Luxury Brands Sign Up to $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf

Brisbane’s appetite for luxury brands will be satisfied after the Destination Brisbane Consortium signed a deal with retail giant DFS.

More than 100 prestigious brands have signed up to join the “shopping haven” at Queen’s Wharf development, including Louis Vuitton. The George St Printery will be transformed into a three-level T Galleria emporium, along with 16 stand-alone stores across 6000 square metres.

“DFS’ approach has always been to create destinations within destinations—we choose locations where our customers want to visit and then create stores of a quality and richness that elevate the local retail offering to a world-class level,” DFS chief executive Benjamin Vuchot said.

“We’re delighted to join Queen’s Wharf Brisbane’s multitude of attractions and look forward to welcoming our global traveling customers to this exciting city in the future.”

The luxury shopping galleria will open in late 2022 as part of a staged development process.

Deputy premier Steven Miles said the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf development would deliver thousands of construction jobs.

“The development will feature 50 bars, cafes and restaurants, a casino, four world-class hotels, up to 2,000 residential apartments, the Sky Deck, moonlight cinema, the Neville Bonner Bridge and now around 6,000m2 of luxury retail floorspace,” Miles said.

Star Entertainment Group chief executive Matt Bekier said the ground-breaking deal would further underpin Queen’s Wharf as Australia’s future international tourism and leisure hotspot.

“The hallmark of a world-class integrated resort is its diversity and quality of offerings,” Bekier said.

“Queen’s Wharf will have a rich collection of attractions – including the DFS luxury retail precinct—to keep locals, interstate and international visitors coming back time and time again.”

YPM group director Bryce O’Connor said the Cottee Parker-designed development had attracted an “unprecedented” level of inquiries and sales. Almost all of the 667 apartments on offer have been snapped up, since going to market in March last year.

Buyers have included young inner-city professionals looking for a new lifestyle destination close to work, as well as downsizers looking to take advantage of all the amenity.