Two years since Myer exited, the retail giant’s former flagship CBD building remains largely empty

Brisbane's once bustling Myer Centre is deserted of shoppers and filled with vacant stores two years after the retail giant’s exit, despite promises of a $500m transformation. SEE THE VIDEO

Thursday marks two years since Myer closed it’s flagship store in the Queen Street Mall.

And retail expert Prof Gary Mortimer says the former Myer Centre – now called Uptown – is looking “depressing”.

“Two years ago today, anchor tenant Myer closed its five-level, flagship Brisbane CBD store after 35 years of trading,” he says.

“Time flies. As I walked through it I expected to have seen more development, changes over the past 24 months, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Downstairs in the food court was relatively busy but as you move up through the building there were less customers and less retail offerings.”

New video inside the former Myer Centre shows its deserted reality.

We understand ISPT has been quietly shopping around its 75 per cent share of the building but there has been no takers.

And they have not been helped with the CBD retail vacancy sitting at around 18.5 per cent, with most of the damage done by the vacant upper levels of retail buildings.

Vacant and boarded up shops in Uptown.

In 2023, the then Myer Centre – that’s co-owned by Vicinity and ISPT – had 122 tenants before it closed but at its peak it was home to about 230 stores.

A few months after its Vicinity CEO Peter Huddle told this diarist that they were planning a $500m redevelopment of the building to create a retail, leisure, food and beverage plus entertainment precinct.

But nothing’s really happened.

The empty upper floors of the former Myer Centre in the Brisbane CBD.

“I’m only finding boarded up storefronts, vacant stores, closed pop-up shops, deactivated activations and amateur art galleries,” Mortimer says.

And its not just the Myer centre – or rather Uptown.

“There’s no doubt the CBD is challenged. Consumers don’t necessarily come into the CBD to the big department stores like we did in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s,” Mortimer says.

“We have some good spaces that are working well like Queens Plaza and Edward St but certainly that top end of the Mall needs to be rejuvenated and that will require industry to invest but also Brisbane City Council and state government to actively work out what to do with these spaces.”

Myer’s exited its flagship CBD store two years ago and little has been done to rejuvenate the property.

Good numbers

In a race to the best numbers, it seems that a Brisbane-based global equities fund has come out on top.

Hyperion Global Growth Companies A scored a three-year annualised return of 33.86 per cent – well above the MSCI World Index world benchmark of 20.3 per cent over the same period – making it the top global equities strategy that’s open to Australian investors.

Hyperion is part of the Pinnacle Investment Management stable and another “Queenslander” GCQ – the Sydney-headquartered hedge fund co-founded by Doug Tynan – came in second place at 30 per cent.

Co-founder and the Chief Investment officer at GCQ Funds Management Doug Tynan.

We hear that while Tynan lives in Sydney, the Terrace Old Boy bleeds Maroon so we can claim GCQ as another Queensland success story.

Tynan tells Citybeat that he’s full of admiration for Hyperion Asset Management which is led by Mark Arnold and Jason Ortham who work their investment miracles from their office in 307 Queen St.

“Since Hyperion started managing global equities in 2014 they’ve made a bunch of astute investment calls, delivering outstanding returns for investors who have stayed the distance,” Tynan says.

“I would count it an honour just to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys.”

Originally published as Two years since Myer exited, the retail giant’s former flagship CBD building remains largely empty