Revamp on Queen St Mall still not under way a year after promises

A year after news of two planned revamps, Brisbane’s Queen St Mall remains a far cry from its golden era, with vacancies at an almost nation-leading high and operators battling a retail slump.

A year after plans for a huge revamp of the Wintergarden and after council ripped up two popular foodie outlets, the Queen St Mall is still stuck in limbo as it battles the second highest retail vacancy rate in the country.

Forty-three years after Queen Elizabeth II opened the mall, in time for the Commonwealth Games, Brisbane City Council has sidestepped questions about whether a major new upgrade was needed ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

The last significant overhaul was timed to coincide with Expo88.

There have been only smaller touch-ups since, including a refurbishment of the Albert St extension in 2007 and a $25m makeover eight years earlier when the terracotta paving was replaced with granite.

We take an in-depth look at what’s gone wrong, things that are improving and ideas to turn the mall around.

COUNCIL’S VISION

When Council announced its City To South Bank vision a year ago to help revitalise the Mall it promised new shade structures on the Victoria Bridge to encourage pedestrians to make the long trek from South Bank.

However the bridge is still a hot, uninviting construction site, exposed to the elements.

There have been few signs of the “activations’’, such as pop-up gin bars and food trucks, that were promised after Milano’s and the Pig ‘N’ Whistle were removed last June.

That was part of plans to “de-clutter'’’ the (respectively) top and lower sections of the mall.

Other retail “pods’’ to go over the years have included the Rankins kiosk, famous for late-night snacks and mingling, and late-night Asian fusion eatery Cafe East.

One of the few bright spots has been the success of the Titanic: The Human Story exhibition.

It was extended recently until the end of this month after drawing good crowds since opening in July.

The Titanic exhibition has been well patronised and is a good use of space that would otherwise be empty in Uptown.

Dopamine Land, a children’s interactive experience next to the Titanic show, has also been a crowd pleaser.

Otherwise, the George St end of the mall has become a hot, bare space with multiple shuttered shopfronts and relatively few pedestrians, compared with the middle and lower sections of the mall where foot traffic has bounced back since the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Artist's impression of how the Victoria Bridge shade structures will look when installed. At the moment, it is a hot construction site exposed to the elements.

WHAT ABOUT AN UPGRADE?

Civic Cabinet chair, Councillor Adam Allan, when asked if council would consider a major upgrade in time for the 2032 Games, did not respond directly but instead said he was confident the mall would be a drawcard for years to come.

He said more than 1 million pedestrians moved through the mall every week.

“It is a major drawcard for residents and visitors and I’m confident it will be a popular vibrant destination for generations to come,’’ he said.

“We’re always looking for ways to enhance its reputation and since the mall was rearranged at each end we’ve welcomed pop-up dining destinations and expanded the Brisbane City Markets to the top of the mall.

“There is also significant private investment happening, including a new Wintergarden precinct.’’

Immaculate, pretty but empty. There is a high vacancy rate in the Wintergarden.

WINTERGARDEN WOES

But work has yet to begin on funds manager ISPT’s reworked vision for the Wintergarden,

A year after it flagged plans for new landscaped city lanes, a revived food court, better connections to Elizabeth St and redevelopment of the historic Regent Theatre and 155 Queen St Mall building, no action is evident.

And a development application has not yet been submitted to council to replace the Hilton Hotel component of the huge site.

ISPT demolished the Regent a decade ago and now the grand, ornate cinema, one of the first in Australia to boast airconditioning, has sadly been busted down to a visitor information centre.

A conga line of tenants have moved out including McDonald’s, Guzman Y Gomez and Soul Origin, with more than a dozen shopfronts walled over.

One of the few busy shops to be seen when The Courier-Mail visited on Friday and again on Monday was the huge Mecca Maxima fronting the mall.

The nearby NAB and Commonwealth Bank, whose current CBD leases expire in 2027, were also believed to be weighing up their office options.

The George St top end of the Mall is bare, with little foot traffic and some empty store fronts.

TOUGH TIMES

The mall has struggled since the end of lockdown due to the cost of living hammering retailers, plus a trend for CBD office staff to continue working from home.

The Committee For Brisbane’s Vitality Report, released in November, said that pedestrian movements in the mall had improved, possibly due to 50c public transport fares.

But the amount of major centre floor space was stuck at the lowest level since 2018.

While the 19.2 per cent vacancy rate was down from the previous year it was still way above pre-Covid levels.

Always-busy Jimmy's On The Mall has been one of the few constants since the mall opened in 1982. Other well-known retail “pods’’ have long since disappeared.

“Super prime’’ retail rents were also well below the $4000/sqm owners could charge in 2018. The number of new retail and food businesses has risen, but only by 10 per cent in five years.

QUT retail expert Prof Gary Mortimer said the top end of Queen St Mall was now very tired, with activity shifting to the bottom end where premium shops on Edward St and Queens Plaza were the only bright spots.

WHAT’S GONE WRONG?

While Queen’s Wharf could help turn things around in that area, Prof Mortimer said at the moment there were only empty shops.

He said that since Myer moved out the renamed Myer Centre had “done nothing’’.

“It’s a compilation of boarded up shops, casual tenancies and deactivated activation sites,’’ he said.

QUEEN ST AND THE MALL: 120 YEARS OF PHOTOS

“The 50c fares have helped persuade office workers to come back but the basic problem is people don’t want to come in to do shopping, they prefer to go somewhere like Carindale where it’s undercover, airconditioned and you can park (cheaply).

“People pretty much only come in (to the CBD) to buy a suit or a nice pair of shoes.’’

Labor Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy said the mall had been one of Australia’s most successful and well-used pedestrian malls since its creation.

“A Labor administration built the Queen Street Mall in the 80s. Now, after 21 years in power the LNP Council have allowed it to turn into a barren concrete wasteland,’’ he said.

“Pop-up food trucks and activations have had low attendance because of poor planning, a lack of shade and no ambience.

“It’s clear the LNP Council are broke and have really let the Mall go.

“If you are a tourist or visitor to the city from the suburbs, your experience today is a lot worse than it was 20 years ago.’’

Mall visitors The Courier-Mail spoke to this week said they liked the space but wanted more shade, landscaping and live entertainment.

About 85 buskers and performers were licensed to perform there, however some people said they had noticed fewer street entertainers.

The mall has been the stage for street performers from blind busker Graham Pampling to human statue Steve “Silver Steve’’ Hollis, whose portrait was entered in the Archibald Prize.

Artist Graham W Smith submitted a painting of Queen St Mall “living statue’’ Steve Hollis for the Archibald Prize. Picture: Renae Droop

It has also hosted countless welcome-home ceremonies for Olympians, Commonwealth Games and other athletes, but the stage at the top of the mall is now smaller and less often used than in its early days when the stage was more central.

Uptown has rebounded somewhat since the Myer department store’s shock closure in July 2023, after 35 years, when its Christmas window display alone was a major attraction.

Brisbane is now the only major capital without a Myer in its inner-city.

The new name, Uptown, met with very mixed views.

The food court and lower levels have bounced back, with strong foot traffic, but from level 2 it was still very quiet including the sprawling two-level Lincraft outlet.

An Event cinema featuring arcade games in the foyer has filled the huge void left after a bizarre experiment with a rollercoaster failed years ago.

Tennis star Rafael Nadal in the Queen St Mall, which has hosted many famous faces. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Courier-Mail

SIGNS OF LIFE

Ultra-up-market Queens Plaza, where even the public seats are works of art, has also clawed its way back from Covid lockdown.

The basement food court was busier, although when The Courier-Mail walked through, the black-suited staff in some luxury stores such as Bvlgari and Chanel outnumbered customers as much as five to one. Tiffany was being scoped out by two very hopeful schoolgirls, but no one else.

Brisbane Arcade, so beautiful a visitor was spotted taking photos of the glorious stained glass, also had far fewer shoppers than staff.

The Albert St extension these days has the most dynamic vibe of the entire mall.

Centred on Hungry Jacks, where crowds of schoolchildren have gathered since the early days, it boasts an eclectic mix of traders.

There’s everything from a girly bar to a gelato shop so popular the queues never quite go away and Rocking Horse Records, where owner Warwick Vere has survived the ups and downs of changing tastes in vinyl, a disastrous basement flood and the music streaming revolution since opening in 1975.

IT COULD BE MUCH WORSE

Compared with Brunswick St and Chinatown malls in the Valley, Brisbane’s only other inner-city malls, Queen St is unarguably in better shape: Spotless, newer and with far more shoppers.

It also has far fewer signs of the housing and drugs crises.

Only two beggars were in evidence, one stooped forlornly over a handwritten cardboard sign on the Albert/Elizabeth streets intersection, ignored by pedestrians who hurried by with eyes lowered. The other jangled coins in a plastic cup opposite the former Treasury Casino building.

Griffith University plans to open a campus in that building by 2027, serving 7000 business, IT, law and postgraduate students.

It promised to revive the top end of the mall in the same way that council incentives aimed at converting low-grade office towers into student accommodation finally created some night-time buzz in the CBD, particularly on Elizabeth St.

L to R, Hannah & James White from Robert White Jewellers with Di Cant at the Queen Street Mall’s 40th birthday celebrations in 2022. Picture: Steve Pohlner

THE FUTURE

Designed by renowned architect Robin Gibson after Queen St was closed to traffic in 1981, over the years famous faces to stop by have included several US presidents, former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Olympians and numerous musos such as The Ten Tenors.

Folk singer Judith Durham, of The Seekers fame, even penned a ballad about it in 2012 — Meet Me In The Mall.

One idea floated recently to revive the mall was late night trading, including a 24-hour news broadcast hub like in New York’s Times Square as well as 24/7 eateries, bars and shopping.

Another was tiered seating for people watching.

Tokyo’s famed Shibuya district and Times Square, among other world downtown areas, have been turned around with other approaches such as a mix of short-term and long-term traders, better community spaces and unique, even wacky, retail outlets.

Time will tell if the mall can also reinvent itself so it survives for another 43 years.

Originally published as Revamp on Queen St Mall still not under way a year after promises