Triguboff Eyes December Filing for $1.3bn Twin Tower Plans

Harry Triguboff will lodge plans for a $1.3-billion twin tower in Brisbane by the end of the year—as he continues to stick it to NSW councils.

The country’s biggest apartment developer, Meriton, has already met the Brisbane City Council to discuss plans for the 78 and 69-storey towers it wants to build at 204 Alice Street, Brisbane.

The twin towers would comprise 799 build-to-sell apartments and 254 serviced apartments as well as retail and childcare facilities.

It would replace The Gardens Apartments overlooking the city’s Botanical Gardens, which Triguboff said was “the best site in Brisbane”.

Clayfield-based Mane Property Group sales director James Buckley spoke to The Urban Developer this year about brokering the $140-million deal. 

The deal, which was 2½ years in the making, involved 87 owners across 107 units and required 100 per cent of owners to agree to the sale.

This latest development makes up a fraction of the group’s portfolio, which has amassed 77,000 apartments, units and hotel suites.

However, this development would be 90-year-old Meriton managing director Harry Triguboff’s first project in Brisbane in more than 10 years.

It had been a busy year for the honorary professor, who spent $67.5 million to buy a mid-century tower in Surfers Paradise in May.

▲ Meriton’s newest Surfers Paradise project is located midway between its Iconica and Ocean developments.

Triguboff said the purchase was not just a sign of confidence in Surfers Paradise but also a reflection on how much easier it was to do business on the Gold Coast than in Sydney.

“In Sydney you talk to the city’s town planners and get a ‘take it or leave’ attitude,” Triguboff said.

“That’s not the case on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, where the planners and councils are fair and, if a rule clearly is wrong, they’ll change it.

“In other words, life’s a lot easier for me in Queensland.”

In July, Meriton took the City of Parramatta to court over the developer’s planned 30-storey Epping tower and its parking.

Meriton also made its Canberra debut in August with a 207-room Meriton Suites hotel at Allara Street. 

▲ A render of Canberra’s first Meriton Suites hotel.

While apartment values in Brisbane were far lower than Sydney, the Queensland market had shown strong growth during the past 12 months.

Brisbane apartments increased in value 1.3 per cent in CoreLogic’s November home value index, 3.5 per cent in the quarter and 9.8 per cent in the year to date.

This compared to Sydney units which increased 0.6 per cent in the month, 1.9 per cent in the quarter and 8 per cent in the year to date.