Aussie-first department store mooted for Queen’s Wharf
Star Entertainment Group has started the search for luxury retailers who will open at the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane, undertaking a roadshow in Asia last month to tap high-end brands to the state.
The casino operator, which won the Queen’s Wharf project on the Brisbane River with partners Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium, has also started testing the waters to bring a department store brand that is not yet in Australia to the project, according to Star’s Queensland managing director Geoff Hogg.
“The Treasury building will be the focus for the retail with higher-end brands also at the integrated resort,” Hogg says.
Star’s Treasury Casino will be refurbished to house the department store, which will link underground to Queen Street and will also focus on local fashion and arts-related retailers.
Work is due to start next year on the development which will have five hotels, 50 restaurants and cafes, including celebrity chef pop-ups, a sky deck, casino, retailing and around 2000 apartments. There will also be plazas and other public open spaces.
A number of large international department stores are yet to open in Australia, including New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue and French brands Galeries Lafayette and Printemps
It will have Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood, Dorsett and two Star-branded hotels with 1100 rooms in all, while Star’s corporate office will also move from Sydney to Brisbane.
The integrated resort is largely due to open in 2022 with the historic Treasury building to be reinvented as a retail centre, opening in late 2024. The apartments will developed after the integrated resort.
The Queen’s Wharf development is expected to include a significant luxury retail component.
“By 2024 the Brisbane CBD will need, and want, to promote local designers and artists and add high-end brands,” Hogg says, noting the synergies with the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art along with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre across the river. A footbridge will link Queen’s Wharf to arts precinct at Southbank.
A number of large international department stores are yet to open in Australia, including New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue and French brands Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.
Star and its adviser JLL held initial talks with major groups based in Hong Kong and Singapore, but will also use the network of its development partners Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium, Hogg says.
The Treasury building will be the focus for the retail with higher-end brands also at the integrated resort
“We have been sowing the seeds with retailers. However, there is no urgency around leases, given the time line,” Hogg says.
JLL associate director Cameron Taudevin says Asian retail houses view Australia as a very strong market for luxury goods and the major fashion houses are looking seriously at opening or expanding their offerings here.
Approvals are being finalised with the state government for Queen’s Wharf, with demolition of buildings on George St and William St to start next year, Hogg says. “By 2019 and 2020 you will see buildings along the riverside coming out of the ground.”
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
