This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
SYDNEY-based developer Sarazin has boosted its hefty land holdings in Brisbane’s booming Olympics precinct, spending $12.5 million to buy another 2,729 sqm of land in Woolloongabba that is zoned for mixed-use and on which it could build a 20-storey tower.
The newly purchased site comprises four land parcels – 14, 16 and 18 Wellington Road and 25 Nile Street, which form part of the Woolloongabba Centre neighbourhood plan. It has dual street frontage to Wellington Road and Nile Street and offers direct access to key road networks, retail offerings and the future Woolloongabba Cross River rail station.
Sarazin’s latest acquisition comes hot on the heels of its $13.75 million purchase of the 2,673 sqm corner parcel at 31-33 Wellington Road. Currently occupied by warehouses, the properties are zoned for high-density residential and sold with approval for an 18-storey, 181-unit project.
The developer also currently has a three-stage apartment project opposite the Gabba, which will be fully demolished and rebuilt as part of a $7 billion funding agreement struck between the Queensland and federal governments. Stage one of the Sarazin project, named Silk, reached completion last year at the 6,381 sqm Stanley Street site.
Daniel Pepper of Savills, who struck the latest deal with colleague Gregory Woods, said development has and continues to be a significant focus for the area.
“The purchaser, Sarazin, has already seen success at their Silk One development and, over the course of the last 18 months, has acquired numerous substantial sites within Woolloongabba which will assist in reshaping the skyline of the area.”
Woods said the location was the site for a family-operated steel business that ran for over two decades, and “like the suburb itself, is now set to undergo a revitalisation as part of the wider Woolloongabba plan to attract investment and development to the area”.
A new $450 million Brisbane Metro station near the Gabba will be delivered ahead of the 2032 Olympics after all three levels of government signed off on the $1.8 billion South Queensland City Deal a year ago.
Late last year the Queensland government bought a 1.28-hectare former car yard at 73 Ipswich Road – in the Olympics precinct and next to the Pacific Motorway – for just over $40 million. A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson told The Courier Mail that because of the rapid pace of development and the upcoming changes earmarked for the suburb which encompasses the Olympic precinct the government continued to plan for “future transport needs”.
“The land provides an opportunity to progress several important transport and infrastructure planning activities to accommodate future needs within the wider Woolloongabba precinct,” they said.
The largely cleared site, which still has buildings totalling 3,531 sqm, had previously been approved by Brisbane City Council for a 12,820 sqm Bunnings Warehouse.
