Proposal to revolutionise Toombul Shopping Centre into residential and retail hub

A leading retail expert has raised the idea of a dramatic transformation of a northern Brisbane shopping complex that was smashed by the February floods and will remain closed for months, saying it needs to replace half its shops.

A leading retail expert has proposed a dramatic transformation to the flood-ravaged Toombul Shopping Centre, imploring the institution be reimagined to halve the number of shopping outlets to incorporate residential developments.

The northern Brisbane complex will be closed for major repairs for the next few months after being devastated by recent surging water, which Queensland University of Technology’s Gary Mortimer said provides the ideal opportunity for regeneration.

He said the centre, which was built in the 1960s, has struggled to attract new tenants in recent years with the scale of the number of outlets leaving it vulnerable to market duplication.

The increased threat of floods should also serve as a catalyst to move necessary stores to higher ground and slice the number of outlets from about 140 to about 65, according to the retail academic.

“This is the centre that has a high level of duplication in their retail offer — there’s always another massage clinic, there’s always another nail salon,” Dr Mortimer told The Courier-Mail.

The centre is expected to be closed for the next few months. Picture: Lachie Millard

“If they’re going to close for the next six months or more, this is the time when they can actually right-size that centre.”

He said the logical move was to transform the rooftop carparking into retail space, move parking downstairs to better manage the threat of surging flood water, and contribute to the gentrification of the inner-north by offering more social-friendly services such as modern dining and drinking.

The Toombul Shopping Centre owner, Mirvac, is a leading property developer having built a number of apartment complexes across the country.

“When you’ve got these really big suburban centres, like Toombul, that sit on really good infrastructure — like highways, it’s got a bus terminal, it’s got a train terminal across the road — you could halve the centre and put in high rise residential or medium sized residential,” Dr Mortimer said.

The centre suffered substantial flood damage. Picture: Lachie Millard

He has proposed the centre would be better suited to ditch the Target and retain Kmart as the higher performing discount department store, keep the Aldi, Coles and cinema, and modernise dining options on the roof.

“The residential then becomes almost this captured market to support the supermarket and the small fleet of retailers,” the QUT expert said.

Dr Mortimer said the centre has also been a victim of the major Westfield development at Chermside, which has negated the need to base fashion outlets in Toombul.

“I suspect you don’t need 140 (at Toombul),” he said. “Maybe that number is more like 65 or 70 speciality stores.”

Mirvac told The Courier-Mail it was “committed to providing retail for the local community at Toombul” with efforts focused on flood repairs.

“We continue to work with our specialist contractors to understand the extent of the damage to Toombul including critical infrastructure,” a company spokesperson said.

“Importantly, our immediate priority and focused efforts are on making Toombul safe and undertaking decontamination works.”