Brookfield Reveals $20m Revamp for Brisbane’s Portside Wharf

Brookfield will splash $20 million on its Brisbane riverfront destination Portside Wharf with a view to luring the local community back to the restaurant and cinema precinct. 

Hamilton’s Northshore has been fast-tracked for development ahead of the area becoming a central focus for the 2032 Olympic Games athletes village. 

The Cavill Architects and Urbis-designed plans are for an extended entry plaza and main street with additional shading and landscaping to support year-round outdoor dining and a refreshed riverfront, according to Brookfiled.

Brookfield Residential Properties managing director Lee Butterworth said the investment would enhance the reputation of the 16-year-old precinct as a dining and lifestyle destination. 

“It is an opportune time to shape a new vision and future for Portside Wharf, one that refocuses on and celebrates the rich history and people of our local community,” Butterworth said.

“The redevelopment will entice new visitors to rediscover our village by the water, while redefining our vibrant neighbourhood locale for the more than 4000 residents now living in the immediate area.

“The changes we are making will amplify our community connections, provide exciting day and night experiences, leverage even further our enviable waterfront location, and create enticing spaces for our customers to relax, unwind and socialise.

“We are actively seeking to expand our tenant mix with new convenience, dining, wellness and boutique offerings that support our vision for this new evolution of Portside Wharf.”

▲ Brookfield Properties will spend $20 million on its 16-year-old Portside Wharf ahead of increased intensity of development over the next 10 years.

Cavill Architcts practice director Andrew D’Occhio said the investment would herald a new era for the precinct. 

“This river location has been essential for centuries, originally as a hunting and gathering ground, then as a regatta location, productive wharf and cruise ship terminal, and combining these histories in this next phase will reassert Portside Wharf as one of Brisbane’s key memorable places to gather and connect with the river,” D’Occhio said.

“We will be opening up Portside Wharf visually and physically from its northern entrance, extending through the heart of the precinct a vibrant main street to connect this area of Hamilton more directly to the water.

“Portside Wharf really led the charge in introducing new residents and retailers to this location and, over time, it has been complemented by a sequence of adjoining public spaces and parkland.

“Portside Wharf’s investment will better connect the precinct to those new spaces and the surrounding Hamilton suburb, making it a comfortable year-round place to visit by foot, with new softened materials, shading and landscaping offering the dual benefit of shaping high-quality places to gather and protection from the elements.”

While the area has been reshaped over the past 15 years with many high-rise residential towers being built, greater development intensity is on the horizon. 

Brisbane-based developer Limitless lodged plans this year for a $140-million apartment development in Hamilton Northshore, the riverside precinct earmarked for the 2032 Olympic Games Athletes’ Village.

The 23-level mixed-use tower would comprise 100 apartments on Hercules Street—a key corner and pedestrian access of Hamilton Northshore one block from the Brisbane River.

The priority development area governing the Hamilton Northshore area has been amended to include an additional 1.2km of waterfront property where the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes village will be located. 

Queensland planning minister Steven Miles approved an amendment to expand the Northshore Hamilton Priority Development Area, about 6km north of the CBD. 

Miles has fast-tracked the project and it can now proceed to the planning stage proper.

The village will be built on land owned by Economic Development Queensland within the Northshore Hamilton PDA, which was declared in 2008.

The development spans more than 300ha, with about 3km of river frontage.

“It’s estimated Northshore Hamilton will have over 14,000 homes and be home to more than 24,000 residents to help meet south-east Queensland’s fast-growing population,” Miles said.