Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall will survive new arena: operators

The Brisbane Entertainment Centre would continue to have a future even if its operators were successful in building a new inner-city $500 million arena.

The Parmalat site at South Brisbane has firmed as the preferred site for a new arena that could hold about 15,000 people, to replace the maligned Boondall venue as Brisbane's premier indoor stadium.

Kiss played at Boondall in 2015. Now the Brisbane Entertainment Centre's operators plan a new arena in the inner-city.Credit: Glenn Hunt

The Entertainment Centre's operator, AEG Ogden, has taken its market-led proposal for a new venue to the state government.

But chairman and chief executive Harvey Lister said the Boondall venue, about 15 kilometres from the CBD, was "solid as a rock" and had a lot of life in it yet.

Its retention was important, Mr Lister said, if Brisbane was to attract major events such as the 2028 Olympic Games, for which the city was considering a bid.

"The city would put itself in good stead by having multiple venue locations," Mr Lister said

"Our plan would be, should we be able to pull this off, to keep the Brisbane Entertainment Centre operating."

Retaining the Brisbane Entertainment Centre would cater for a different sort of crowd than an inner-city venue, Mr Lister said, particularly those who depended on car transport.

It would also effectively double Brisbane's capacity to host international acts, with potential double-booking made less likely.

Mr Lister said AEG Ogden had been working on its plan to build a new Brisbane arena for about two years.

He said the arena's price tag would likely be between $400 million and $500 million, depending on the site, and would require a mix of government expenditure and AEG Ogden's "fairly unique proposal" for funding.

"We're going to give it a really good crack," Mr Lister said.

Several sites had been identified for the new arena, including the old Parmalat milk factory at South Brisbane and the Go Print site at Woolloongabba, near the cricket stadium.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said his preferred location was the Parmalat site, on the Kurilpa peninsula.

But Cr Quirk said he had not been brought into any discussions about the new arena.

"The Kurilpa plan has been on the Deputy Premier's desk for about 12 months and we're still waiting, as a council, to know what the state government might want to do in relation to that plan," he said.

"We put out a plan around that precinct now a long time ago. Of course, it's one kilometre from the CBD and has one kilometre of river frontage, so it's a prime location.

"We'd certainly be very supportive of an entertainment precinct in that location."

Cr Quirk rejected suggestions the Go Print site would be a prime location.

"We would like that Go Print site, as part of the Brisbane Metro subway system, to be a bus interchange with the metro, also as a stabling and maintenance facility," he said.

"Also, the state government has plans for a transport-oriented development on that site and what I've said previously is that there's no reason the two can't act together."

Mr Lister said there would likely be complaints whichever site was chosen because Boondall's clientele was geographically widespread.

"Wherever you move it to there will be complaints that it isn't as convenient as it is now," he said.

"There's always that challenge."

Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding remained non-committal about his preferred location for an inner-city arena.

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