Aria Property Group has submitted a development application which plans to turn space located below a railway overpass into a new urban park known as ‘Fish Lane Town Square’.
The development is the next stage of Aria’s revitalisation of Fish Lane which involves the establishment of a new urban park, outdoor dining areas, and retail, dining, bar and gallery tenancies.
Designed by Richards Spence (architect), creator of the recently completed Calile Hotel, as well as urban design firm RPS Group (landscape designer), the project aims to enhance the vibrancy of Fish Lane, creating an expansive public space that provides a multitude of opportunities for passive recreation as well as dining and retail destinations and outdoor entertainment.
The development will transform what is currently a substantially underutilised area of South Brisbane and has been designed with the highest principles of urban subtropical design including landscaped pods and climbing planters, public artwork, public bench seating, creative lighting and outdoor dining. – Development Application
The Town Square is broken up into two stages, with this development application encompassing the first stage. Key aspects of the redevelopment are:
- Significant landscaping including planters with integrated seating, deep planting and turfed areas
- Informal seating and gathering spaces to support a range of uses on the site, allowing for 24/7 activation of the space
- Enhancement of two existing pedestrian links through the site and addition of a third pedestrian link, providing enhanced connections between Fish Lane and Melbourne Street.
- A stand-alone demountable café/bar tenancy and public dining areas beneath the railway overpass
- Redevelopment of the existing ‘Quinn House’ building at 63 Melbourne Street to accommodate a restaurant/bar tenancy
- Establishment of twelve retail/dining/bar tenancies at 49 Melbourne Street, including the redevelopment of the existing building and extension to Fish Lane.
The publicly-accessible open space component of the development will have free and unobstructed 24/7 access. The indoor tenancies associated with the proposed development are to have hours of operation of 10am to 3am with the recommended hours of operation for outdoor entertainment uses, being 10am to 12am.
Planting Strategy
Due to the sites undercroft character, the proposed palette will compose of low light tolerant species which reflect a rainforest undercroft landscape. A mix of ferns, groundcovers, climbers, epiphytes and bromelaides will blanket the site vertically and horizontally, creating a lush and subtropical oasis.
Retail Strategy
Asked what the long-term benefits of enticing retail to development, Aria’s Michael Zaicek explains that purely from a commercial perspective, Aria’s unique retail strategy means buildings rent quicker and at better rates than competitor developments, as well as outperforming when it comes to building resales.
Moving into an Aria building is a lifestyle choice and the retail is a critical component. Purchasers of Aria product know we are committed to being the best property developer we can be. People understand and respect that goal, commercial returns are a bi-product. – Michael Zaicek, Aria Property Group. We take a collaborative approach and retain our retail long term.
We are interested in partnerships and relationships are everything. Once find someone of the quality we’re committed to ourselves, with whom you form a strong relationship you then remove barriers to a deal. In order for the retail to thrive, everybody needs to be pulling in the same direction. If you are aligned and committed to the big picture, execution can be surprisingly uncomplicated. – Michael Zaicek, Aria Property Group
Aria Property Group currently has an approved development application for a 33 storey residential development located at 77 Hope Street, an adjacent site known as ‘Waterfall‘.
The development application number for this project is A004623409.
