive im-pact on the Bowen Hills sales and leasing mar-ket since this suburb has become so muchmore accessible from the western suburbs, in-cluding Milton. For instance, it now only takesabout 12 minutes to travel from Woolloongab-ba to Herston, about 1/2 the time as before, andfrom Albion to Milton in under 7 minutes.Council is planning to establish bus lanesalong Ann and Wickham Streets and Transitlanes between Ballow Street and KingsfordSmith Drive, including Breakfast Creek Road.

Abbotsford Road, has also been notably ef-fected by the ICB coming on line, since theincreased number of signals, installed as apart of the project, have slowed traffic enoughto make for very good “window shopping”.Office stock on Abbotsford Road is around$180/m2 to $200/m2, with older style industri-al achieving $85/m2 to $90/m2, or as low as$65/m2 if large.

Elsewhere in Bowen Hills, residential devel-opment is going up at the ex EagersPorsche/VW/Range Rover service facility at

9

123 Campbell Street and is said to include alarge tavern. Closer to the City, at BrookesStreet, there’s still good turnover, although anumber of owners have been reluctant to selland are land banking for future residentialuse. Until this happens office/warehouses aregetting $80/m2 to $100/m2, while quality of-fice/showrooms, like the Terrazzo on the cor-ner of O’Connell and Brookes Streets, areachieving in excess of $190/m2.

Albion has seen much more interest as stockdiminishes elsewhere, particularly alongCorunna, Crosby and Dover Streets as well asbehind the trotting track, where a couple ofsignificant pieces of land are available. Whilethere’s nothing over 1,000m2, a good selec-tion can be had between 200m2 and 700m2.The area from the 5 Ways to the BreakfastCreek Bridge, via Sandgate Road, has alsobeen quite effected by the Inner City Bypassin that traffic has been severely reduced. Al-though it may take another 3-5 years, it’s ex-pected that this whole precinct will have nochoice but to become mixed use with someresidential component, making now a goodtime to get into the market.

Herston is still relatively unknown by thoselooking for less expensive commercial or in-dustrial property... surprising since it’s evencloser to the CBD than parts of Bowen Hillsand Albion. It would appear that many wouldopt for the more popular address, even if 4/49Butterfield Street is less expensive and offers15 on-site car parks. Try to find that in theValley!

Salisbury and Coopers Plains

Sales: Sandra CarderLeasing: Rod Hewitt

In Coopers Plains, little has changed exceptthe retail strip along Beaudesert Road is be-coming more popular and has attracted ARB4WD Accessories to a “landmark” buildingon the corner of Boundary Road. Off the mainroad, however, there’s little activity.

As usual, everything in Salisbury is happen-ing on Evans Road, for example the PhoenixEstate at Pentax Street, which is half refur-bished/ half new and will offer land at the rearfor future use. It’s expected to come on line in6-9 months.

Oxley, Carole Park, Heathwood,Seventeen Mile Rocksand Sumner Park

Sales: John FioreLeasing: Phil Koek

This precinct has finally seen a steady im-provement in sales and leasing activity, andstands in marked contrast to the high vacancyrate experienced over the last 12-18 month,due, in large part to vendors willing to meetthe market as well as shortages in other sub-urbs. One example is a 2,060m2 office/ware-house at 7 Jijaws Street, Sumner, which sold

Continued page 10


©

right after auction for $803,000. In this re-spect, Sumner, in particularly, has been busy,with only one large site left, a 2,200m2 build-ing at 54 Spine Street... and even that’s undernegotiation. Unfortunately, with only one ex-it/entrance there’s still severe congestionproblems around Spine Street, a situationmade worse by a “gearbox breaking” grade.

Property in 17 Mile Rocks has also becomein high demand as prospective owners finallyrealise how close to town it really is... a trendthat will be further enhanced by the BCC’s$30 million park and walkway at the end ofCounihan Road and a new estate at BellwoodStreet ,where Monier Road will be comingthrough. Rental stock, however, is seeing a bitof vacancy, leaving many good deals to behad. For example, a 532m2 office/warehouseat Staple Street can be rented for less than$52/m2 gross, a 650m2 office/ warehouse at 18Hasp Street is going for not even $50/m2 grossand, for larger stock, a 2,850m2 office/ware-house can be taken up for only $55/m2 nett.

In Carole Park, little is available becausemanufacturing is picking up and has easedany pressure to sell or vacate. Others are sim-ply holding onto stock for future use. Rentalrates are very negotiable but should firm overthe next 6 months as stock dries up.

Within Carole Park, the Department of State



Development’s often delayed 37.5 ha, 32 lotSynergy Park has finally entered its con-struction phase with the laying of pavement inPrecinct 1, the estate’s 10 allotment CoreManufacturing area. In addition, 1/3 of theearthworks have been completed, 2/3 of theland is cleared and bridgeworks are about tocommence. A substantial amount of under-ground services catering to the targeted foodrelated industries have also been installed, ashas a retaining wall along Formation Street.

“To meet the market,rental rates around this

part of the southsidehave decreased 15%while land prices fell

15%-20%”Construction of building stock was to begin inNovember, and come on line in May, howeveractivity will now start in February, with an Au-gust completion. Title will be ready on 1 May.

As part of the Park’s Project Team, P & O re-mains a key prospective tenant and has re-served the central warehousing facility on the4.9 ha Lot 27. Meanwhile, several other ma-jor industries are said to be near contract andhave reserved their own sites. These include alarge manufacturer for the 3. ha Lot 26, a sim-ilar company for a 13,000m2 building on the2.7 ha Lot 24, while a 2,000m2 building on

10

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Lot 3 is to be taken up by a manufacturer oftherapeutic goods. Lot 1 is intended for con-ference and storage facilities.

The three precinct Synergy Park is boundedby Formation Street, the Logan Motorwayand the Sandy Creek Corridor, the latter to berehabilitated to provide recreational areas andbike paths. It’s intended that the whole estatewill be ready at the same time, although theprimary activity will be in the area around thecentral warehouse.

Delfin’s Heathwood estate, the recipient ofmany relocations from Acacia Ridge, has on-ly four lots remaining, ranging from 1 ha to 4ha. Stage 3 is already half committed, with a1.6 ha parcel sold to a local transport compa-ny for $680,000.

Darra has been quite slow, as reflected in itshigh number of larger vacant buildings. En-globo land is also lying dormant, waiting, it issaid, for D & C orders.

More specifically, the 22 ha QCL IndustrialEstate saw the lease of a new, medium size of-fice/warehouse at 14 Gravel Pit Road, but lit-tle else has been taken up here.... even at areasonable $75/m2. All QCL land, on the oth-er hand, has been sold, with the only remain-ing blocks earmarked by Bob Tucker’s City

Continued page 11

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Mark for D & Cs. Recent purchases includePam Pacific’s block at Ebbern Street, where a3,000m2 office/warehouse is to be constructedand leased for $80/m2, while a 2,700m2 indus-trial building at 61 Bernoulli Street has justbeen put under contract.

In Richlands, which also suffers from an ex-cess of large buildings, developers Cliff Cas-sidy and Peter Freeman are taking advantageof the need for medium sized stock by spec-ing a high quality, 1,350m2, tilt panel of-fice/warehouse at 45 Fulcrum Street. Rent isto be $80/m2 nett.

To alleviate these suburbs’ historic trafficproblems, primarily at the Boundary/KelliherRoads intersection, and to open up the routelinking Richlands with Wacol, it’s hoped thestreet from Boundary Road (at Fulcrum Streetnear the Richlands Post Office) will be con-nected to the portion of Boundary Road thatleads onto Progress Road.... it’s less than 1km and would not only assist traffic flow butmake unnecessary the rat racing bollards thatcut off Fulcrum Street from Bandara Street.Expressions of Interest from the private sectorto upgrade this bottlenecked area were calledin 2000 but the process was immediately puton hold after the BCC reportedly said it wasloathe to spend money on it until the State re-sponded to the issue as part of a general up-grading, particularly in relation to problems


Herron Todd White Commercial

Level 3, 171 George StreetBrisbane Qld 4000

GPO Box 2770Brisbane Qld 4001Ph: (07) 3210 3000Fax: (07) 3210 3030

associated with the Ipswich Motorway/Cente-nary Highway. In any case, next year we canexpect work to begin on the State Govern-ment’s 1/2 billion dollar upgrade of the Ip-swich Motorway from Granard Road to Din-more... the results of which will substantiallyreduce overuse of the Motorway and improveaccess to the Western Gateway.

“...it now only takesabout 12 minutes

to travel fromWoolloongabba

to Herston”In Oxley, John Nicholson’s 9,219m2

office/warehouse at 15-29 Blunder Road hasbeen rented by BOC Ltd, which was forced totemporarily relocate from Rocklea when itsquarters burnt down. It’s thought to be payingbetween $65/m2 and $75/m2 and is now avail-able with one month’s notice.

Wacol’s 86,000m2 Progress Industrial Estate(PIE) is almost fully sold out, with only twoblocks left, and they’re for resale at $120/m2

to $150/m2. Over the past 6 months MackTrucks has relocated from Richlands to itsnew, 23,990m2 Australian headquarters atWestgate Street and is one of many blue chipcompanies that has chosen to set up here.Elsewhere in Wacol, there’s a shortage oflarge buildings with cranes and when they’re

11

Herron Todd White Southside Residential

Suite 2, 2008 Logan RoadUpper Mount Gravatt Qld 4122

PO Box 6474Upper Mount Gravatt Qld 4122

Ph: (07) 3347 1600Fax: (07) 3347 1666

found the rental prices of $80/m2 reflect thisscarcity. Presently there are only two avail-able, one being a 5 tonne crane in a 2,300m2

office/warehouse at 63 Tile Street, while theother is at Progress Road.

Meanwhile, the State has resumed a largeamount of land in the adjoining low lying areabetween Tile Street and Progress Road in or-der to improve sewerage to the Wacol ArmyBarracks in preparation for its conversion toother use, possibly industrial, should it besold. While this project is inevitable, someowners are said to be disgruntled by the re-sumption since their land has been severed inthe process and potentially devalued. There’salso some work going on at the end of Bukul-la and Bandara Streets to upgrade PIE sewer-age connections.

Upcoming infrastructure projects might seeKelliher Road turn into a motorway that al-lows traffic to come off Ipswich Road to ei-ther the Centenary Highway or straight ontothe Forest Lake/Springfield Motorway, alongwith its access ways. As a result, the trafficlights at Kelliher and Boundary Roads willdisappear, while a slip road is to go throughthe ex-Daihatsu site, previously mooted as aplace of worship but now, in the interim, onlyavailable for short term leases. Included in

Continued page 12


Herron Todd White Northside Residential

Shop 11A, North West PlazaMcDowall Qld 4053

PO Box 77Everton Park Qld 4053

Ph: (07) 3353 7500Fax: (07) 3353 2754

IndustrialCommercialRetailRuralSubdivisionsUnit ProjectsTown HousesResidential

MortgagesAssetPre PurchaseLitigationGGTCapital GainsInsuranceAcquisition

©

this project is a new bridge for southboundtraffic, two way service roads to provide ac-cess to local industry and the Centenary Vil-lage via a new underpass at Bullockheadcreek, a proposed future Springfield railwayand the existing Centenary interchangebridges retained for northbound traffic as wellas a two way service road.

In Darra, Monier Road is now being pulledthrough from the roundabout at WestcombeStreet to 17 Mile Rocks Road. This means thatthose driving down the Western Freeway to theSumner Park exit and onto Monier Road at theroundabout can now travel all the way to 17Mile Rocks Road in Oxley... a move that is al-so intended to curtail rat running through Dar-ra’s residential neighbourhoods.

Yatala-Ormeau, Stapylton, SlacksCreek, Loganholme, Woodridge,Meadowbrook, and Underwood

Sales: Aaron BatesLeasing: Craig Smith

So far this year, the Yatala-Ormeau area’sbiggest success has been the rapid take up ofProperty Solutions’ 34.5 ha industrial estatealong the eastern side of the Pacific Highway.Featuring 1.5 kms of frontage, it offered2,500m2 + lots between $85/m2 to $100/m2.Interest has come from D & C developers andowner/occupiers, the latter enthusiastic about



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the estate’s equidistance to the Gold Coast/Brisbane labour pools or frustrated by thescarcity of stock further north. Needless tosay, Property Solutions and others have beenscouring this area in search of more land.

“In areas peripheralto the more well knownstreets, there’s a bit of

opportunity to purchaseexisting industrial/

commercial premises atmuch lower prices”

In Yatala-Stapylton, the Department of StateDevelopment’s 95,000m2 Yatala EnterpriseEstate off Computer Road, has also seenmuch activity and only has a few improvedblocks left for sale, in prices around $80/m2.Similarly, little rental stock is available, al-though a 3,200m2 office/warehouse, ownedby PR Floors, can be leased for $61/m2.

By March 2003 a large portion of thisprecinct will be rezoned from Rural to Fu-ture Industrial or Transitional, a change thatshould open up 100s of additional hectaresof much needed land for development in theshort to medium term, a situation further en-hanced over the next 2 years by a large sew-erage project.

Further north, the Peachey Constructions

12

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estate is selling 2,000m2+ parcels of land for$90/m2-$95/m2; on Burnside Road, Ormeau,next to the 17 ha Ritchie Brothers Auction-eers site, land was recently bought by anowner/occupier, and 10 of 13 lots sold at anAngel Road subdivision in Stapylton for$100/m2, mostly in the 2,000m2 to 4,000m2

range and to owner/occupiers.

In Loganholme, an industrial estate at thejunction of the Logan Motorway and Pacif-ic Highway has seen 70% of its land sold forbetween $100/m2 and $120/m2. Elsewherein this increasingly attractive suburb a NSWdeveloper has constructed a 3,300m2 of-fice/warehouse on 2 lots and is seeking ten-ants for $75/m2 to $80/m2. On nearbyJosephine Street, three tilt slab buildings,between 835m2 and 3,100m2, were leasedfrom $62/m2 to $70/m2.

Meadowbrook has become quite active be-cause of its proximity to the soon to be im-proved Logan Motorway and is perceived asbeing relatively inexpensive. As example,Angelo Eftstathis is building a 823m2 divid-able unit at 51 Nestor Drive and should eas-ily receive $75/m2, while a 1,200m2,clearspan, tilt slab office/warehouse hasgone up on the corner of Logandowns Placeand Nealdon Drive, with the owner asking

Continued page 19

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This is not to mean we take these offeringslightly, as most are thoughtful, well con-ceived....and critically necessary. But, be-fore detailing the available options, and inthe spirit of “better late than never”, pleaseallow us a self-satisfied chuckle:

In the red corner we have the Lord May-or’s tunnel and bridge proposals:

• The North-South Bypass is a 10 km,$2.1 billion orbital network between theSouth East Freeway in Woolloongabba, andthe Gateway Motorway in Hendra. It is toallow traffic to go under the CBD ratherthan through it.

This project is part of the BCC’s recentlyreleased, $16 billion Transport Plan forBrisbane 2002-2016 and will be built in 3stages over a 15 year period. The first stageis a 5km, $1 billion tunnel linking the newInner City Bypass (ICB) at Bowen Hillswith the South East Freeway at Wool-loongabba. If given the go ahead it is tocommence by 2004 and cross the BrisbaneRiver underneath the Story Bridge. Curi-ously, the Bypass follows almost exactly thesame route outlined in a 1965 Wilbur SmithStudy of bridge possibilities; a work that al-so led to the South East Freeway and (hor-ror) advocated a bridge from Bulimba

Tunnels tunnels....- Continued from page 1

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through New Farm Park (and only jetti-soned because of the 1974 flood!).

The second stage is to begin between 2005and 2007 and connect the ICB with GympieRoad in Kedron, at a cost of around $800million. Stage three will continue fromGympie Road, to the East West Arterial,then onto the Gateway Motorway in Toom-bul. Work is to begin between 2008 and2011 and cost from $300 to $400 million.It’s assumed this artery will somehow tie inwith an extension of Toombul Road to theAirport, which is now being looked at byMain Roads.

Since both State and Federal Governmentshave, with their usual parsimony, refused tooffer any financial assistance, the City is be-ing forced to rely on a toll and other sourcesto offset the cost. However being able tocharge a toll (mooted at $3.00 for Stage 1)would be dependent on Council receivingState authority to do so, something the lat-ter is unwilling to consider unless the proj-ect proves to be technically viable, wouldnot make the State Government liable forany present or future costs, and provide as-surance that commuters have easy access toa free alternative route. In addition, theLord Mayor says a Public Private Partner-ship will not be one of his funding optionssince “nobody in business wanted to takethe risk.”

In any case, a Task Force has been set up toresearch the proposal’s viability and should

13

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have a report ready by the end of October. Itcomprises former Reserve Bank TreasurerBernie Fraser, who has been appointed tohead a committee examining the project’sfinancial costs, while an engineering com-mittee is headed by Dr Philip Pells, who islooking into any technical constraints. If allis ok, the BCC will then proceed to the Im-pact Assessment phase, which will takeabout a year.

• The BCC’s so-called Green Bridge be-tween the University and Dutton Park isplanned for 2005 and is only to be accessedby buses, pedestrians and cyclists. It willbe connected to the South East Busway atBuranda Station at O’Keefe Street , Wool-loongabba, and potentially offer stops tothe PA Hospital, the proposed Centre of Ex-cellence at Boggo Road, and the Park Roadrail station.

On the other side of the River it will stop atthe U of Q, then continue onto the City viapriority bus lanes along Sir Fred SchonellDrive and Coronation Drive. The project isexpected to cost $40 million, possibly re-quire a tunnel at the Dutton Park end be-cause of its riverbank grade, and is expect-ed to cut the travel distance from the WestEnd to St Lucia from 10km to 2 km. It’s al-

Continued page 14


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so hoped this link would reduce parking andtraffic congestion at the University andDutton Park suburbs since 60% of thosewho now go there do it by car. The GreenBridge is presently undergoing assessment,with a report to be out by Christmas. Again,we’re not shy in saying that the GreenBridge follows exactly the same route asKing & Co’s long standing tunnel propos-al, the only difference being our spur to theWestern Freeway and subterranean retailcentre at the University station.

In the blue corner we have tunnel pro-posals tendered by Liberal candidate forLord Mayor, Campbell Newman

His proposal is part of a $3.2 billion plan,also aimed at easing traffic congestion inthe CBD. Named Project TransApex, itwould use four tunnels to create a ring roadaround the City and would be paid for by a$2.00 toll.

This first tunnel, the 5.8 km “East West Dis-tributor”, would include a river tunnel link-ing Logan and Old Cleveland Roads atStones Corner with the SE Freeway and Ip-swich Road at Woolloongabba, then withthe Western Freeway at Toowong.

The second, the 5.7 km “North South Dis-tributor”, would run under Main Street and

Tunnels, tunnels....- Continued from page 13


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the Story Bridge at Kangaroo Point, linkingIpswich Road, the SE Freeway, LoganRoad, and Old Cleveland Road with BowenBridge Road and the Inner City Bypass atBowen Hills...a route similar to the LordMayor’s tunnel.

The Third is a 3.6km tunnel under MiltonRoad and linking the Western Freeway atMt Coot-tha with Hale Street at Paddington.

A fourth tunnel would be 600m and linkHale Street with Merivale Streets at SouthBrisbane. We are once again honoured thatthis too bears an uncanny resemblance toone of our earlier tunnel proposals.

Cross River proposals on the State Gov-ernment level

Meanwhile, GHD has taken over EGISConsultings’ Duplicate Gateway Bridgefeasibility study for Main Roads and is ex-pected to tender a report around April 2003.

This four part effort is considering whatform another river crossing should take (ega bridge or tunnel), when it’s required, howmany lanes it should have and what itshould look like. It is also investigatingGateway Motorway approaches to the rivercrossing between the new Port of BrisbaneMotorway and Nudgee Road to see if trafficimprovements can be made. King & Comade a submission to this study since ourproposal for a tunnel from Wynnum Road,Morningside, to West Curtain Avenue, Ea-

14

nths, King & Co has maintained its momentuncement of several new development projec

has the background. King & Co Advisory Dirth of industrial developments since 1996 onrojects follows.

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gle Farm, then onto Nudgee and the Airport,would ease traffic over the Gateway Bridgeby as much as 30%, therefore delaying theneed for a duplicate by at least 23 years.

Not to be forgotten, earlier this year the Na-tional Party proposed $5 billion towards im-proved transport infrastructure, includingtunnels under the River, a Western Bypassthrough the Brisbane Valley (designed totake long-haul north south traffic around theCity), a widening of the Gateway Motorwayand a new heavy rail line linking Toowongto the Uni and on through a tunnel under theRiver to Dutton Park station. They also of-fered support for the Lord Mayor’s NorthSouth Bypass.

The edifying part of all this is that politi-cians and transport bureaucrats are moreopen to change than anyone had reason toexpect...particularly when there becomes acritical mass of public support. With this inmind, we hope future consideration is alsogiven to tunnels that not only route trafficaround the CBD, but connect suburbs di-rectly across the River from oneanother...and where more than 30% of ourcommuters want to go.

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15 © King & Co Property Consultants

Planning and Environment Litigation

The Planning System - Some Tips for Avoiding Litigation

Some Tips for Managing Litigation - Getting the Best ResultsB Y L E S L E Y K I N G

1. THE PLANNING SYSTEMThe system in operation in Queensland is governed generally by the Inte-grated Planning Act 1997 (“IPA”). The name suggests that there is an in-tegrated system for dealing with all development applications. While thatis the objective, the reality is that, in various instances, more than onedevelopment application to more than one body under more than one setof legislation is often necessary. For example, establishment of a newtavern might require a development application to the relevant Counciland another application to the Liquor Licensing Division, even thoughmany of the same considerations might apply. And, there may be rightsfor the public, including commercial competitors, to make submissionsor objections on both applications.Generally, public notification will not be required for a simple buildingapproval or reconfiguration of land where there is an applicable code andthere is compliance with that code.Most of the more ambitious development proposals will require publicnotification of the application, leaving the application open to the scruti-ny of not only the Local Government and relevant Government Agencies,but also the general public. Members of the public have a general right tomake submissions in relation to a development approval requiring publicnotification. There is no particular requirement for a submitter to haveany special interest or standing. Accordingly, a person whose residentialaddress is in the United Kingdom may lodge a submission as to a devel-opment application in Brisbane. Indeed, I have witnessed one such in-stance.Approval of any application requiring public notification may be the sub-ject of appeal rights to the Planning and Environment Court, and anyperson who has lodged a submission may appeal to the Court.The Court encourages, and indeed in many cases requires, participationin a process of consultation or mediation with submitter objectors beforean appeal is heard.2. SOME TIPS FOR AVOIDING PLANNING AND ENVIRON-

MENT LITIGATIONMy first experience in appeals was in the Local Government Court in themid-eighties. Back in the eighties, tactics were often employed to get anapplication through without public scrutiny. Those were the days whenthe advertising period was 14 days or 30 days and Sunday or ChristmasDay were as good as any other day in the eyes of the planning law. So,developers planned their advertising for the Christmas holiday period.Under IPA, things have changed. In practice, public notification com-mences when the Council delivers a notice to the effect that it can com-mence, and it must continue for a number of “business days”, which ex-clude public holidays and days when the Council offices are closed. Ac-cordingly, the public has more of an opportunity to attend at the Counciloffices and scrutinise the applications and prepare and lodge the submis-sions.Now, the public is much better informed as to its rights. Residents regardthemselves as being “stakeholders” in the quality of their locality andamenity. Residents are more vigilant. Residents are more likely to be dis-trusting about what they think is being hidden from them.Accordingly, the best way to avoid an appeal is to engage in an activecourse of consultation with the “stakeholders”. After all, if the develop-ment becomes the subject of an appeal, such a course may be necessaryin the appeal process anyway. In an appeal process, the consultationprocess will usually be more expensive too.The IPA process allows submissions to the Council during the course ofthe assessment process. Submissions need not be negative in the sensethat they are objections. Submissions may be positive also. There is anopportunity for developers to marshall support from residents for thepositive aspects of a development. That opportunity should be exploredand exploited in every case.3. SOME TIPS FOR MANAGING LITIGATIONEndeavour to set a budget with the lawyers and expert consultants for le-gal costs for the first couple of stages of the appeal at least. As litigation

is a dynamic process (and in the case of Planning and Environment liti-gation it will often involve at least three parties) it is quite difficult tosecond-guess the steps that might be taken by other parties and thereforeto assess the costs. However, an initial budget might be set and varied asthe matter progresses. While the Planning and Environment Court hassome power to award costs, the power is limited to certain specific in-stances. Accordingly, funds set aside for the case should be regarded aspart of the development costs for the project.Objector / appellants don’t have holding costs and they don’t have condi-tional contracts with times for completion. They will be happy to delay.Take the initiative and push the matter along. To that end, endeavour toachieve a settlement conference early. Don’t look upon this as showing asign of weakness to the objector/s. The Court rules require a settlementconference. There is an early opportunity to include a settlement confer-ence in directions to be made by the Court at a directions hearing. Slipthe direction in on the basis that the Court would require it anyway. One exception is in circumstances where there are proposed amendmentsto the Planning Scheme that are progressing and might assist the devel-oper. Those circumstances, however, are rare.Ensure that each party has its consultants available at the settlement con-ference. As your consultants would already have done the homework forthe preparation of the application, the expense of their participation inthe settlement conference should be minimal.4. SOME TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST RESULTNo one will ever give you a cast iron guarantee of a certain result in theCourts. There are always “grey areas” in the law. The reported decisionsare a guide only, and they are open to interpretation. There is no certain-ty that one lawyer or one Judge is going to interpret the law in the sameway as another. If that were so, there would be no appeal courts, andthere would not be such a strong legal fraternity that is alive and well todebate the meaning of the statutes and the cases.Remain commercial in your objective and remain focussed on the objec-tive. Don’t get hung up on principle. Think laterally and commercially.Clear goals should be set at the outset. Consider the worst case scenarioand try to set a limit to which you are prepared to negotiate. Often thereare commercial resolutions that are available, but be careful to progressthose on a strictly without prejudice and confidential basis.There are many ways to settle a Planning and Environment appeal. Hereare but a few real life examples of ways in which appeals that I havebeen involved in have been settled:• Construction of fences and landscaping;• Purchase of the objector’s property at independent valuation;• Payment of a sum of money as compensation for diminution in

amenity;• Setting aside an environmental buffer dedicated to council together

with a contribution for maintenance;• Contribution for infrastructure on a particular basis satisfactory to the

objectors and the Council.Litigation always carries with it some degree of uncertainty and risk.It is often worth spending or giving away something for the advantageof certainty.About the AuthorLesley King is a consultant with Dibbs Barker Gosling. As a solicitor in private prac-tice, specialising in property and planning and environment litigation, Lesley King hasacted for many developers and land users in a range of activities from A-Z. Many ofthese developments or uses have involved evaluation of major environmental consider-ations.She is also chairman of the Environmental Defenders Office Inc., which is a communi-ty legal centre providing advice ad representation to environmental groups and con-cerned residents.Lesley has also represented Local Governments and been commissioned by Local Gov-ernment to provide independent legal advice to resident ratepayers.As a result, she has developed a keen understanding of the objectives, aspirations andconcerns of developers, Local Governments and environmentalists alike. She under-stands the game and the rules - and the tactics that are played out.

© K

Nonetheless, given assurances by the develop-ment community that the Draft Amendmentsare more or less acceptable, and that its Af-fordable Housing component will unlikely bechallenged in the courts, BCC Planning hasseen fit to undertake defacto implementa-tion.... an action legally supported by theCody Principle, a precedent based on an oldNSW court decision that says “if a Councilmakes a decision on a development, it musthave due regard for plans that are significant-ly in the course of preparation.” In otherwords, because the Draft Amendments that re-sulted from the LAP are so far down the roadto enactment, they are given the force of law.

Some concerns about the LAP processWhile most of the populace affected seem toagree that this transition must be planned,some have been voicing concerns about “cer-tain aspects of this LAP’s underlying philoso-phy as well as implementation.” These criticsare most often represented by PUSH, a looseknit organisation that includes some townplanning professionals,who argue that “thePlan sustains an undue encouragement of up-market residential development at the expenseof job producing industries” and suffers a“narrow regard for the impact of its policieson parking availability, long term usage assur-ances, transportation infrastructure”, and, mostimportantly, whether it “cares to maintainenough of the social/cultural mix that has

West End Crossroads....- Continued from page 1

ing & Co Property Consultants

made this area so special in the first place.”

As might be expected in such a politically ac-tive neighbourhood, perceived shortcomingsin the BCC’s consultation process are also un-der the microscope, with some local oppo-nents to the LAP saying they “feel ignored”and that the “Council agenda, “leaves it blindto complaints about lack of vision” and “de-struction of the existing community ethos.”

As example, they argue that two external stud-ies, one from QUT, another by a CommunityPreferences Survey, “were overlooked whentheir advocacy of ‘sustainable, job producinglight industry’and ‘low impact retail’ came in-to conflict with the LAP’s upmarket residen-tial bias.” In response, BCC Planning said thatit “bent over backwards to accommodate inputand absorb grievances” and “will keep anopen door to PUSH until the Draft Amend-ments to the City Plan become law.” It alsopoints to the fact that during these Amend-ments’ 30 day formal public display period (6November 2001 to 17 December 2001), a totalof 273 submissions were considered, “almostfive times the normal response.”

It’s hoped that some of this tension will be re-solved by State MLA Anna Bligh’s agree-ment to set up a Community Reference Groupto mediate discussion between the State, Cityand community representatives on a quarterlybasis. PUSH says they want this initiative tofocus on Impact Assessment as part of an In-tegrated Master Plan for the areas as a whole,but “fear it will be narrowly reduced by gov-

16

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ernment to Project Management..”

LAPs: a little history and how they operateThe Local Area Plan concept began in June1994, when Council initiated a study of 9communities across 5 suburbs, each with acatchment population from 6,000 to 20,000and measuring 10kms to 20kms in size. Sincethen, a total of 23 LAPs have been completed,including those for industrial dominatedprecincts such as Acacia Ridge and AustraliaTrade Coast, as well as suburbs with a lessernon-residential component like Bowen Hills,Bulimba, Cannon Hill, East Brisbane/Coor-paroo, Enoggera, Moorooka, Wynnum/Man-ly, Fortitude Valley, Kangaroo Point Peninsu-la, Milton,New Farm/Teneriffe Hill, New-stead/Teneriffe Waterfront, Western Gateway,Petrie Terrace/Spring Hill and South Bris-bane. While LAP’s are generally for InnerCity suburbs, some of the above are also un-der the aegis of the Urban Renewal TaskForce or, in greenfield/outer suburban areas,a Local Area Outline Plan. There’s also a Planfor Emerging Communities.

LAP study areas are generally identified bynatural borders, such as waterways, or tradi-tional suburb boundaries and targeted becauseof specific planning issues that need resolu-tion, or to “fill in the space” between existingLAPs. So as not to overburden the Planning

Continued page 17

sland.roperty advertising specialists.

aylor 07 3229 [email protected]

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Department and the Team responsible, only 3are initiated per year and rarely in the sameregion. Each should take approximately 1year to complete.

Note:As of January, Council Planners super-seded the LAP process with, what it calls, a“District” approach, whereby 6 consecutiveareas are undertaken over a 3-4 year period,with Aspley/Tarragindi and Holland Park be-ing the first to be done under the new regime.Separate Precincts Plans can also be createdfor identifiable “hot spots.” As part of thischange, Teams have been given additional re-sources and, as per IPA, a Statement of Pur-pose must be made public...one that definesPlan boundaries, its environmental focus, aswell as industrial/residential interfaces. Thesewill undergo a yearly review to ensure theirefficacy and revised as needed. Indeed, an au-dit is underway now, the first since Councilrestructured in 1997. The West End/Wool-loongabba precinct will, however, continue tooperate under the Local Area Plan processuntil its recommendations ultimately becomepart of the City Plan.

A Local Area Plan starts with a “scopingstudy” of issues, the results of which areshared with the community via newsletters orneighbourhood workshops, where concernsare then identified, collated and fed back tothe Council. Out of this effort comes a seriesof reports, which together, form the basis ofan Action Plan and a Local Plan. The formerputs forward recommendations relating toland use, built form outcomes, allowable vari-ances and performance criteria, while the lat-ter is an accompanying, but not legally bind-ing, document that consists of strategies anda prioritised list of costed capital works proj-ects to be implemented by community, Coun-cil or State Government agencies (eg park im-provements, intersection upgrades, tree plant-ing). Originally this document was relativelyopen ended, but now only provides a 3 year,more realistic “horizon” to preclude Councilover commitments. It’s believed future Dis-trict Plans will feature Action Plans with moreintense investigations of future needs.

Subsequently, the Local Plan forms the basisfor Draft Amendments to the City Plan, whichare then advertised, while the Action Plangoes on display for 1 month, after which timeall intended measures are put on a database, toprovide a summary of the budget needs of eachdepartment charged with their implementa-tion, information that is then forwarded to theyearly Corporate Works planning process. Asper Schedule 1 of the Integrated Planning Act(IPA), Draft Amendments are next required tobe on display for 30 business days, duringwhich time submissions are invited, consid-ered and altered as necessary. Once signed offby the State and approved by the Council, theresulting “additional planning requirements”become a part City Plan, with all developmentin the area covered by the Amendments nowassessable by this document.

Traditionally, Draft Amendments are only


submitted for approval every 6 months aspart of the BCC’s Publications of Amend-ments process, but can be done more often ifrequired. Meanwhile, IPA allows developerstwo years to decide under which Planningscheme their application will be considered,the new or old one; a particularly importantconsideration where rezoning leads to re-quests for compensation.

“As might be expectedin such a politically

active neighbourhood,perceived shortcomings

in the BCC’sconsultation process

are also underthe microscope”

In May 2002, Council adopted the DraftAmendment based modifications to the CityPlan, then, in June, forwarded them to theState for review. Meanwhile, the Action Planwas made public last year and features a mapsupported legend of proposed activities aswell as the agency responsible for implemen-tation. Recipient suburbs comprise SouthBrisbane, West End, Highgate Hill. DuttonPark plus parts of Woolloongabba. Examplesinclude stop signs at the Russell/Edmond-stone Street intersections, a Dutton Park fer-ry terminal and affordable housing at theBoggo Road Gaol/GoPrint sites. There arealso a range of Park & Boulevard ConceptPlans for the upgrading of Riverside Driveand Melbourne Street as well as Orleigh,Davies and Musgrave Parks.

The Draft City Plan Amendments encompass23 precincts, each with their own focus in re-gards to development density, building heightor urban design requirements. In the spirit ofIPA it also, includes 16 Development Princi-ples relating to, for example, timber, tin andcharacter housing allotments , the scale andcharacter of new development, protection ofviews and vistas, the maintenance of retail orcommercial activities within nominated cen-tres/precincts, low impact industrial activities,retention of buildings with cultural heritagesignificance, increases in public parkland,pre-lodgement consultation with duly consti-tuted residential, community, cultural andbusiness organisation, and development thatcomplements the South bank Corporationarea eg pedestrian linkages.

Affordable Housing contributions andtheir rationaleIntrinsic to these Principles is the mandatoryinclusion of Affordable Housing, which, asnoted above, is “recognised as an importantelement in maintaining the social diversityand vibrancy of the West End/Woolloongabbacommunity.”

Affordable Housing is defined as “accommo-dations with rent levels that do not exceed30% of gross household income, after any ap-plicable Commonwealth Rent Assistance isdeducted”, and applies to caravan parks and

17

boarding houses as well as traditional units ordetached dwellings. Benchmark AffordableRent levels are calculated and updated annual-ly by the Queensland Department of Housing.

While waiting for the State “to come to theparty”, the BCC has already begun imposinga dollar or “in kind” “contribution”, usuallyup to 5% of GFA (but higher if the amount isin proportion to the plot ratio achieved), withthe proceeds to go towards affordable housingspace, either within upmarket high rise resi-dential developments off Montague Road orvia autonomous, purpose built accommoda-tions elsewhere in the District. In a tip of thehat to Henry George, the philosophy under-pinning Affordable Housing levies is basedon the idea that a proportion of the econom-ic benefits derived from upzoning should bereturned to the community.

Meanwhile, a 4% monetary contribution hasalready been received from one West End res-idential unit project (after the BCC made itclear that its mixed use Development Appli-cation wouldn’t proceed without conditionsunless a bank guarantee for the requiredamount was forthcoming), and Pradella De-velopments has very publicly handed over$1,000,000 in regards to its residential unitproject on Buchanan Street (see below).

Both cash contributions and property in kindare to be directly (or indirectly, via the BCC,an alternative still under discussion) paid ordonated to the newly formed Brisbane Hous-ing Company (BHC), a not for profit organi-sation set up by the BCC and State Govern-ments to provide housing at below marketrentals in near and inner City suburbs. Itsstaff is answerable to an independent Boardof Directors chaired by ex-Ariadne bossKevin Seymour and made up of representa-tives from Government and community or-ganisation. Primary funding comes fromState and City Governments and, because it’smandatory, consists of a GST free $60 milliongrant doled out over four years, after whichtime the BHC must run at a profit, with allsurpluses reinvested into additional stock.While this amount should provide 400 morelow cost housing spaces throughout Bris-bane, BHC’s envisaged 600 spaces must relyon monies from other sources like AffordableHousing contributions or joint ventures. Un-fortunately, with 375 new living spaces need-ed in the West End alone, this is somewhat ofa daunting shortfall...particularly when oneconsiders that 10% of all residential stock inany one area is supposed to be low cost (asper a report from South Australian HousingTrust) and their program will bring it up justshy of 5%.

Presently the BHC is operating in Bowen Hillswith 70 units “gifted” by the State Departmentof Housing as an equity contribution towardsthe $60 million. These are on Best Street offthe industrial precinct along Jeays Street andare now being tenanted, although the sitewon’t be transferred to the BHC until Christ-

Continued page 18


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mas. In the West End, it has received a bit ofland at 40 Ryan Street and intends to build 11units once funds are available for tendering.

Unlike some in the Council, the BHC, rejectsthe “sprinkling” of affordable housing withinupmarket developments. Instead it prefers tobuild 40-50 unit “clusters” that allow for“cost effective and high standard manage-ment.” This direction should quieten some de-velopers who, while accepting the premise ofan affordable housing contribution, felt it “in-appropriate to insert them amongst owner/oc-cupiers concerned with the spectre of dimin-ished property values.”

In an unusual confluence of views, both theProperty Council of Australia and PUSH ar-gue that affordable housing should rest on so-ciety as a whole rather than developers as asmall section of of the community, possiblythrough special local government rates, butdefinitely through more Government largess.

Below is an outline of what intentions theDraft Amendments have in relation to 23 ofthe 16 precincts within its catchment, withWoolloongabba saved for another time:

• Riverside Open Space Precinct:A riverine rainforest environment is to be es-tablished in Riverside Parkland, with River-side Drive functioning as a low speed access.Any development in this precinct is “to haveminimal impact on the ecological, hydrologi-cal, recreational, scenic or cultural values ofthe Brisbane River and the parkland”, whichshould impose some interesting considera-tions for the City Cat landing approved for thearea. Riverside Drive was once a significantthoroughfare into the West End, but is nowbisected by the development of a rowingprecinct.

• Cultural Precinct:This precinct comprises QPAC, QueenslandMuseum, Art Gallery, the State Library andunit complexes within South Bank. It is duefor redevelopment as part of the State Gov-ernment’s Millennium Arts Project, whichwill include a new Queensland Gallery ofModern Art plus a major upgrading of theState Library, all linked by a public plaza.The Queensland Theatre Company will be re-locating to a newly refurbished building at thebottom of Merivale Street.

Assisting this effort, the Draft states that any“new development should complement exist-ing cultural facilities and introduce architec-tural features, public art, public spaces andlandscaping...to the strongly formal estab-lished buildings” already in existence. Whilethe Project will also create a Musgrave ParkIndigenous Cultural Centre, some locals areconcerned that “this expansion eats up toomuch of the Kurilpa Point Parklands and willmake it impossible for homeless to sleep un-der the William Jolly Bridge”

• Riverside North PrecinctAn area opposite the River from Toowongand bounded by Montague Road, Grey Street,Donkin Street, as well as Riverside Drive. For



years it has been the home to a number oflarger industrial users such as ACI, Pauls andPioneer Concrete, but is now suffering an ex-odus of many of these traditional occupants tothe outer suburbs, leaving their buildingsempty and unleasable or available for landbanking. This precinct is supposed to remainindustrial for the medium to longer term, withany use changes requiring additional Amend-ments to the City Plan...an assurance guaran-teed to ACI after they expressed concerns toCouncil about investing millions of dollars inrefurbishing their ovens. Some, however, areworried that this constraint on residentialmight be “flexible”, citing the allowance ofstudent housing near Pauls and residentialprojects running up Peel Street.

“...cash contributionsand property in kindare to be directly paid

or donated to the newlyformed Brisbane

Housing Company”• Riverside South PrecinctKnown as Precinct 5, this area is bordered byDonkin Street, Riverside Drive, MontagueRoad and Forbes Street. Although presentlydominated by industrial users, it is foreshad-owed for eventual redevelopment to resi-dential/commercial, and will do so via furtherAmendments to the City Plan. These are ex-pected in a year or two, and, among otherthings, will consider the use of an oversightbody akin to the Urban Renewal Task Force.Not wanting, however, to be caught short be-fore the deluge of conversion requests, theBCC has been using its work on existing De-velopment Applications to provide a process-ing template or “demonstration model”; ex-amples being Mark Stockwell’s recently ap-proved unit complex at the corner of Duncan& Kurilpa Streets on the ex-Voxon site, andanother now under consideration. Early pro-cessing of these initial DAs has been wellpublicised and meant to “notify the develop-ment community that the BCC is now openfor pre-lodgement talks for Riverside South.”

It should be noted that the area from AnthonyStreet to Davies Park was originally within theRiverside North Precinct and its long term in-dustrial only “umbrella”, but was attached toRiverside South earlier this year. Soon there-after, Pradella submitted a DA to build a 65unit residential complex on warehouse landbetween Buchanan Street and Riverside Drive,next to the old McWilliams Winery site, andhas just been been given approval, with con-struction to begin in June after a March launch.Pradella has also purchased the ex-Bryants En-gineering building on Anthony Street and in-tends to build residential units here as well.While welcoming these projects, some haveexpressed concerns that these have been ap-proved (or will be) out of sequence since “ap-plications for such uses prior to the foreshad-owed Amendments of the City Plan will be re-garded as premature.” Not a good precedent ifindustrial to residential conversion is to be

18

managed in regards to the needs of the overallcommunity and not only developers.

As per the Plan, developers must contributetowards the provision of Affordable Housing,ie a minimum 5% of a project’s total floorarea. Moreover, they “must contribute towardsadditional public infrastructure to support in-creased residential and work populations in ac-cordance with the West End Riverside Infra-structure Charges Plan.” Retail is not consid-ered appropriate for this sub-precinct.

In consultation with local stakeholders, theAmendments also provide a Structure Planthat outlines a fairly major upgrading of road-works in the precinct, but details won’t bemade official by the BCC’s Transport Plan-ning Branch for another 18 months or so. Ac-cording to hearsay, however, there is to be awidening of Beesley Street and Ferry Road, anew road “punched through” from RogersStreet to the riverside parklands along the wa-terfront, a cul de sac off Ferry Road, a WolfeStreet extension to Victoria Street, as well asthe widening (to 30m) and extending of Dun-can Street between Beesley Street and FerryRoad...the latter corridor featuring a conven-ience centre and urban park. Apparentlyaware of these inclusions, one company islooking at the heritage listed Energex site atthe corner of Beesley Street and MontagueRoad for future residential opportunities andhas been told by the BCC that it would beopen to consultation sometime this year, par-ticularly around the issue of road widening.

• The Montague Road PrecinctAn irregular strip along Montague Road, fromVictoria Street to Boundary Road. Its serviceindustry and employment function is to con-tinue but residential development may be ac-ceptable on some sites where adjacent com-mercial activities will not be adversely impact-ed by complaints about emissions, traffic gen-eration and visual appearance. New develop-ment is to contribute to the establishment of a“high quality” boulevard along MontagueRoad and is “to facilitate the provision ofstrong pedestrian links between local commer-cial and residential uses and the riverside park-lands.” Needless to say, there is concern thatthis upgrading will further increase land/build-ing values in this precinct and make tradition-al light industry prohibitively expensive.

• Vulture Street West PrecinctAn area along Vulture Street, from the WestEnd Primary School to Boundary Street, it isconsidered a transitional precinct between theretail uses in the West End Centre Precinctand warehousing/industrial uses in the Mon-tague Road Precinct. Further retail develop-ment is not considered desirable but multi-unit residential is encouraged. Critics havecomplained that the latest development, theWest Quarter, a gated community, is not ap-propriate for this area.

• West End Centre PrecinctThis area is at the cultural heart of the West

Continued page 19

End and enjoys a demographic/architecturalmix that groups like PUSH are most vocifer-ous about preserving. While the LAP sees its“nature and form...as a traditional suburbanstrip shopping centre as something to bemaintained” there is considerable fear that thehigh prices brought about by gentrificationwill force the less well off or “alternative”types out of this area, even with AffordableHousing. The same can be said for reasonablerental rates on retail storefronts or cafes, forexample along Boundary Street between Vul-ture Street and Mollison Street, once marketforces are imposed.

Meanwhile, the plan encourages residentialdevelopment, including short term accommo-dation, on the upper levels of buildings pro-vided amenity issues are addressed. While theintent is to reduce the cost to owner/occupiersby allowing them to amalgamate workplaceand living expenses as well as minimise trans-port costs ( a la most capital cities in the late19th, early 20th century!) some caution that itdoesn’t turn into overly expensive “lofting.”That being said, success of this so called“live-in/work-in” mix should significantly re-duce traffic and road/transport infrastructureexpenses.

• Mixed Residential PrecinctA small area around Mollison Street andBrowning Streets at the western portion of


19

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$70/m2 to $75/m2 for the half that’s not leased. Elsewhere inMeadowbrook, a 1,200m2 building, at Blue Eagle Drive off Eller-slie Road, is going for the same rate.

In Kingston there are only two industrial areas, along Marble Dri-ve or Eurora Street. Despite most stock being older, block con-struction, only a couple rental vacancies remain, all on MarbleDive and offered for $65/m2 to $70/m2.

Woodridge has little vacancy and what does exist includes an800m2 office/warehouse/ showroom at 8 Booran Drive and a480m2 office at 27 Kingston Road, next to Ideal Electrical.

In Slacks Creek most activity is on Randall Street, Moss Street aswell as Pacific Coast Highway service roads. Office/warehouses between 300m2 and 600m2can be rented for around$65/m2, while on Moss Street a hard to find 800m2 building justbecame available for $80/m2. Elsewhere on Moss Street, a longvacant office/showroom is ready for occupancy and a 3,000m2 of-fice/warehouse is available for rent on Barrinia Street.

Underwood has less available than Slacks Creek and what doescome onto the market is quickly occupied by the unlimited reser-voir of locals aspiring to start up their own businesses. In this area300m2 to 600m2 buildings are getting between $65/m2 to $85/m2,depending on quality. Assisting in this precinct’s popularity, thelong deteriorating service road along Logan and Kingston Roadswill soon be fixed up, with its most visible piece of architecture,the Big Gun Butcher, rebuilding next door.

Ins and Outs....- Continued from page 12

Boundary Street and near the West End Shop-ping Centre. It is to contain medium densityresidential and encourage “alternative formsof permanent residential accommodationsuch as artists lofts, live/work spaces, board-ing houses, hostels and single room occupan-cies.” Any existing industrial uses “cannot bealtered or extended if they adversely impacton existing or future residential amenity of thesurrounding area. Redevelopment of industri-al sites should be for residential purposes on-ly, save for some commercial.”

“Although presentlydominated by

industrial users, it isforeshadowed for

eventual redevelopmentto residential/commercial”

The former Peters Ice Cream Factory at 35Mollison Street (now Absoe’s Used OfficeFurniture) “is a Key Site within this precinctand intended for mixed use development car-ried out in accordance with a Concept Plan.”In this Plan, retail is to be no more than500m2, heritage buildings are to be integrat-ed with the new and pedestrian links are to bemaintained between Boundary Street andMollison Street, the latter point an importantissue for locals long using that route as a

shortcut. It’s also hoped that the site will pro-vide community meeting space for culturalact ivies, a scarce commodity since the de-mise of the Paint Factory, Brisbane MigrantResource Centre and the Sitting Duckgallery/cafe. Progress did not get off to a goodstart when the convenient roundabout atBoundary, Melbourne and Mollison Streetswas removed and an ill conceived replace-ment was imposed, where it’s impossible toturn right onto Boundary Street if one is ex-iting Coles.

As above, developers are to contribute to Af-fordable Housing, in this case at a minimum2.5% of gross floor area.

• South Brisbane Mixed Use PrecinctAn area of proposed medium rise, mixed usedevelopment from Russell Street to MontagueRoad/Boundary Street, it encompasses threesub-precincts consisting of Melbourne Street,with its new tree lined Boulevard concept;Peel Street near the Trades and Labour Coun-cil building, and Russell Street abutting Mus-grave Park. Height is intended to be limited to6 stories, with a plot ratio of 2.5:1. Only Mel-bourne Street is to have a retail component.

• Education PrecinctExtending from Vulture Street to RussellStreet, it encompasses major education facil-ities including South Bank TAFE, BrisbaneState High School and a range of small officesand office/warehouses. Its intended use is forchild care facilities, shops, community facili-

Continued page 20


©

ties, restaurants, student and short term ac-commodation.

The Affordable Housing contribution for thatpart of the precinct bounded by Merivale,Glenelg, Cordelia and Russell Streets is to bea minimum of 1.5% gross floor area, with de-velopment designs that retain views from theCaptain Cook Bridge to Mount Coot-tha andthe D’Aguilar Ranges. There has been someopposition voiced in relation to the 10 storeyheight allowable for buildings in this precinct,however the Council has promised that some“additional design controls” would resolvethis concern.

Meanwhile,the State Government is offering4.2 ha of prime South Bank land to any de-veloper willing to include a TAFE college inthe design and do so within a Public PrivatePartnership...He/she must also have have$200 million to invest. Its reported intentionsare to consolidate the Kangaroo Point andMorningside TAFE campuses here, then hiveoff the originals. The Government said itwould market the precinct as the hub of an ed-ucational precinct including Brisbane StateHigh, the Conservatorium of Music and Col-lege of Art, and QUT.

Can the West End’s industrial sector sur-vive the residential juggernaut?

• Affordable retail contributions?It’s already been said that industrial real estateagents dealing in the West End must have a

The West End....- Continued from page 19


I’d likPost orKing &P.O. BYes!

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significant knowledge of the residential side ofthe property market. While, this assessmentmight be a bit premature, there remains con-cerns that Council Plan’s for the West End arethought by some to be a bit too encouraging ofupmarket housing/high order retailing, at theexpense of existing and future small scale man-ufacture, warehousing, service trades andstorefront facilities...most, increasingly forcedto relocate elsewhere due to economically pro-hibitive rental rates, unavailability of stock orrestrictions on land usage. While the market isto be a significant factor in determining the out-come, the downside of this process might beeased by the imposition of a contribution tosubsidise non-residential rental, as is now donewith Affordable Housing. Another would be toadapt the Ipswich City Council’s successfulprogram of “fostering small business via lowcost lease agreements and basic administrativesupport.” In other words, what’s the point ofproviding low cost housing if there are noplaces to buy affordable food and clothing?

“What’s the point of providinglow cost housing if there areno places to buy affordable

food and clothing?”• An ongoing task force?Whatever avenue is taken to preserve and nur-ture the West End’s industrial, commercial, re-tail, and residential component and character,one option is for it to be done under the direc-tion of an appropriately funded planning au-thority; one similar to the Urban Renewal TaskForce, but with a mandate to operate for the

20

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Telephone (07) 3844 3222. Fa

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This business is independently owned and operatA.C.N. 010 5

lifespan of the transition, and with Terms ofReference that support urban/environmentalsustainability, demographic diversity, and var-ied economic/transportation options. In addi-tion, its catchment should be the whole WestEnd, not just the minor portion presently understudy, and have active liaising with comple-mentary districts. If nothing else, this might goa long way in maintaining the proper sequenc-ing of residential development, particularly inprecincts like Riverside South and RiversideNorth, thereby providing assurances to what isstill an important industrial sector.

• Better parking, transport and access?Finally, and with some surprise, neither theLAP or its critics outline with any substancehow a peninsular, geographically isolatedcommunity like the West End is going towithstand potentially massive traffic andtransport problems wrought by the addition ofso many new people into an area ill equippedto handle them...and their cars. To be surethere’s the Hail and Ride Green Bus to the PAand Buranda Shopping Centre, but it doesn’tgo to the CBD. Otherwise there’s infrequentbusses, bike paths/walkways and a City Catlanding that will only serve the riverfront.Clearly, and in parallel with redevelopment,Government must address this issue with dol-lars directed towards the building of entry/egress points to the wider community, both interms of additional public transport and possi-bly an interconnecting tunnel to the HaleStreet side of the River via Merivale andCordelia Streets. Until this happens, Councilmight at least be more flexible on its parkingspace regulations.

onsultants, 99 Annerley Road, Woolloongabba, 4102.

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King’s COUNSELI S S U E 1 9 • S P R I N G 2 0 0 2

O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R O F K I N G & C O P R O P E R T Y C O N S U LTA N T S

West End at the crossroads:

Is it to become a gentrified monoculture or a place for all of us...

including industrial development?

The West End and its surrounds are common-

ly recognised as inner Brisbane’s most demo-

graphically diverse area, comprising every-

thing from heavy industries on Riverside Dri-

ve to ethnic cafes lining Boundary Road to an

Aboriginal presence around Musgrave Park.

It is also a community at the crossroads, with

forces at work, both Government and market

driven, that will decide what direction this

450ha precinct is to take over the next 10-15

years: Will it, for example, simply become

another “gentrified monoculture”, where

well heeled denizens can, as one wag put it,

“find 35 types of croissants but can’t get their

shoes fixed.?” ...or can the West End be al-

lowed to “evolve into a place of diverse, vi-

brant and safe living environments based on a

compatible mix of residential, commercial,

industrial and recreational activities”...where

affordable housing clusters and small manu-

facturers are just as welcome as the upmarket

residential high rise unit blocks earmarked

for the riverfront or ‘ live and work’ spaces at

the western portion of Boundary Street?

Midwife to much of this choice is the West

End/Woolloongabba Local Area Plan, part of

a Brisbane City Council process to “tailor

land use outcomes and other issues to the

needs of a specific community” then incorpo-

rate its recommendations into the City Plan

2000 via Amendments, now in their draft

stage. In this case, how to absorb an antici-

pated 7,500 new residents into the present

population of 19,000, and do so “within a

framework that provides sustainable and re-

sponsible development, while meeting the re-

quirements of the Integrated Planning Act

1997.” It is also intended to take into consid-

eration needs relating to transport, amenity

and the delivery of services.

Needless to say, a potential expansion of this

magnitude has precipitated a significant jump

in industrial land values within areas rezoned

for residential unit development...and in the

case of riverfront sites, sometimes more than

250%! No wonder many industrial property

sales agents covering the West End find it in-

creasingly necessary to have a working

knowledge of the residential market.

West End/ Woolloongabba Local Area

Plan:an overview

Although three years have transpired since

work commenced on the West End/Wool-

loongabba Local Area Plan, its recommenda-

tions have yet to become an “official” com-

ponent of the City Plan and probably won’t be

until July of next year...a situation due, in

large part, to State Government tardiness in

signing off on guidelines vis-a-vis Affordable

Housing contributions, the latter a sine qua

non for Councillor Tim Quinn, mooted as a

candidate in the next race for Lord Mayor and

representative of this precinct in the BCC.

1


CoP R O P E R T Y

C O N S U LTA N T S

INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

The Ins and Outs of Brisbane’s

Industrial Suburbs

see page 3

Tunnels, tunnels

everywhere and not

a critic in sight

Whaddya know! Not

more than three years

ago, local pollies of

nearly every stripe were

offering a dismissive

“no way” when it came

to even considering

King & Co’s proposals

for additional connec-

tions across the Bris-

bane River. Now, leaders of both major parties find themselves in a

race to introduce a veritable panoply of tunnel or bridge visions,

each touted with a vigour that would lead the casual observer to

think the whole concept was of their own making. Considering the

momentum this competition has generated, we can only assume that

the next Council election will produce a virtual tunnel/bridge bid-

ding war as the need for them is the one key issue upon which both

sides now agree...something the public did ages ago.

Brisbane industrial

sales market

rebounding strongly

Recent, small increases in interest rates by the RBA to limit over-

heating of the residential market has had no impact on Brisbane's

industrial market. This market is expected to remain robust even if

interest rates rise 1% over the next year as predicted by econo-

mists. Continuing share market volatility is redirecting capital

from the equity market into property.

While the latest Valuer General's statistics substantiate what is

generally known, importantly, they emphasise the huge changes in

Continued page 3

Continued page 16

dited, and compiled by , MPhil, (Oxon).

ed by Bonneram Pty Ltd Inc. in Queensland 12 919

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King’s COUNSEL€¦ · King’sCOUNSEL ISSUE 19 • SPRING 2002 OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF KING & CO PROPERTY CONSULTANTS West End at the crossroads: Is it to become a gentrified monoculture