Twin tower project slated for Brisbane’s Chinatown
A unique investment opportunity has arisen to either acquire or take a joint venture position in one of Brisbane’s most prominent residential development sites.
The Fortitude Valley site is located at 188 Wickham St within Brisbane’s Chinatown precinct and has development approval for 324 apartments in a twin-tower project known as the W188 Towers.
The site is being offered to the market either in one line, with the purchaser acquiring the site outright, or investors have the alternative option of taking a joint venture position to develop the site alongside Singaporean-based investment and development company, Heeton Holdings.
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CBRE has been appointed to market the property, which it expects to attract wide-ranging interest from both onshore and offshore developers looking to acquire one of the last large infill sites in Fortitude Valley’s Chinatown precinct.
“The approved scheme offers ultimate flexibility, with the option to deliver the project over two or three stages while targeting the most active buyer profile with a mix of one and two bedroom apartments,” CBRE associate director of capital markets Darren Collins says.
The property was purchased in 2013 by Tim Jones, of Twin Ocean Corporation, with Heeton Holdings and two other parties taking an equity position in the site the following year.
An artist’s impression of the twin tower project in Brisbane’s Chinatown.
The joint venture partnership, which is controlled by Heeton Holdings, also has development approval for a 198-room hotel on the adjoining site, which is not included in the sale.
Collins says Heeton’s decision to sell the 188 Wickham St site followed a change in direction by some of the equity partners.
But he stresses that Heeton is proceeding with the neighbouring hotel project and is also interested in having a strong interest in joint venturing the 188 Wickham St development if the right opportunity arose.
The approved scheme offers ultimate flexibility, with the option to deliver the project over two or three stages
Designed by Australian architects Nettleton Tribe, the existing planning approval for the W188 Towers project provides 28m of frontage to Wickham St, opposite the Chinatown Mall.
The first stage of W188 consists of 187 apartments and the second is comprised of 137 apartments plus 297sqm of prime ground floor retail.
CBRE senior manager of Brisbane metropolitan investments Michael Platsis is confident that the existing planning approval will be one of the key buyer drawcards, providing planning certainty and offering speed to market.
“Whilst the Brisbane high density market is currently in the process of absorbing a substantial amount of supply, this presents a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial Chinatown site in the heart of Fortitude Valley,” he says.
