Council reject celebrity builder Rob Gray’s plan for luxe riverside unit block

Plans by a celebrity builder for a luxe Brisbane riverside unit complex have been dealt a blow by council.

A real estate picture of the existing home at 17 Julius St at New Farm.

Celebrity builder Rob Gray’s plan to build four luxury apartments on a prime riverfront property in New Farm has been knocked back by council.

In a decision handed down on June 26, Brisbane City Council refused the development application for the five-storey building, 15m above ground level stating that it was too big and bulky for the site and too close to the Brisbane River.

Rob and Meghan Gray.

Gray’s wife Meghan Kim Gray paid $8.5m for the 688 sqm site at 17 Julius St in November 2022.

It came with a three-storey four-bedroom home built in 1995 on the land.

The site has uninterrupted panoramic views of the Brisbane River, Story Bridge, and the city skyline, and was offered for rent in April for a six month lease for $2500 a week.

The lease advertisement stated that the home would be”demolished at the end of the lease”.

The proposed architectural renders for block of four apartments to be built at 17 Julius St New Farm by Rob Gray of Graya. The council has knocked back the plan.

“The proposed built form is large and prominent as it takes up almost the entire site and projects so far towards the river in comparison to nearby properties, it does not allow any space for adequate landscaping and does not maintain and enhance the attractive appearance of the Brisbane River and its banks,” the refusal states.

“The proposal is visually dominant when viewed from the river,” it states.

On July 2, Rob Gray’s wholly-owned company, Prestige Property Brisbane Pty Ltd (PPB), filed an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court in a bid to overturn the council’s refusal to give PPB the right to build the Ivory apartment complex.

An aerial view of 17 Julius St New Farm

PPB submitted the development application should be approved.

Council’s refusal also cited the fact that service vehicles – such as those used in construction – would have difficulty accessing the “narrow and constrained” access to the building, and a proposed shared loading bay would remove street parking from Julius St and “adversely impact” neighbours.

In its appeal PPB submitted that the size of the Ivory building was “consistent with or smaller than existing nearby development”.

PPB submits that the building’s setbacks from the Brisbane River are “consistent with other setbacks of nearby development”.

The proposed architectural renders for the block of four apartments that Rob Gray hopes to build at 17 Julius St New Farm

It submits that the building “will provide for a premium product” in the inner city, and that the narrow access to it was similar to other small scale residential developments in New Farm, Fortitude Valley and Teneriffe.

Andrew and Robert Gray work together in their business Graya Constructions and they have built homes for Brisbane Broncos player Darius Boyd, former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore and model Erin McNaught and her rapper husband Example.

Retired tennis champion Ash Barty recently bought a luxury beachfront apartment in a Graya built building called Kloud on the Gold Coast.

In October last year Mr Gray and his wife sold their newly-built Burleigh Heads family home for $11m to fitness coach Adam Sullivan.

Originally published as Council reject celebrity builder Rob Gray’s plan for luxe riverside unit block