Commercial Confidential: Brisbane property, leasing news and gossip

WITH Brisbane’s population tipped to grow to 4.2 million by 2050, “smart development” is the key to preserving and enhancing the Queensland way of life, a roundtable has been told.

Mirvac's Lucid residential apartment development in South Brisbane

IT’S the vision thing for ASX-listed developer Mirvac’s residential team, and it’s quite inspiring.

Mirvac head of residential Stuart Penklis and his Queensland-based offsider Warwick Bible hosted a roundtable gathering yesterday, saying “smart development” was the key to preserving and enhancing the Queensland way of life with Brisbane’s population tipped to grow to 4.2 million by 2050.

Simply put by Stuart: “Imagine a city where every home features energy-efficient technology, people live in biodiverse habitats, cycle minutes to work and come home to a place they can live, dine, shop and socialise.

“The mood in Brisbane is changing to one where people want to live in holistic environments that cater to their specific needs. In communities where potential congestion isn’t an issue and they can enjoy a strong sense of community..

“It marks a substantial and important shift in the way we plan our cities.

“Smart, responsive development will ensure Brisbane remains the healthy and connected city in 2050 that it is today — and aspires to be.”

Mirvac's Lucid residential apartment development in South Brisbane

Mirvac is supporting the Brisbane City Council’s efforts to enable a potential 50 per cent increase in dwellings within a 5km radius of the CBD which has resulted in the delivery of a range of new buildings by the developer including the three stages at Waterfront Newstead and Art House and Lucid in South Brisbane.

Stuart says a vital part of the vision is to pioneer new ways to deliver increasingly energy and cost-efficient homes.

He cites a green energy pilot at Mirvac’s Ascot Green development, at the Eagle Farm Racecourse in Ascot, as a local example.

Solar panels and batteries installed on the rooftop of the nine-storey Ascot House building will be directly connected to individual apartments, reducing residents’ electricity costs by as much as 70 per cent.

“Brisbane is the ideal location to pilot this groundbreaking project, given the sunny, subtropical environment and communities’ growing appetite for living in an environmentally-conscious manner,” Stuart says.

“It also addresses mounting concern around rising energy prices, which we’re seeking to tackle in multiple ways across our portfolio.”

Stuart says the residential housing sector will play a key role in the success of the Queensland Government’s target of zero net emissions by 2050.

City buys back the bush

A RECORD 400ha of native bushland has been purchased by the Brisbane City Council over the past two years, bringing the total land acquired under the city’s bushland acquisition program to 4000ha.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the program, which started in 1990, had delivered some of Brisbane’s most popular bushland areas, including the Karawatha Forest, Brisbane Koala Bushlands and Tinchi Tamba Wetlands, securing the sites for future generations to explore and enjoy.

“Council is committed to a clean, green and sustainable Brisbane, and bushland acquisition is one of the ways we are keeping Brisbane liveable and sustainable long into the future,” Cr Quirk said.

“Large areas of the Mt Coot-tha Forest, Toohey Forest, Belmont Hills and Chermside Hills were all in private ownership until Council proactively purchased the sites, to prevent future development.”

Cr Quirk said that in addition to purchasing the land, Council had invested in rehabilitation and reforestation of purchased sites to ensure they would be home to a wide variety of native animals.

“Over the past two years, 40ha of natural habitat has been rehabilitated with 52,000 trees, to restore vegetation that had been cleared while the land was in private ownership,” he says.

Toowoomba’s suburbs

Pretty city big on banks

IN CASE you didn’t realise, Toowoomba is quite the financial centre.

According to research from Ray White Commercial, Toowoomba’s CBD retail space is dominated by services — mainly banks.

Ray White Commercial Toowoomba surveyed prime street-fronted strip retail assets along Ruthven St, between Herries and Russell streets, as well as Margaret St between Neil and Victoria streets.

Taking up 28.81 per cent of space surveyed, the services sector is not typically highly represented in retail strips and usually dominates commercial office space.

The sector also includes real estate and travel agencies.

Ray White Commercial head of research Vanessa Rader says food-related tenancies such as cafes and restaurants accounted for 10.62 per cent — a surprisingly low figure.

However, in terms of shop numbers, the retail mix is more even.

“We have noted 25 vacancies across the prime CBD survey area of the 153 total shops, with food retailing now accounting for 33 or 21.57 per cent of the tenancies which is more in line with expectations and the growth in this segment more recently,” Ms Rader says.

“The opening of the expanded and refurbished Grand Central Shopping Centre offers a vast range of retail types making strip retail survival more difficult for some categories — such as clothing and soft goods — yet 20 shops in this segment highlight the continued interest in this market.”