$2 billion plans for six new towers in West End precinct
A Melbourne-based development company wants to build one of the largest housing precincts on Brisbane’s riverfront with six multi-storey towers rising from its banks.
ICD Property and Plus Studio have lodged a design application to build five 30-storey towers and one 12-storey tower to create more than 1,100 homes of laneway and townhouse-style urban homes and apartments.
ICD Property CEO Matthew Koo said the site would include two parks, activated laneways, and retail and hospitality venues within a 16,800sqm area at 25 Donkin Street and 9 Buchanan Street .
The plans have been lodged with the Brisbane City Council and will follow their Development Approval process. ICD Property’s plans and overall submission must be assessed against relevant planning rules, regulations and referral authorities, a process that can take six to 12 months.
If it wins approval, the development would stretch across 200 metres of Riverside Drive frontage and become one of Brisbane’s major riverfront sites.
Koo said the project symbolised the city’s long-term growth.
“Brisbane is facing one of the tightest housing markets in the country, with population growth outpacing supply and vacancy rates near historic lows,” Koo said.
Project Details
Plus Studio’s design masterplan showed six towers up to 30 storeys offering views of the Brisbane River and existing fig trees. The 200-year-old fig tree canopy was expected to be highlighted through a network of subtropical boulevards to unify the development.
The rooftops and terraces would have greenery with the shared amenities including amphitheatre, pool, spa, sauna, gym, BBQ area, coworking area and pilates studios.
Plans showed towers one and three would be connected by bridges across the ground floor laneway.
It included 16 two-storey townhouses with direct Riverside Drive views, plus another 11 located in the activated laneway between Donkin and Hockings Street. Another two town homes would face Buchanan Street.
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“West End has always been a place of connection – to the river, to culture, to community. Our vision is to extend that legacy, creating new homes and public places that balance density with liveability and community benefit,” Koo said.
If plans were approved, Stage One was projected to be completed by 2030 in time for the 2032 Olympic Games.
Director Danny Juric said the Plus Studio team were “drawn on the character of West End while responding to the lifestyle and landscape qualities that define Brisbane today, creating a destination that connects the city’s past and future”.
The site falls within the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) which allows increased density and height for projects meeting design excellence and community benefit thresholds.
