Townsville City Council reveals incentives to fix heritage buildings, subdivide, create jobs

Wanting to boost density in Townsville’s suburbs, the council has offered incentives for residents to subdivide blocks and restore heritage buildings. See what’s on the table.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney in front of the Queens Building on Flinders St, which was transformed with financial assistance from Townsville City Council. Picture: Supplied.

Offering incentives to revive heritage buildings, subdivide suburban blocks, and create jobs, are among the strategies being rolled out by the council, in a Queensland-first to kickstart the transformation Townsville into a “future-ready city”.

As one of Australia’s fastest growing regional capital cities, Townsville is on track to grow its population by 2 per cent year-on-year.

To meet this growth challenge, Townsville City Council says it is putting the work in now to create new jobs and business opportunities for residents and investors through its recently released 2025/26 City Activation and Housing Incentive Policy.

Broken into four components, the updated policy encourages more housing options in existing urban areas, improves building facades, stimulates employment-generating development, and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings in the Townsville City centre.

A new component of the policy, Townsville City Centre Heritage Adaptive Reuse, will target the “significant number” of heritage buildings sitting vacant in our city centre.

The Queens Building on Flinders St was transformed with financial assistance from Townsville City Council. Foundation Carpentry owner Jack Cooper had a hand in the restoration. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The council will offer general rates waivers to encourage the adapting buildings identified on the Queensland Heritage Register or subject to the cultural heritage overlay in the Townsville City Plan.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney hoped with the right incentives in place that business owners would see the potential in these stunning heritage buildings and breathe new life into them to help activate our city centre.

To encourage more housing options in existing urban areas, reduce urban sprawl, and make better use of underused buildings and land, the council was looking at infill housing and new lot creation in its Infill Priority Housing Area.

The Infill Housing Priority Area for Townsville City Council's City Activation and Housing Incentive Policy. Picture: TCC.

Up to $275,000 in infrastructure charges will be waived for developers who build new homes, convert old commercial spaces into housing, or create new residential lots but construction costs must exceed $750,000 (or $250,000 for smaller projects like dual occupancy), and construction must start by June 30, 2028.

The new lot creation component was regarded as a great option for the “Mum and Dad” homeowners who wanted to subdivide existing land to create a new lot for future housing in the Infill Housing Priority Area, with up to $90,000 in infrastructure charges waived.

Primarily targeting businesses to set up or expand in Townsville, infrastructure charges will also be waived for developments creating up to five full-time jobs, and worth more than $500,000 in the city centre, or $1 million elsewhere in the local government area.

The Townsville City Centre area for Townsville City Council's City Activation and Housing Incentive Policy. Picture: TCC.

Ms Greaney hailed the updated policy, saying it was the first time (to the council’s knowledge) that a Queensland council had offered this level of development incentives via cash grants, rate freezes and infrastructure charges waivers.

“This policy is a huge win for Townsville businesses, residents and investors as it provides multifaceted support for the sustainable growth of our city,” Ms Greaney said.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney at The Rockpool on The Strand. Picture: Supplied

“We are focused on activating the city centre, promoting employment and supporting infill housing – if you own a home in areas like Mundingburra, Currajong, Hermit Park, you may be able to divide the block into two and sell the vacant parcel.

“For commercial landowners in the city centre, Council is now offering up to a $50,000 dollar-for-dollar match to support the beautification of building facades.”

Originally published as Townsville City Council reveals incentives to fix heritage buildings, subdivide, create jobs