Rooftop pool a first for Brisbane commercial buildings
A development earmarked as a residential tower is now set to become southeast Queensland’s first commercial building with a rooftop pool, after the developers recognised the challenges of delivering more apartments to Brisbane’s saturated market.
Mobo at the corner of Merivale and Tribune streets in South Brisbane will be a 12-storey subtropical office building with 18,000sq m of net lettable area.
Plans for a rooftop pool intended as the focal point of the residential apartment tower will be retained as a “first of a kind” feature in the commercial development.
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James Kaias of the Kaias family, says being flexible has worked for them before. Their last Brisbane project, Opera, changed from commercial to residential in 2014. “At the time, the commercial market had fallen out and the residential market started going up,” Kaias says. “We sold all 202 apartments.”
He expects the change of use for Mobo to be just as successful, despite the current lull in demand for Brisbane commercial office space. “Like every cycle, things swing back, and we believe demand for high-quality commercial space is going to return in the next 12 to 18 months,” Kaias says.
We’d like to start construction mid to late next year with completion in the second half of 2020
“There are a number of large corporate tenants already located in South Brisbane who are nearing the end of their terms in the next 36 months and will be looking to either re-sign or relocate.
“As Mobo will be one of the area’s newest and most attractive buildings, we are confident we will be able to entice one or two large users to anchor the building.”
Plans lodged with Brisbane City Council show integrated landscaped balconies, high-performance sun-shading, two ground floor cafes and the landscaped rooftop deck and pool.
The use of purple glass on two levels aims to distinguish the podium levels from the rest of the tower, and reflect the jacaranda trees in adjacent Tribune Park.
Kaias says the pool will offer a point of difference from other commercial buildings and increase its appeal to prospective tenants.
As Mobo will be one of the area’s newest and most attractive buildings, we are confident we will be able to entice one or two large users to anchor the building
“If the market’s looking fairly promising, we’d like to start construction mid to late next year with completion in the second half of 2020,” he says. “We may even commence construction without a precommitment to get a jump start on our competition.”
The change of use for the development is becoming a familiar story in cities along the eastern seaboard in response to concerns about the oversupplied apartment market.
Developer Lang Walker has now switched two of his proposed residential developments to commercial office space, in Brisbane and Sydney, and Melbourne-based Jonathan Hallinan has vowed not to pursue commercial projects rather than residential until regulatory “disincentives” are addressed.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
