Albion Park set for major redevelopment after getting out of the Games

The Albion Park Raceway will play no role in the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, despite once being touted as the likely site of a new Brisbane stadium.

The Queensland government opted to rebuild the Gabba instead, until an independent review this week recommended a new stadium at Victoria Park. The government then decided not to have an Olympic stadium at all, and instead upgrade and refurbish existing venues to save money.

Brisbane’s Albion Park Raceway, pictured in 2017, is set to be redeveloped after the Queensland government agreed to move the planned Brisbane Indoor Sport Centre.Credit: Nearmap

The government has, however, accepted a separate recommendation that the Brisbane Indoor Sport Centre no longer be built at Albion, and instead move to Zillmere or Boondall in the northern suburbs.

The changes leave Albion Park Raceway untouched, something harness racing club chairman Brad Steele has welcomed, saying it would allow the venue to be preserved.

“It also allows us to progress our vision of a modern Albion Park precinct that will showcase the heritage of the Breakfast Creek track as part of a development to include affordable housing, retail, sporting fields and green space for our community,” Steele said.

No new plans have been released. Steele said the club would work with council and the government.

An artist’s impression of the Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre, which will now be built at Zillmere or Boondall instead of Albion.

When the Games bid was gaining momentum in 2019, then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Albion Park Raceway could be the site of a new 50,000-seat Olympic Stadium. She decided to rebuild the Gabba to that capacity instead.

Albion was to have a 12-court Brisbane Indoor Sport Centre, and host basketball and wheelchair basketball during the Games. Brisbane City Council even developed a precinct plan to make the most of the new centre.

But the review panel found that addressing flood risk at Albion would come at considerable cost, and Racing Queensland, which owns the site, no longer wanted to move the facility to the Gold Coast as planned.

“While the value of the Albion site is increasing, the cost to move to another location has been increasing at a higher late,” the review noted.

The plan for Albion Park and the Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct to host 2032 Games events has been abandoned.

“Racing Queensland now considers that the value of the Albion site will not adequately cover the costs associated with relocation.”

Quirk took no part in those deliberations because of his conflict of interest in being a director of Racing Queensland.

Businessman and Racing Queensland chairman Steve Wilson was the first to publicly propose a 50,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park, several weeks before it was recommended by the review.

At the time, Premier Steven Miles and Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner rejected the idea, although the latter has since warmed to it.

On the day the review was publicly released, recommending the Victoria Park option, Miles announced the government would instead upgrade the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre to 40,000 seats, most of them temporary, to host the athletics.

The Gabba and Suncorp Stadium, which will now host the opening ceremony, would also be refurbished.

The review had considered Albion as an alternative site for a new main stadium, along with Toombul, the RNA Showgrounds, Carrara Stadium, Suncorp Stadium and QSAC. None – including QSAC – were found to be viable options.