$800m West Village development in QLD starts first stage of construction

Sekisui House, a major Japanese developer, is starting construction on the first stage of the $800 million West Village mixed-used complex development in Brisbane.

Hutchinson Builders has been engaged for the $100m first stage of two apartment towers on the inner-Brisbane site after receiving funding from Japanese bank SMBC.

30 per cent of the apartment worth $33m have been pre-sold in the 14-story Lexington Building. In the adjacent Park 14-storey tower, 70 per cent of the 137 apartments, worth about $57m have been sold.

The final development will feature 1,250 apartments across seven towers, with repurposed heritage buildings, 13,000sqm of retail space including a full-service 4,500sqm supermarket, two childcare centres, a gym, restaurants, galleries and bars, and public space totalling almost 1ha. A 450-bay public car park is also under construction.

Project director Andrew Thompson said “We are getting a lot of inquiry from the downsizer market. We see that as our opportunity”.

According to Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning Jackie Trad, over 700 submissions were sent in from the community and stakeholders during the proposed call-in period and that majority of the proposals were desiring a better urban design outcome.

The West Village development did not follow the original plans that were submitted as Ms Trad’s approval came with several key conditions including doubling the public green space, decreasing the number of apartments to a maximum of 1,250 and designating 30 percent of the site as 24-hour publicly accessible open space, laneways and arcades.

The local community opposition has dogged the development, despite council approval, and has resulted in taller towers with lower overall site cover.

Construction of the first stage is expected to complete in the last quarter of next year.

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Source: Hutchinson Builders