Wiley Family Sells Off Gabba Holding for $20m

A significant corner block in the heart of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic Games precinct has sold for more than $20 million. 

Brisbane’s Wiley family sold off the site at 42 Logan Road and 7-11 Trafalgar Road after owning it for more than 30 years at a rate of about $6000 per sq m to an offshore investor. 

The family’s R W Wiley Holdings Pty Ltd company, with directors listed as Rodney, Thomas and Suzanne Wiley, had owned the 3419sq m corner allotment close to integrated planning and advisory company Wiley’s headquarters. 

The Logan and Trafalgar site sale set a new record for a site zoned to 20 storeys in the Gabba area, according to JLL marketing agent Harry Borger, who brokered the deal with Tim Jones. 

“We had more than 125 queries from domestic, interstate and international interests, clear recognition of the site’s potential to create a legacy project for Brisbane within a suburb set to undergo significant and lively transformation during the next few years,” Borger said.

“Central to this is its incomparable location, sitting directly adjacent to the Gabba stadium, which will be the epicentre of the Games after a multi-billion-dollar government revamp.

“It is also only a few hundred metres from the Woolloongabba station precinct for the Cross River Rail, which will revolutionise Brisbane’s public transport infrastructure and link through to the CBD.”

▲ Developers are moving into the Woolloongabba precinct ahead of the priority development area coming into effect.

The site was sold to an offshore investor listed as Forest Endeavour JV (Qld) Pty Ltd, whose directors are Bulimba-based Song Poh Sia, and Peter Lin, whose address is in Taipei. 

Announcement of the sale comes hot on the heels of the declaration of the Gabba priority development area by the EDQ last month and the implementation of the interim land use plan. 

Sarazin managing director Darren Dougan told The Urban Developer the PDA was a “step in the right direction”.

“We’re delighted it has finally happened,” he said.

“We still don’t know all the details and it’s going to take 12 months until all that is resolved … there’s a whole heap of things they’re looking at and, from our point of view, we like the fact that there’s going to be additional infrastructure and green space coming into the Gabba.

“But the sooner they come up with a plan, the better for everyone.”

There are a number of significant projects in the pipeline for the suburb, not least of which is the redevelopment of The Gabba and a public plaza leading to the Cross River Rail station, currently under construction.