John Van Lieshout’s Unison Projects eyes apartment tower after buying neighbouring lot

A Queensland richlister has added to his project pipeline in inner-city Brisbane, paying $3.1m for a 610sq m site next to land his development company already owns.

A Brisbane development company owned by one of Queensland’s richest men has added a new project to its pipeline after snapping up an inner city lot next to the heritage-listed former Federal Boot Factory site he bought two years ago.

Unison Projects – the private property investment and development company owned by the billionaire founder of Super Amart John Van Lieshout – paid $3.1m plus GST for the 610sq m vacant development site at 8 Maud St, Newstead.

Unison is currently drawing up plans for a development on both sites having paid $5.7m for the 1821sq m site next door at 14 Maud St, which has the old two-storey factory on part of the property.

Mr Van Lishout’s Unison Projects has been operating for more than 20 years with founder and project partner Jonathan Levy and project partner Shannon Down.

Projects range from retail, industrial and residential subdivisions and apartment buildings.

RWC’s Tom Barr, who also struck the earlier Maud St deal, said the expressions of interest campaign for 8 Maud St attracted a high number of buyer inquiries and very strong bidding from both owner-occupiers and value add investors.

“Unison projects was the ultimate buyer and now they hold more than 2400sq of land,” he said.

The property at 8 Maud St and the heritage-listed old boot factory at 14 Maud St, Newstead.

According to CoreLogic, the property last changed hands in April 2022 for $2.5m. The sale price reflected a site rate of $5107/sq m and a capital value of $6858/sq m.

The property at 14 Maud St was sold with development approval for a cantilevered tower nine storey 51-apartment tower hanging over the old boot factory.

Unison adjusted the design to 41 apartments and removed the cantilever over the factory.

Mr Barr said Unison will submit a new development application taking in the other property.

“It was a rare opportunity being just 2.5km from the CBD, near transport and close to some of the best retail and lifestyle amenity in Brisbane,” he said.

“There is quite a bit going on in that Newstead North precinct.”

Earlier this year, Unison Projects secured a residential development site in the inner city at Herston.

They spent $6.88m on the 2023sq m site across 51-53 Bramston Tce and Weightman St.

Ellivo Architects were engaged to design the project, which will feature just 38 apartments in the six-storey building, which sits above two basement levels providing 82 car spaces.

In April, Unison Projects submitted a development application for a residential-led development located at 15-17 Mollison St and 35-39 Bank St, West End.

Known in the development application as Bank & Mollison, the proposal was a residential tower of up to 18-storeys, comprising 101 apartments.

According to the architect Rothelowman, the proposed building design breaks the mass of the building with openings for natural ventilation and clear recesses that create the perception of three separate tower forms across the site, with stepping of the tower building height across those forms.