FOR SALE: Old Albion TAB site is just the beginning

WITH a $750 million State Government-led redevelopment just across the road, the sale of Albion’s TAB building will be integral to the future blueprint of the suburb - but it’s not the only site developers have their eyes on.

Andrea Macleod

3 min read

October 24, 2018 - 3:48PM

City North News

Ugly buildings around Brisbane … Tab Building Albion

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ONE of Brisbane’s iconic landmarks in Albion is for sale but it is just one of a handful of properties on the market in a suburb that is fast-shaping up to be a key player in how the city meets future living demands.

The 11,345m2 property at 240 Sandgate Rd — often described as holding one of Brisbane’s ugliest buildings — sits in the immediate vicinity of the State Government’s $750 million Albion Transit Oriented Development (TOD).

According to Colliers International, the site provides a “rare opportunity to create an iconic mixed use development in one of Brisbane’s affluent inner-northern suburbs”.

Bunnings site Hudson Rd Albion is for sale.

The site is listed as having the potential to reposition the existing 10-storey office building which was approved for demolition earlier this year and then “either sell off, develop or land bank the surplus site area”.

The property is just one of several in the Albion corridor currently for sale including the Bunnings site at 16 Hudson Rd (4,608m2), historic 344 Sandgate Rd (1,107m2), 366 Sandgate Rd, 265 Sandgate Rd and 33 Anstey St.

Geon Property, who have partnered with the State Government to create the Albion TOD said the number of properties currently available to the market was significant.

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Old TAB site in Albion at 240 Sandgate Road is for sale. Artist impressions of the approved towers.

Geon Property Senior Development Manager Tim Rossberg, said if the number of pieces of land available were “redeveloped cleverly” they had the potential to “completely reshape Albion and generate economic and lifestyle opportunities for residents and local business”.

“It’s no secret that a lot of smaller businesses, particularly those in retail, are finding things challenging at the moment. But there is terrific opportunity ahead,” Mr Rossberg said.

“Once people see the opportunities for Albion as a new lifestyle destination, with high quality new tenancies and a thoughtful approach to urban planning, we will see the area transformed and really prosper. We are working hard to make sure that Albion Exchange sets the standard for what will certainly be a new wave of redevelopment in Albion over the coming years.”

The existing TAB site includes office (7,322m2) and 259 car spaces and has a secure holding income with 100% leaseback to Tabcorp Holdings Limited until 31 December 2020.

The Net Income is $3,166,612.

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The site also has development approval for 3 towers of 15 storeys and 1 tower of 20 storeys.

Concept plans include 712 residential units, 2,131.7m2 of retail space and a 2,000m2+public plaza.

The TAB building was subject to a failed bid to have the structure heritage listed.

In 2016 the building was included in the State Library of Queensland’s Hot Modernism exhibition alongside other iconic modernist buildings in Brisbane such as Glenfalloch, the Cultural Precinct and La Boite Theatre, but its architectural qualities were not enough to warrant heritage listing.

TAB Building Albion

A Department of Environment and Heritage Protection spokesman said the Queensland Heritage Council (QHC) “resolved not to enter” the former TAB building into the state’s heritage register “as it did not satisfy one or more of the cultural heritage criteria specified”.

Richard Kirk, the former Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, nominated the building for listing late last year.

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He said the QHC decision was surprising and believed it was a mistake not to afford protection to the building which demonstrated a “rare, uncommon … endangered aspects of Queensland’s cultural heritage as a surviving, intact example of late 20th Century Brutalist architecture”.

Now known at the UBET building, it was designed by Geoffrey Pie and completed in the early 1980s.

“The problem is there are very few post-war buildings on the register and we are quite surprised a building of this order could not be repurposed and retained,” Mr Kirk said.

“Visually the building is not seen as pretty or as beautiful. But we have to be careful not to ignore the representation of this style of architecture on our heritage lists. It would be a shame to lose the building.”