West End Community Association (WECA) has won their first court case against Aria Property International who wanted to build a 16-storey residential tower on the old Cutting Edge site in Edmondstone Street, South Brisbane. WECA had raised $15,000 to fight Aria’s proposed development in Brisbane’s latest urban renewal hotspot. Whilst we’re sure WECA members will rejoice their win for sometime, it’ll be interesting to see what’ll happen next once development conditions improve post economic slow down.
Posts Tagged with urban renewal Brisbane
Posted by admin on 11 February 2009
Posted by admin on 20 January 2009
Despite the credit squeeze, there’s still plenty of activity within postcode 4101. Yesterday we inspected FKP’s “SL8 project” in Musgrave Street and we’re impressed with the progress being made. Due for completion mid year, it’s just one of the many exciting projects planned or under construction in Brisbane’s hottest urban renewal precinct.
View of the pool area from level 6
Inspecting SL8 apartments
Posted by admin on 15 January 2009
Brisbane City Council’s inviting residents, visitors and owners to comment on their online forum on the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan. Have your say or just have a read of what some of the more vocal locals are proposing, promoting and arguing. The vision includes eight city-wide themes that include regional world, smart prosperous, well-designed subtropical, vibrant creative, friendly safe, clean green, active healthy and accessible connected. BCC has presented it in different geographical precincts so you can just focus on what effects you – great idea!
There’s some interesting points to consider or refute and because you can comment anonymously it’s very much an “all cards on the table” forum. You can imagine some of the comment on South Bank Corporations recent decision to include ABC in the Parklands area!
Posted by admin on 9 January 2009
165 Dornoch Terrace
Off with the Stucco of the old “Rodmaun” home and in with the crane! Whilst this Highgate Hill icon is being given a new lease of life it’s actually taking a step back in time as it will look more like the original home once the work is done. BCC website shows they’re building 4 new homes at the back.
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 8 May 2008
We’ve asked two well-respected property experts to share their views. Independent market analyst Michael Matusik knows the market inside out and he’s not afraid to share an opinion or two. Michael has a solid understanding of what buyers and tenants of the future will want. West End resident Andrew Crawford has another perspective as a townplanner and former manager of our Urban Renewal Taskforce. He’s been at the driving wheel of major land-use changes in the Newstead/Teneriffe area and knows the process well.
The seminar is on Monday May 19th 2008 from 6.30 to 8pm at the Convention Centre in South Bank. If you’d like us to send you a free double pass just click to email and quote “FREE-BEE 03″. We’d love to have you along as our guests.
If it’s good enough for Kevin Rudd and Cate Blanchett! Bees Nees are hosting our own “Vision of 2020″. Focussing on West End, South Brisbane and Highgate Hill the May 19th 2008 seminar will take a look at the local property market in 2020. New apartments are replacing industrial uses at a growing rate and BRW Magazine recently tagged the area “the star performer of Australia’s urban renewal precincts”. So how will the area’s housing change over the next 12 years?
We’ve asked two well-respected property experts to share their views. Independent market analyst Michael Matusik knows the market inside out and he’s not afraid to share an opinion or two. Michael has a solid understanding of what buyers and tenants of the future will want. West End resident Andrew Crawford has another perspective as a townplanner and former manager of our Urban Renewal Taskforce. He’s been at the driving wheel of major land-use changes in the Newstead/Teneriffe area and knows the process well.
The seminar is on Monday May 19th 2008 from 6.30 to 8pm at the Convention Centre in South Bank. If you’d like us to send you a free double pass just click to email and quote “FREE-BEE 03″. We’d love to have you along as our guests.
Posted by admin on 5 March 2008
The 1990’s saw one of Brisbane’s least appealing areas transformed into the hip, sought-after and downright expensive suburb that is today’s Teneriffe. Industrial, grafittied and last on most home buyer’s lists for many years before, a co-ordinated program of changing land uses opened the way for sexy apartments and a population influx. Now this week’s BRW Magazine nominates our own West End as “the star performer of Australia’s urban renewal precincts”, with redevelopment of its industrial uses opening up a bright new future for both West End and South Brisbane.
Locals have seen this coming for years but with picking the next centre for capital gain now a national hobby it’s no surprise BRW have spotted this patch. Much of the area being transformed is within 20-30 minutes walk of the CBD and surrounded by the river on a relatively quiet peninsula.
Brisbane City Council recently released a local planning draft for a corner of South Brisbane where 6 storey height limits are about to give way to 25 storey commercial and residential towers. A vision for the year 2020 it forecasts 6,000 new residents and 14,000 extra office workers in this tiny pocket of less than 100 acres of land. The speed of change might just make previous urban renewal hotspots seem sleepy by comparison.
Posted by admin on 18 July 2007
In the latest Smart State initiative Premier Pete this week released a blueprint for managing future growth of inner Brisbane, appropriately called “Smart Cities”. There’s plenty in here to applaud with proposals for new bridges better linking the CBD with Kangaroo Point, New Farm, South Brisbane and Bulimba. There’s also a move to reintroduce a light rail system (trams or similar) to run from the Valley through to West End.
We’d suggest the smartest part of this plan though is that it largely matches the City Centre masterplan adopted by Brisbane City Council over a year ago. Finally we have a Council (mostly big enough to make their own decisions) with the financial and planning support of the State. Council’s Urban Renewal team, under the leadership of the late Trevor Reddacliff, spent a long time assessing what the city heart needs, and did plenty of consultation with stakeholders near and far.
The State Govt says it will now spend another 3 years and $3.5million fine-tuning their plan. Lord Mayor Newman says there’s no monopoly on good ideas – but in the interests of our inner city’s future it’d be good to get past “Go”! More info is at www.smartstate.qld.gov.au
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 10 January 2007
“Tens of thousands of new homes will be forced upon traffic-choked suburbs under a State Government plan that councils have condemned as being unrealistic and shrouded in secrecy.”
While this article ran in the Sydney Morning Herald this week it might soon be a Courier Mail headline. Brisbane City Council’s leaders face enormous pressure throughout 2007 to find room to house our surging population. And some unpopular decisions have to be made, or our state government may need to step in to ensure its own regional plan can be delivered.
The NSW govt is asking Bankstown for example to find room for 26,000 more homes and they say these will need to be built entirely in the place of existing ones. Residents are in for some changes: Woollahra has to plan for 2,800 new homes while they actually built just two in the past year!
Unlike our southern cousins we don’t have the scattering of dozens of local authorities since our 1925 amalgamation into the BCC ’super-council’. But while the planning here is hopefully more organised it won’t be any more readily accepted by inner-Brisbanites, who generally want both their leafy 600m2 and the economic prosperity that comes with being this nation’s fastest growing capital city. Projects like the pending FKP development over Milton rail station will test Council’s commitment to growth – they’re asking for 30 storeys where there’s not been more than 10 outside the CBD or Kangaroo Point before now. It’ll have 192 apartments, a 120 room hotel and offices and shops.
BCC’s Urban Renewal division have started community consultation and are preparing a plan for a large part of Milton, ultimately trying to find room for greater density. Albion has recently had similar treatment and watch for more “strategic planning” across inner Brisbane this year. More development applications will try Council on for size – Toowong’s ABC and Woolworths sites might well be contentious hotspots in 2007.
BCC elections roll around again in just over 12 months so perhaps a state govt directive or two would be a welcome intervention for some of our city pollies!
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 15 November 2006
Brisbane’s inner city property values have gone up twice as fast as homes in outer suburbs, according to recent research. Valuers Herron Todd White drew a 5km radius from the GPO and found the median price there had jumped almost 500% since 1991, compared with just 243% for homes within the 20-25km radius. Interestingly the rates of growth were similar until 2001 so the past five years has seen Brisbane’s inner city really race ahead. HTW say urban renewal and the growth of café strips have contributed.
The population trend ‘downtown’ (and subsequent housing boom) now seems well entrenched in Australia but for an international comparison of property growth rates we took a quick look at the city that never sleeps. New York’s metro region has also well and truly outperformed suburban USA: its median house price grew 46% in the past 3 years while their national figure was 31%. NYC has had a long reputation as a desirable inner city lifestyle and over the past 15 years averaged annual price growth of 9% versus 5% nationally. Today a slice of the big apple will cost you AUD$656,500!
The link between a sought-after lifestyle and capital gains mightn’t be the only things inner city Brisvegas and NYC have in common: New Yorkers are experiencing strong job growth and now boast an unemployment rate of just 5.3%. Almost as good as Queensland’s 4.5%.
