Global luxury retail giant sues Queen’s Wharf Brisbane before opening

Less than three months before Queen’s Wharf is due to start welcoming people to its 12.8 hectare site in the Brisbane CBD, there are questions over the status of its promised luxury retail shopping precinct.

The Destination Brisbane Consortium behind the $4 billion complex announced in 2021 that luxury retail giant DFS would be an anchor tenant, alongside Star casino, and help attract tourists through its association with travel and duty-free goods.

An artist’s impression of the Luxe Box, part of a promised high-end retail precinct at Queen’s Wharf Brisbane.

DFS, part of the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton conglomerate, was expected to have a T Galleria in a restored three-level heritage building on George Street, and place luxury brands in 16 other retail spaces in the complex. The consortium boasted the DFS deal – for 6000 square metres of floor space – would create a “jaw-dropping luxury shopping precinct”.

At the time, DFS described itself as “the exclusive retailer in Queen’s Wharf Brisbane” and said it expected to start welcoming customers in late 2022. While there is already a Louis Vuitton store on Queen Street in Brisbane, the company was still planning a second store even as the Queen’s Wharf opening date was being pushed back.

But DFS last week launched legal action against the consortium in the Supreme Court, claiming the consortium had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, and neither party would say whether DFS would occupy space in the complex.

Construction continues on the Luxe Box and three-story retail complex at Queen’s Wharf Brisbane. It was meant to open in late 2022.Credit: Sean Parnell

“Destination Brisbane Consortium has strong interest from retailers to be part of Brisbane’s most anticipated tourism and entertainment precinct and we are progressing new and exciting opportunities,” a consortium spokesman said, without answering specific questions about the fate of DFS.

The consortium is a joint venture of The Star Entertainment Group, which runs casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney, and Hong Kong-based partners Far East Consortium and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. It has promised to open Queen’s Wharf in stages from August.

Follow-up questions to the consortium went unanswered, however the Queen’s Wharf website has been changed to remove reference to a T Galleria. The consortium is now only promising a “luxury department store” in The Printery building, and is still open to leasing inquiries.

DFS spokesman Mackie Tan did not answer questions about the company’s plans and said it was policy not to comment on “ongoing litigation”.

Local lawyers for DFS did not return calls, and the consortium spokesman would not comment on the claim, other than to say it would respond in court.

The case comes after the consortium settled a separate lawsuit from builder Multiplex over design changes and delays to the project. That was expected to cost the consortium up to $170 million.

Star is also awaiting a state government decision, due May 31, on whether it would keep its Queensland casino licences. It had already paid $100 million in fines for poor corporate behaviour and faced further civil penalties, amid an ongoing NSW inquiry.

In its latest market update, Star reported a 10 per cent drop in revenue for Treasury casino in Brisbane – which still raked in $177.6 million in six months – due to steps taken to deal with problem gamblers, such as exclusions and time restrictions, and increased competition from pubs and clubs.

Queen’s Wharf is set to transform the southern end of the CBD, aided by Cross River Rail and the construction of a new Albert Street station, due to open in 2026. The complex will be connected to South Bank via the Neville Bonner Bridge, and have a sky deck, leisure deck, ballroom, restaurants, bars, apartments and hotel rooms.

While there has been speculation Myer might open a flagship store at Queen’s Wharf, the company has made no such announcements. Myer has been looking for a suitable site to return to the CBD, after vacating the Queen Street Mall shopping centre now known as Uptown.

The casino’s pending move from the Treasury buildings to the new complex has also left uncertainty over a vast stretch of George Street, between the mall and Queen’s Wharf. A previous deal to sell the heritage-listed buildings that currently house the casino and hotel did not proceed, and the agents have yet to announce new buyers or detail their plans for the sites.

DFS was co-founded by the late American billionaire philanthropist Chuck Feeney, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to support Queensland’s biotechnology sector.