Charter Hall Reveals Vision for Brisbane Brownfield Site

Up to five towers rising 30 storeys with as many as 1500 apartments could be delivered under a new vision revealed for one of inner-city Brisbane’s largest infill development sites.

Listed property funds giant Charter Hall is behind the proposed development blueprint for the mixed-use Montpelier Road Precinct.

Significantly, if all goes to plan, it would enable expedited delivery of housing at-scale—including a potential build-to-rent play.

Documents outlining its transformative plans for the 1.56ha brownfield site at Bowen Hills—about 3km north of the CBD—have been filed with the Brisbane City Council.

They have been lodged as part of a request for a planning scheme variation—in particular, an increased building height limit—to “catalyse” the site’s urban renewal.

The existing maximum building height for site’s fronting Montpelier Road is just eight storeys.

According to the application, the large holding at 66-98 Montpelier Road would “likely” accommodate three to five towers—some with shared podiums—rising in stages of up to 22, 26 and 30 storeys.

“The proposal will unlock and facilitate delivery of substantial housing supply for the locality and inner-city Brisbane more broadly,” the documents said. “Initial estimates show that with the proposed variations in place, the precinct could deliver up to 1500 dwellings with a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom dwellings in the future.”

Under the proposal, as well as ground-floor and lower-level retail/commercial tenancies, there would also be the potential to create an urban common spanning 1000sq m across the site.

As yet, however, no development designs for the precinct have been submitted.

“Brisbane is experiencing pronounced challenges with the delivery of housing supply, particularly in well-located and well-serviced inner-city locations,” a planning report said.

“The Montpelier Road Precinct provides a rare and significant opportunity to respond to Brisbane’s evolving needs … in its strategic location at the junction of Newstead, Bowen Hills and Fortitude Valley.

▲ A render from 2016 of Valley Live, a four-building precinct slated for the Bowen Hills site but never realised.

 

“The applicant is seeking to capitalise on this opportunity and put in place a planning framework which will enable future delivery of significant housing stock through redevelopment of the site [that] could include both build-to-sell and build-to-rent typologies.

“If approved, the variation request would set out a path for future development applications.”

The report said future redevelopment of the site would also “stitch together” the evolving Newstead and Bowen Hills areas through retail activation and streetscaping upgrades for Montpelier Road.

“It is questionable whether this key outcome would be achieved under the current planning controls given the limited density which could currently be achieved,” it said.

“The current planning provisions applicable to the site … have been superseded by events and are preventing infill development at a meaningful and needed scale which reflects the level of accessibility and amenity that the site possesses.”

Charter Hall and Dutch pension fund PGGM swooped on the Bowen Hills site in 2022, securing it in a $60-million off-market deal from office park developer Bill Henderson’s OPD.

It is occupied by commercial and large format retail buildings, including for office, hardware and trade supplies, and showroom uses.

Previously, the site was earmarked by residential developer Metro Property Group for a mixed-use development with 500-plus apartments across five eight-storey buildings.

In 2016, it was subsequently acquired by OPD for $25 million. Its plans for a four-building precinct to be called Valley Live—comprising 35,474sq m of office space, 9986sq m of retail space and an urban plaza—were never realised.

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