Suburban spotlight: Kelvin Grove

IT’S a stone’s throw from the city and contains one of the state’s most high-profile public schools, but a major urban development became a huge white elephant for this suburb.

Kelvin Grove Village when it opened in 2003.

IT’S been more than a decade since Kelvin Grove was given a long-awaited facelift but it is only now that the development is beginning to pay off.

The Urban Village, one of Brisbane City Council’s first Urban Renewal suburbs, is situated among a suite of Queensland University of Technology faculties and on the site of the former Gona Army Barracks.

Offering a mix of business, retail and residential products, the Village opened in 2003, but Place Real Estate principal Mario Sultana said some businesses who invested early folded while waiting for the people to come.

He said it took more than five years for the project to live up to expectations.

“The Village in itself was a white elephant for four or five years. People didn’t know how it was going to operate, businesses went broke,” Mr Sultana said.

“A lot of businesses tried to get in early and capture that unit market but realised that it was too premature but now the businesses that are there are starting to really thrive - the Urban Village has come of age.”

The construction site of the Kelvin Grove Village, built on the old Gona Barracks site.

The Village may have come of age but not so much the apartment market that surrounds it.

The median price for units plummeted from $485,000 in 2015 to $440,000 in 2016. The 2017 median figure is tracking at $410,000.

Kelvin Grove was recently flagged by property researcher Terry Ryder in his National Dirty Dozen of property markets in decline, suggesting the suburb’s apartment market was faltering.

Mr Sultana suggested the downturn in unit prices had, however, propelled the local housing market.

Just 53 houses changed hands in 2016, with the median house price sitting at $830,000, an 11 per cent hike on the previous 12 months.

Mr Sultana said it was not investors who were leading the charge to find a home in Kelvin Grove, but families wanting to secure a place within the Kelvin Grove State College catchment.

Queensland Ballet teacher Elena Kozhemyachenko with Kelvin Grove College Year 11 dance students. Picture: Jamie Hanson

The prep to Year 12 college, which offers several sought-after Schools of Excellence programs, has capacity for 2800 students.

Principal Llew Paulger said the school’s reputation along with a return to inner-city living meant college enrolments were at an all-time high.

“Due to the college being at capacity we are only accepting in-catchment enrolments – in relation to our excellence programs we do accept out of catchment enrolments,” he said.

KGSC has partnerships with QUT and a number of the state’s sporting and arts bodies, like Golf Queensland and Queensland Ballet, to provide specialist programs for high-achieving students.

“Our sporting excellence programs are aimed at elite junior players, and cater to a range of age groups and experience levels,” Mr Paulger said.

“Our college’s strong and established links with QUT, including its Engineering, Exercise Science Faculty, Faculty of Education and Creative Industries faculties, allow students to plot and progress their own learning pathways from Prep to University within one educational precinct.”