InvestLogan misses out on arts hub land as council rules out sale
Land in the heart of a burgeoning industrial and commercial precinct will no longer be sold to a council’s controversial investment arm, reigniting talk of a southside cultural hub.
Logan
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STALLED plans for a public cultural hub at Springwood were given a boost last week, when Logan City Council decided against selling three sites to its controversial investment arm, known as InvestLogan.
Council-owned properties at 20 and 22 Murrajong Rd, and at 7 Briggs Rd, will be retained by the council instead of being sold to InvestLogan.
OFFICE LAND GLUT IN SPRINGWOOD
Council will also keep three blocks on nearby Cinderella Dve, at the intersection of Vanessa Blvd, the site of the Logan East Community Neighbourhood Association.
The blocks in Murrajong Rd were bought in 2010 and earmarked for community infrastructure projects including the cultural hub.
Those acquisitions were to stave off developers knocking down houses to make way for high-rise residential apartments and townhouses.
The sites were listed in the Greater Springwood Master Plan for an art gallery between Briggs Rd and Murrajong Rd with theatre and dance facilities between Briggs Rd, Carol Ave and Murrajong Rd.
Plans also included a youth centre adjoining the existing Logan East Community Neighbourhood Association on the corner of Tina Ave and Vanessa Blvd.
Two blocks on Tina Ave, behind the centre, were set aside for purchase for the expansion but were never bought by the council.
However, the land the centre is on, at 53, 55 and 57 Cinderella Dve, was in the process of being handed to InvestLogan when the council backflipped.
The masterplan showed the properties along Carol Ave, Briggs Rd and Murrajong Rd as being earmarked for a town square, art gallery and theatre complex and an extension of Springwood Park for a greenbelt to the culture precinct.
Properties from 75 Cinderella Dve to Springwood Park and along Briggs Rd to Carol Ave, were also part of the green buffer zone for the proposed cultural hub.
In 2017, residents wrote to state ministers with concerns about the transfers and InvestLogan’s intensions. At this week’s council meeting, an officer said the six properties would no longer be transferred to InvestLogan because of a strategy to build not-for-profit public community infrastructure.
“There is a requirement that all trunk infrastructure of this nature be owned by council, so it is not appropriate for the proposed disposal of the land to InvestLogan to proceed,” a report said.
“InvestLogan remains very keen to collaborate with council on the design and delivery of the future community infrastructure across this holding, including looking at innovative ownership, funding and delivery options.”
Other sites the council backedflipped out of selling are at Whitely St, Benz St and Mayes Ave at Logan Central; Janita Dve at Browns Plains; Loganlea Rd at Loganlea; and Martens St at Beenleigh.
The council move to keep the properties was seen as a positive step by InvestLogan.
“This is a good outcome for the city and one we are supportive of,” an InvestLogan spokesman said.
“It is not a serious blow. It is a very positive initiative, and as the investment arm of the council, we are strongly supportive of it.”
InvestLogan was set up as a profitmaking enterprise with a range of activities including buying and selling land for the council.
But it also has a charter to provide parks, art galleries and public spaces.
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