Australian real estate investment trust Dexus has unveiled new designs of its Eagle Street Pier waterfront redevelopment following a change in direction from the original concept.
The original concept design involved the complete closure of Eagle Street to vehicle traffic and a wider riverfront boulevard, however, the idea of the road closure was knocked back by the Brisbane City Council.
Under the proposal, Eagle Street Pier will be renamed to ‘Waterfront Brisbane’ and involves the construction of two commercial towers located where the current Eagle Street Pier restaurant precinct resides as well as new restaurants and a waterfront promenade.
As the site involves areas that are state-owned land, the Queensland Government has given Dexus the green light through the government’s new Investment Facilitation and Partnerships framework.
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The development value is estimated to be in the vicinity of $2.1 billion and would provide around 7,900 square metres of open space, with around 3,900 square metres being around the Eagle Street Pier area.
Eagle Street Pier was originally built for Expo 88 and is the last remaining slice of riverfront land to be redeveloped since the expo over 31 years ago.
Dexus chief investment officer Ross Du Vernet said Waterfront Brisbane was arguably a missed opportunity for the past 30 years.
“The amenity, the public realm, the access to the riverfront is all going to be transformed to create a world-class tourism and leisure destination,” Mr Du Vernet said.
Now that the Queensland Government has given the go-ahead, it is anticipated that Dexus will begin to submit the actual development applications required next year, with construction slated for 2021 and total completion by 2026.
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The Dexus plans are separate from the Brisbane City Council’s draft City Reach Waterfront Master Plan which it unveiled last month, involving the redevelopment of the 1.2 kilometre waterfront stretch of the Brisbane River from Howard Smith Wharves to the new proposed Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge.
The draft Council plan promotes more green space and trees, public art, decorative lighting, highlighting heritage features and increasing the width of the popular promenade.
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Wayyyy too short. Should be well over 200m for prime real estate like that. So sick of developers proposing such short buildings all the time that have very little impact on our skyline and are so inefficient with space. Brisbane city council really should reject this until something taller and more captivating is proposed. Buildings look hideously boring too.
Another monstrosity to destroy the riverfront in Brisbane! What is it with Brisbane designers? The architecture lacks flair, imagination, and the pseudo concern for the ‘environment’ is belied by what is foisted onto the public as you beaut new design. The last km on the riverboat approaching the CBD towards St Lucia says it all: a featureless canyon of shadow-throwing towers that obscure the city, blocking panoramas to and from the Brisbane core. We need to be sending our planners and designers on a trip to such places as Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, London, maybe even Dubai to see what’s possible in urban design and architecture before the wreckage of Brisbane is complete!
Really need to separate pedestrians from cyclist and scooters.
Two more towers with roof top parks. How original – not!!
This is too imposing. Bne needs to learn to set back from the river a bit.
Just creates a canyon.
The promenade is way too narrow, and also there is nothing original about this plan. This is Brisbane’s Circular Quay but really this plan does not do that comparison any justice.
2 very similar mid scale towers with no creativity behind them .
Very plain and ordinary.
Something is better than nothing, but this is the chance for them to do something wow. This is certainly not it.
Have to agree, the proposed building footprints are far to large. The balance of commercial space with public amenity is far out of whack. Open air terraces on the pedestal (leased to private enterprise) do not offset the need for genuine public space along Brisbane CBD’s most important outdoor space.
Another two pickets in the Great Wall of Brisbane, blocking the river from the rest of the city.
Please for the love of god and logic and common sense, give cyclists/scooters a separated path. This is a very busy commuting corridor for ppl travelling to and from work and with the bcc doing nothing to provide safe cycle paths on the roads we r forced to use this and there is nothing worse than trying to dodge tourists and clueless pedestrians.
These towers will ruin the aesthetic feel of this part of Brisbane. It will also cover up the Gold and Blue towers one of Brisbane well known icons. I think this redevelopment should have no towers maybe some parks and five story buildings.
Very poor outcome for such an iconic location. I hope it doesn’t go ahead in its current form and is vastly improved upon.
I prefer the previous plan. Are the towers closer to the river because of the refused closure of Eagle St therefore a smaller area to work with?
How about just one slender tower in the middle, set a bit further back or no tower at all. Otherwise, I basically agree with everyone else ‘s comments. Regards.
Is Dexus kidding? This is horrendous. Should have stuck with plan A. Only one iconic tower is required and far more open public space that integrates with the Brisbane river. These developers need to be held to account and not allowed to build rubbish like this that ruins our city.
I agree with almost every comment here! Dreadful proposal.
No way, this is laughable how tacky is this junk and it’s a prime site. Give us something taller, iconic and better public, river access like option 1. How do we stop this.