Twist in legal saga as church vows to develop site next to XXXX brewery

A church site at Milton, tucked away beside the XXXX brewery not far from Suncorp Stadium, would become home to an upmarket retirement village under plans submitted to Brisbane City Council.

The Anglican Church is still embroiled in a legal dispute with beverages giant Lion over its bid to install ethanol tanks at the Milton brewery. The tanks are needed for production of drinks other than beer, but the church is worried they pose a safety risk to its theological college next door.

While the council approved the tanks, only for the church to appeal to the Planning and Environment Court, it has now been asked to approve a major redevelopment of the neighbouring St Francis College site.

The Anglican Church has applied to redevelop a site next to the XXXX brewery at Milton. The heritage-listed Old Bishopsbourne is visible at the rear.

The 9.5 acre site, which can only be accessed via Milton or Baroona roads, has at its heart the heritage-listed Old Bishopsbourne, which was home to Brisbane’s first Anglican bishop, and a chapel.

Under plans prepared by Cox Architecture and Urbis, three modern buildings would be constructed on site, with a combined 76 independent living units to be managed by Aura.

“The Anglican Church has the opportunity to develop an underutilised component of St Francis College to create a medium density residential development targeted at retirement living which facilitates the maintenance of this unique historic site,” the council has been told.

The buildings would be up to six storeys, which is higher in parts, and closer to boundaries, than would normally be allowed. Some units would have city or mountain views, while there would also be communal sky terraces looking out over Old Bishopsbourne and the neon XXXX sign next door.

Residents would have a new pool, wine cellar and art room, with Depression-era shale walls incorporated into the landscaping.

Access would be via Baroona Road, which would have a new drop-off area to limit the amount of traffic on the internal ring road, and there would be 95 car spaces for residents, staff and visitors on site.

An artist’s impression of the proposed development, with the iconic XXXX sign visible in the background at the right.

“This proposal hinges around a generous green open space and leverages the hillside terrain to conceal basement car parking and passively separate site uses. The landscaped public podium is the civic heart of the precinct, supporting gathering, activity and break out for both aquatic, cafe and community function.”

The documents submitted to the council note the unresolved issue with the ethanol tanks – the next court hearing is set down for Tuesday – but also state that any air pollutants and odours from the brewery had been assessed as meeting the relevant air quality criteria.

The development application comes as the Queensland government looks to make use of more church land for housing.

The Catholic Church, meanwhile, has a development application before the council for a 39-storey office building, with a two-storey wine bar and retail spaces, in the Cathedral Precinct in the Brisbane CBD.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.