As a concept, built to rent is well established internationally but still finding a foothold in Australia, with an estimated 54 projects planned, under construction or completed, the majority of which are in Sydney and Melbourne.
The site sits between St Pauls Terrace and the Valley train station.
After a redesign process sparked by the October government announcement, the Brunswick Street development will now include an additional 11 units — for a total of 323 — 33 fewer car parking spaces and a more than doubling of communal areas.
The tower will include 144 affordable apartments throughout the building with subsidised rent, expected to about 25 per cent, the documents show. Others are aimed at professionals looking for inner-city living. A total of 43 units will be dual-key. All will be owned by the developer.
Communal areas will include a rooftop pool and “landscaped … recreation terrace”, bar and games room, dog off-leash area, along with retail, gym and co-working spaces on the ground floor and elevated podium level.
A “dedicated online app” would also give tenants the ability to book private event spaces and dog walkers, the minor change application documents state. Cosmetic changes including painting walls and hanging pictures will also be “encouraged”.
Extra visitor, motorcycle and bicycle parking will join the site’s 306 car spaces, which will not be allocated to units but able to be added or removed — along with storage options.
Communal areas will include a rooftop pool and landscaped terrace, along with retail, gym and co-working spaces on the ground floor and elevated podium level.
A Frasers Property Australia spokesman said work was expected to begin later in the year, subject to approvals, after responding to the government’s callout in 2018. The first residents are expected to move into the completed units in 2023.
Mirvac is yet to submit an amendment to its 60 Skyring Terrace application. But a spokeswoman said this was scheduled to occur “shortly”, with similar construction and occupation dates.
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A Treasury spokesman would not be drawn on details of the contracts, citing commercial confidentiality, but said both would secure “affordable rental accommodation for eligible applicants through a rent subsidy”.
Of the 750 apartments slated for the two pilot sites, up to 240 will have reduced rent.
Treasurer Cameron Dick announced in January the private sector would be asked to develop the site of the old Queensland Children’s Court at North Quay in the CBD under the expanded program, along with a second additional site on privately owned land in the inner city.
About 34 per cent of privately owned dwellings in Queensland were rented in 2016, census data shows. Of these households, those with rental payments of equal to or more than 30 per cent of their income — considered to be rental stress — made up 12.8 per cent.
Matt Dennien is a reporter with Brisbane Times.
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