Brisbane’s inner ring vacancy has tightened with a move from ‘weak’ into the ‘healthy’ range with 3.5% vacancy recorded, reports the REIQ in their Q1 2018 Vacancy Rate report.

All areas of Brisbane are now sitting in the healthy range which is great for investors looking for quality tenants, while also giving tenants good rental opportunities. Greater Brisbane recorded 2.7 per cent, while Brisbane Local Government Area recorded 3.1%.

Healthy range is classified as 2.5-3.5%.

REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said “the data shows a very resilient market capable of absorbing the perceived oversupply.”

The REIQ also reports the population of Queensland is predicted to top 5 million in coming months which will be another driver for housing demand in the months and years to come.

In the year to September 2017, Queensland was the most popular state for interstate migration, growing by 81,000.

Nearly 40% (31,000) of all new residents to the state were the result of overseas migration.

Property worth $54 billion was bought and sold in Queensland last year. REIQ Chairman Rob Honeycombe said “Queensland real estate offers great value and this is why it underpins the state’s economy. When real estate performs well, everyone benefits.”

A development has been submitted to Brisbane City Council by Vicinity Centres for the refurbishment of The Queens Plaza, located along Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, reports brisbanedevelopment.com.au.

Blight Rayner, the architecture firm in charge of the project design said the most noticeable change will be to the exterior of the building with a ‘lightweight’ glass awning installed to create a lightness in the appearance. There will also be cosmetic changes to the façade of the building.

Other features of the proposal include a new media screen to be positioned fronting Queen Street, and a new bar which would include 355 square metres of space with a new balcony which would overlook the mall beneath and would include a subtropical arbor.

The internal tenancy layout will be altered, as well as widening of the void that looks down onto level one, with some retail tenancies to be expanded.

Queens Plaza was constructed in 2005 and is home to over 60 high-end retailers and specialty retail stores. Coles and David Jones are the anchor tenants of the popular building.

For artist impression images visit the original story located at https://brisbanedevelopment.com/queensplaza-to-receive-refurbishment/.

A development application has been lodged for a new 50,000sqm, 40 storey commercial tower located at 360 Queen Street in the Brisbane CBD, reports brisbanedevelopment.com.au.

Located within the highly sought-after ‘Golden Triangle’ area of the CBD, the proposal shows the 5-Star Green Star rated office tower will include three sky parks, ground level and podium ‘marketplace’ with a range food and beverage outlets, bars, gym and/or childcare centre, supermarket, four basement levels with 59 car parks, and a public plaza at ground level which will include an outdoor amphitheatre that could be used for entertainment, events or as an outdoor cinema.

Brisbane’s Golden Business Triangle is a premium CBD location within first-class residential and commercial high-rise towers, restaurants, shopping and close proximity to the Brisbane River and the Story Bridge.  The triangle has no proper boundaries, but is considered to fall within the north side of Queen Street, Edwards Street and the Brisbane River.

Blight Rayner, the architect appointed to the proposal outlines the below philosophy regarding the design:

 "Located on Queen Street the historical marketplace and financial heart of Brisbane, Queensland, the proposed development of 360 Queen Street is a beacon that is uniquely Queensland.

1.  A Beacon that is an expressive addition to Brisbane’s skyline seen in 360 degrees and significantly from the post card location – The Storey bridge.
2.  A Beacon for the “new” marketplace on Queen Street through a proposed architectural expression of eroded and porous podium levels.
3.  A Beacon for a new work place which consists of highly connected floors that embraces the external environment.”

“Our concept epitomises the “Buildings that Breathe” principles which range from environmental technical performance, public realm engagement to vertical gardens and elevated outdoor spaces,” said the firm.

There is industry speculation that this building is shortlisted as a possible location for the new national Suncorp headquarters.

Hannah Schuhmann said the joint venture between Charter Hall and Investa Commercial Property Fund shows developers have a great confidence in the CBD.  With increased office space follows the need for residential property in excellent locations such as the ‘Felix’ building, which is a short a 10-minute walk from this site. 

For the original story, visit https://brisbanedevelopment.com/new-40-storey-commercial-tower-proposed-for-360-queen-street/

Boeing’s largest autonomous systems development program outside the USA will soon call Queensland home, creating 131 jobs, reports the state government and Boeing.

The aim of the three-year project is to increase independent operation of sea and air vehicles to create a product that can be exported to the worldwide market.

In March this year, Boeing increased their Australia-wide research team to 80, up from 35. In a first for Boeing in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the research sites is co-located at the University of Queensland which aims to embed researches within the tertiary environment to bring together the business and academia world.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is behind the project. “The 131 jobs that will come with this autonomous vehicles program will grow Boeing’s Queensland workforce– and these are truly jobs of the future.

“Boeing has a proven track record of working with innovative Queensland businesses, a relationship that supports the growth of highly-skilled jobs under this new program.”

Technology that Boeing has created/working towards includes; ‘resin-infused carbon fibre components’ that lead to aircraft and other structures being lighter with better efficiency to manufacture, ‘advanced robots’ which will create robots of the future, autonomous systems that sense and avoid items in the air, and ‘virtual and augmented reality technology’ that is beneficial for training airport pilots and the forthcoming CST-100 Starliner pilots.

Minister for Innovation Kate Jones said the announcement puts the aerospace industry in Queensland on the map. The program puts “Queensland proponents and suppliers in the box seat to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the autonomous systems industry, especially as 30 per cent of Australia’s drone business is already based here.”

This is one of nine major projects that the Advance Queensland Industry Attraction Fund (AQIAF) is supporting. Over the next five years, the nine projects will generate more the 580 jobs and more than $260 million in capital expenditure for the state. 

Hannah Schuhmann said the increasing business activity in Queensland by a multitude of global companies including Boeing, has been one of the catalysts for increased property values in the state. Not surprisingly, Brisbane has broken into the list of 100 global cities with the highest property price growth.

Queensland has recorded solid domestic tourism growth for the year ending December 2017, reports Tourism & Events Queensland.

Domestic overnight visitors spent a record $15.8 billion in the state, a jump of 4.7% from the previous year. This growth can be related to the 4.9% increase in visitors to the state for the same period. The length of time the 21.8 million visitors stayed also saw a firm increase to 86.5 million nights, up by 4.3%. The reasons for travel saw increases in each category with regards to expenditure; holiday up 3.9% with a total $7.2 million, visiting of family or relatives (VFR) up 5.8% to $2.38 million, and business up 3.7% to $2.43 million.

The interstate visitation figures show growth of 6% to 6.6 million visitors which spent $7.5 billion, an increase of 5.3%. Intrastate visitors increased by 4.4% to 15.2 million, and spent $8.3 billion, a 4.1% increase on the previous year.

Specific to Brisbane, domestic overnight expenditure saw staggering growth of 15.3% to a total of $4.106 billion, with visitation up by 7.7% up 6.5 million people. The purpose of travel also saw increases in each category; holiday grew by 7.5% to a record-high 1.7 million, business increased by 11.8% to 1.7 million, and VFR was up by 2.7% to 2.5 million.

The report noted Brisbane’s excellent results were likely to be attributed to major events including the State of Origin, Battle of Brisbane Jeff Horne V Pacquiao boxing fight, and the November Ashes matches.

Positive results were reflected nation-wide with total domestic overnight visitors within Australia increasing year on year by 7.1% to a total of 97 million with total expenditure of $64.5 billion which is an increase of 5.8%. Holiday led the charge as reason for travel with regards to expenditure, capturing $27 billion (increase of 5.8%), followed by VFR with a 6.4% increase to $10.38b.