After years of false starts, Brisbane’s tallest skyscraper finally looks set to get off the ground.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 90 storey Vision Tower, planned for construction between 111 Mary Street and 222 Margaret Street in Brisbane's CBD, will be the third highest building in Australia, if a development application lodged with Brisbane City Council last week is approved.
The 274 metre structure will fall behind only Melbourne’s Eureka Tower and Q1 on the Gold Coast in height.
The $1 billion dollar development proposal from AMP Capital and Sydney-based property group Billbergia includes both the main tower and a second, smaller high rise in Mary Street, which is planned to house a five star hotel.
The larger of the two towers will be exclusively one, two and three bedroom residences, bolstering CBD apartment numbers by 1100.
In a statement, AMP Capital said construction of the first stage of the site, an eight-level, 900-bay, car park in Margaret Street was nearing completion.
Brisbane City Council approved the initial development application for the site made in 2011, which remains valid.
The fresh application, which an AMP Capital spokesperson said was concurrent with the 2011 application, was lodged following the commencement of the new Brisbane City Plan, which came into effect on July 1.
The new application moves the five star hotel from the larger Margaret Street tower to the smaller, Mary Street tower, replacing what would have been an office building.
It also provides for the larger tower to be an apartment-only structure.
Offices remain a possibility for the Mary Street tower, the spokesperson said.
If as expected the council gives the project the green light, AMP Capital says the residential project will be officially launched later this year.
Construction is expected to take five years.
The Vision Tower, initially proposed to be 80 storeys high, has long been planned for the site but a seven storey hole in the ground was left by the initial developer, Austcorp, which was felled by 2008’s global financial crisis.
John Kinsella's Billbergia Group then bought the site for a reported $40 million.
The Vision Tower will easily eclipse its nearest CBD skyscraper rivals upon completion.
Infinity residential towers in Herschel Street is presently the city’s tallest highrise, at 249 metres.
It is closely followed by the 236 metre Solel building in Adelaide Street.
Billionaire developer Harry Triguboff was behind both structures.
