$375m Brisbane River development at Toowong gets council green light

Consolidated Properties Group has received Brisbane City Council approval to develop Monarch Residences, a landmark $375m development at Toowong on the Brisbane River.

An artist’s impression of Monarch Residences in Toowong.

Queensland developer Consolidated Properties Group has received Brisbane City Council approval to develop Monarch Residences, a landmark $375m development of the last major parcel of land at Toowong on the Brisbane River.

The long-awaited development of 600 Coronation Drive will see two 15-storey towers set amid 1.2ha of riverfront gardens with about 130m of direct river frontage, as well as the restoration of a historic 1860s house.

Priced from $550,000 for a one-bedrom premium apartment, the two Monarch Residences towers will feature 233 premium apartments and are already attracting swathes of downsizer potential purchasers principally from Brisbane’s western suburbs, including large landholders from the Brookfield region.

With one, two, three and four-bedroom skyhomes, river villas and penthouses, the project will be launched to the market in the spring. The penthouses will be priced at around the $8m mark.

Monarch Residences have been designed to maximise its riverside address and showcase its superb views across the Brisbane River as well as its city views.

John Wardle Architects has designed the development with support from local Brisbane architects Cottee Parker Associates.

Consolidated Properties Group Chairman Don O’Rorke predicts Monarch Residences will become the signature address in Brisbane’s inner west.

“Monarch Residences will set a new standard in apartment living in Toowong with its premium location and unsurpassed quality and style,” Mr O’Rorke said.

“Monarch Residences is an outstanding offer and will be unique for the area with its extensive gardens which run to the river’s edge. It will become renowned in the local area, and we look forward to working with Hutchinson Builders to get it started.

“It will provide a significant uplift for the local Toowong community as the development approval includes an extension of the Bicentennial Bikeway, a riverfront park and the restoration of the heritage-listed Middenbury House.”

Upon completion, Middenbury House will be accessible to the public for the first time since it was built in 1865. Its refurbishment will include a conversion into a cafe and restaurant.

Consolidated Properties Group, in a joint venture with the fund managed by the Qualitas Group, purchased the 600 Coronation Drive parcel for $35.5m from Sunland in March. The site has been vacant since 2006, when the ABC decommissioned its operations.

Qualitas Group’s global head of real estate, Mark Fischer said: “We see enormous opportunities in the Brisbane residential market in the coming decade in working with the city’s leading developers such as Consolidated Properties Group, and this riverfront site will be a positive contribution to the growing local demand.”

More than 300 people have registered interest in the forthcoming sales launch. Consolidated Properties Group head of residential James MacGinley said that, of the people who had registered interest so far, 85 per cent had been Brisbane locals.

The development approval allows for a third 15-storey tower to be built on the site. However, it is expected that this third tower will not proceed so as to make way for the Toowong to West End Green Bridge sometime in the future.