Luxury retailers wait for Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf
High-end retailers are postponing their foray into Brisbane until the luxury Queen’s Wharf project is completed in the next decade.
The Australian has confirmed Vans Cleef and Arpels, Valentino and Caroline Herrera are among those interested in the Brisbane market, but are prepared to wait for the $3 billion integrated resort development.
Queen’s Wharf is expected to open between 2022 and 2024, shifting the shopping and entertainment focus of Brisbane’s CBD away from the Queen Street Mall precinct.
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The Star Entertainment-led development is already helping to drive down rents of existing global high-end retailers by landlords eager to ensure they remain in Edward St.
Colliers International director of retail leasing Sam Degn says at least one new retailer has had its annual rent slashed from $6500 a square metre to $5000.
The Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane’s CBD.
It follows a new deal struck by Hugo Boss for $5000 a square metre, plus a generous incentive.
“Landlords in Edward St will likely need to reduce their rent or offer very good incentives to keep high-end retailers from moving to Queen’s Wharf,” Degn says. “There is also the threat that the opening of Queen’s Wharf may redirect tourist foot traffic from Queen Street Mall to the new development.”
She says it is unclear whether Brisbane can sustain two luxury streets and two of the same stores just a few blocks apart.
“Retailers like Van Cleef and Arpels, Valentino and Caroline Herrera will come here to cater for the tourist only,” Degn says.
“They don’t see much of a market in Brisbane itself, but as the tourists pick up and come to Queens Wharf and the casino, then it becomes much more appealing.”
But National Retailers Association chief executive Dominique Lamb says Brisbane shoppers are becoming more sophisticated.
The Queen’s Wharf development is expected to include a significant luxury retail component.
“Especially with the millennials we’re seeing demand grow for those one-off purchases and a very personalised shopping experience,” Lamb says.
“The Brisbane retail market is diverse and growing and there is demand at all levels.”
A Star Entertainment spokeswoman says Queen’s Wharf Brisbane is designed to “complement not compete with existing retail”.
“We are working to attract new brands to our city that have never been available in Brisbane or Queensland,” the spokeswoman says. “We are also working to help fill the gap of experiential and artisanal retail in the CBD.”
She says Brisbane currently has the lowest retail floorspace provision of the capital cities.
“The continued refresh of the Queen Street Mall, the creation of a luxury retail precinct in Edward St, the new 300 George St precinct currently under construction plus the new retail spaces at Queen’s Wharf Brisbane will all combine to help meet our growing population and inbound visitor numbers,” the spokeswoman says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
