The Urban Developer
AdvertiseEventsWebinars
Urbanity
Awards
Sign In
Membership
Latest
Menu
Location
Sector
Category
Content
Type
Newsletters
FINAL CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR URBANITY-25 JOIN MORE THAN 550 ALREADY ATTENDING
LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR URBANITY 550+ ALREADY ATTENDING
REGISTER NOWDETAILS
TheUrbanDeveloper
Follow
About
About Us
Membership
Awards
Events
Webinars
Listings
Resources
Terms & Conditions
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Republishing Guidelines
Editorial Charter
Complaints Handling Policy
Contact
General Enquiries
Advertise
Contribution Enquiry
Project Submission
Membership Enquiry
Newsletter
Stay up to date and with the latest news, projects, deals and features.
Subscribe
OtherDinah Lewis BoucherWed 28 Aug 19

Morris Property To Kick Off Construction on ATO’s New Brisbane Digs

TUD+ MEMBER CONTENT
fc29c020-5dd6-4693-ab35-bfdf3923af11

Morris Property Group will push on with construction of its 27-storey office tower having secured a major leasing deal with the Australian Taxation Office at its 152 Wharf Street site on Brisbane's city fringe.

While rumours have long circulated the ATO secured the entirety of 152 Wharf Street, The Urban Developer can confirm the ATO has agreed to lease the Spring Hill building, which the taxation office says it expects to be ready by 2021.

ATO's announcement comes at the end of legal woes on the Wharf Street site.

This month the courts rejected a planning appeal from a local resident, upholding the city council's development approval originally granted to the developer in April last year.

Morris Property Group's general manager Brodie Lister described the drawn out legal process as “frustrating”.

“But we always had the resolve that it would come through” he told The Urban Developer.

▲ Morris Property Group's plans for 152 Wharf Street Brisbane.


As for the ATO's pre-commitment of the yet-to-be constructed tower, “the ATO will be vacating our office in Chermside and maintaining our offices in Elizabeth Street and Upper Mount Gravatt”, an ATO spokesperson told The Urban Developer.

The Wharf Street office, which will offer 24,000sq m of net lettable area, will house a combination of staff from Chermside, Elizabeth Street and Upper Mount Gravatt offices.

Lister couldn't disclose any details of the leasing deal, other than it was “on a long-term lease” .

“There were no leasing agencies involved in the transaction... We do all our leasing deals direct,” he said.

“[The site has] been a good buy for us.”

When the Canberra-based group secured the Spring Hill block it had a scheme for 197 apartments and 30 storeys.

“But given the lacklustre [performance] of the residential market at the moment, construction prices are rising so hard that residential development is just very tight,” Lister said.

“And so the strength of buying 152 Wharf Street was that it had duality of outcome, it allowed us to choose between markets and remain somewhat footloose between those cycles.”

▲ As one of the worst kept secrets, ATO have confirmed their new office lease of 152 Wharf St Brisbane.


The court’s recent decision also means that the project team will now progress “full-steam ahead” on final design works with commencement on the 1981sq metre site in the coming months.

“The project is a direct response to Brisbane City Council’s planning foresight to accommodate our growing city through initiatives such as the Spring Hill Neighbourhood Plan,” Lister said.

The development project is under Wharf Investment Corporation - an associated entity of Morris Property Group.

The unsuccessful appeal, knocked back this month by the planning and environment court, had been lodged by a local Spring Hill resident.

OtherResidentialOfficeAustraliaBrisbaneReal EstateOther
AUTHOR
Dinah Lewis Boucher
More articles by this author
ADVERTISEMENT
Warren and Mahoney Western Bulldogs Women's Health and Leadership Hub HERO
Exclusive

Beyond the Boys’ Club: Inclusive Architecture Disrupting Sporting Precincts

Leon Della Bosca
Development

Zen Group’s West End Towers Greenlit

Taryn Paris
Court Place in the Subi East precinct is set to deliver 447 new homes, including 300 affordable and 147 social homes in a prime location just four kilometres from the Perth CBD.
Community

Providers Selected for Subi, East Freo Housing Projects

Renee McKeown
Top community housing providers will deliver, own and operate two major housing projects near Perth creating 481 apartme…
LATEST
Warren and Mahoney Western Bulldogs Women's Health and Leadership Hub HERO
Exclusive

Beyond the Boys’ Club: Inclusive Architecture Disrupting Sporting Precincts

Leon Della Bosca
7 Min
Development

Zen Group’s West End Towers Greenlit

Taryn Paris
2 Min
Court Place in the Subi East precinct is set to deliver 447 new homes, including 300 affordable and 147 social homes in a prime location just four kilometres from the Perth CBD.
Community

Providers Selected for Subi, East Freo Housing Projects

Renee McKeown
3 Min
An aerial view of Ipswich, whose suburb Springfield Lakes, had the highest number of house sales for Queensland in Q2, 2025.
Residential

Ipswich Suburb Leads Queensland House Sales

Marisa Wikramanayake
5 Min
View All >
ADVERTISEMENT
Article originally posted at: https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/appeal-dropped-developer-moves-forward-on-152-wharf-street-brisbane
SHARE
29
print
Print
TOP STORIES
Warren and Mahoney Western Bulldogs Women's Health and Leadership Hub HERO
Exclusive

Beyond the Boys’ Club: Inclusive Architecture Disrupting Sporting Precincts

Leon Della Bosca
7 Min
Exclusive

Inside the $10m Heritage Refit of Sydney’s $25,000-a-Year Members’ Club

Taryn Paris
4 Min
Kurraba Point 93 Kurraba Road TUD PLUS
Residential

Council Over Court: How HFO Won Rare North Sydney Approval

Vanessa Croll
7 Min
Exclusive

Why Sentinel is Betting Big on Olympic City Office Sector

Phil Bartsch
5 Min
The Port of Brisbane has released its Vision 2060 which details the need for inland rail connectivity
Infrastructure

Brisbane Port’s $15bn Future Faces One Big Obstacle

Renee McKeown
5 Min
View All >