Former print site up for sale; Kirsti Simpson takes reins at Woods Bagot’s
There has been strong interest - especially from one of Australia’s best known billionaires - in the sale of a prime site in Brisbane’s east.
We hear there has been plenty of interest - especially from one of Australia’s best known billionaires - in the sale of The Courier-Mail’s former printing headquarters at Murarrie.
The state-of-the-art office/warehouse opened in 1995 but for the past couple of months has been vacant with the printing of News Corp Australia’s newspapers relocated to Yandina on the Sunshine Coast.
The property was put on the market through JLL and we understand there were a number of inspections and a deal “north of $50m” to buy the site is near completion.
We also hear that one of the underbidders was Queensland’s richest person and noted political player Clive Palmer.
Palmer has one of Australia’s biggest vintage car collections and we can’t help wondering if he had plans to use the site to store his multimillion-dollar fleet or create a vintage car museum. Palmer has been contacted for comment.
In other property news, industry sources have revealed a price for the former Salvation Army homeless centre Pindari in Fortitude Valley, saying the site sold for about $14m.
St Joseph College Gregory Terrace has sealed a deal to buy the centre in Quarry St that until two years ago was used to provide crisis and short-term accommodation for people in need.
Pindari, situated on approximately 3600 square metres of land and comprising a six-storey building with offices, accommodation and recreational spaces, will be used by the college for classrooms and an exam centre.
St Joseph College principal Dr Michael Carroll has told parents that the purchase was a “strategic decision” that would benefit Terrace students and staff into the future.
The Salvation Army says the proceeds of the sale are set to be reinvested into new supportive housing for people experiencing, and at risk of, homelessness.
NEW GIG
After almost 26 years at architectural outfit Hassell, Kirsti Simpson has again broken through the glass ceiling and taken the reins at rivals Woods Bagot’s Brisbane studio.
She is the global architect firm’s Brisbane executive chair and will work with Woods Bagot’s Australian workplace interiors team as well as associate principal David Lee.
Simpson says it was hard to leave Hassell, where she designed a raft of ground-breaking workplaces and commercial towers for international and local clients.
However, she says the opportunity to work with a large global business while at the same remaining true to her deep Brisbane roots was too good to pass up.
She would also be one of the few women in such a position in the sector in Australia. “It’s not that unusual within Woods Bagot as a practice but maybe it is across the sector more broadly,” Simpson says. “Woods Bagot is very progressive as it relates to women within leadership positions which was very attractive to me.”
She is currently in the firm’s studio at 262 Adelaide St - but not for long.
“What I’m particularly excited about is that later in the year we’re moving the studio to 80 Ann St which interestingly is a building designed by Woods Bagot and houses the Suncorp workplace which was one of my projects,” she says.
CHARGED UP
Brisbane-based Pure Battery Technologies (PBT) has appointed Kate Dickson as strategy and stakeholder development manager as it expands its operations internationally.
Dickson is currently the Queensland director of the Australian Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC).
PBT is a technology company that uses technology discovered at the University of Queensland to refine, recycle and produce nickel manganese cobalt materials for use in electric vehicle batteries. PBT claims its battery material has lower Co2 emissions than any other similar product on the market.
The company has recently received a $119m grant from the Federal Government to progress a planned refinery in Western Australia. The company also is expanding its German refinery based in Hagen and has recently been nominated for a German Raw Material Efficiency Award with the winner to be announced in October.
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