Brisbane 2032 boom: 641-apartment development site hits the market

A major Fortitude Valley development site with approval for 641 apartments has hit the market as investment and development activity builds around Brisbane’s future 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games precinct.

Terrace Office Park at 527 Gregory Terrace sits on a 7,003sqm site on the corner of Gregory Terrace and Brunswick Street, directly opposite the Brisbane Showgrounds and within the Bowen Hills Priority Development Area.

The property currently operates as an income-producing commercial office complex, but its longer-term development potential could make it one of the more closely watched sites to come to market around Brisbane’s emerging Games precinct.

An existing Queensland Government development approval allows for 641 dwellings across a twin-tower mixed-use development.

The approved proposal provides for a 30-storey first tower and a 25-storey second tower, along with retail and other mixed uses.

The approval remains current following an extension and further change approved by Economic Development Queensland in February 2025.

More than an office investment

The property is being taken to market through an expressions of interest campaign by Colliers Queensland.

While the existing offices provide a holding-income proposition, the site's scale and planning status create a significantly different opportunity for a buyer prepared to take a longer-term view of the surrounding precinct.

That is becoming increasingly relevant as Brisbane moves from Olympic planning into infrastructure delivery.

The Queensland Government's 2032 plan places a significant concentration of Games infrastructure through Victoria Park, Spring Hill and Bowen Hills.

The Brisbane Showgrounds is set to undergo a major transformation, including an upgraded Main Arena and the Brisbane Athletes Village.

The State Government has also confirmed a new Brisbane Stadium at Victoria Park and a National Aquatic Centre at Spring Hill, creating a broader sporting and infrastructure precinct extending through Brisbane's inner north.

For developers, that means sites already carrying substantial residential approvals within the surrounding area are likely to attract attention well before the Games begin.

Approval for 641 apartments

The planning history of 527 Gregory Terrace stretches back more than a decade.

An earlier development application provided for 521 dwellings, before the site was subsequently redesigned and expanded.

Queensland Government planning records show the later approval provides for 641 dwellings as part of a mixed-use development incorporating residential, business, food premises, office, retail and other uses.

Planning documents for the revised scheme show the two residential towers maintaining much of the footprint of an earlier proposal, with the 641 apartments distributed across buildings reaching 30 and 25 storeys.

The concept also includes publicly accessible areas at ground level, landscaping and retail uses designed to activate the Brunswick Street frontage.

The site's location within a Priority Development Area provides another layer to the opportunity, with the Bowen Hills precinct intended to support higher-density residential and mixed-use development close to transport, employment and entertainment.

The Olympics are becoming a property story

Six years out from Brisbane 2032, the Games are increasingly becoming more than a sporting or infrastructure story for the property industry.

Major venue decisions are now establishing where billions of dollars in public and private investment will be concentrated.

The Queensland Government's current Games plan includes the Brisbane Stadium at Victoria Park, the National Aquatic Centre at Spring Hill and the transformation of the RNA Showgrounds, including the Athletes Village.

The Brisbane Showgrounds has indicated construction of its Main Arena upgrade is planned to commence following the 2026 Ekka, while construction of the Athletes Village is expected to begin in early 2027.

The village is planned to house about 10,000 Olympic athletes during the Games before forming part of the precinct's post-Games legacy.

That investment is likely to have consequences well beyond the venues themselves.

Surrounding development sites, commercial properties, residential projects and transport-connected locations will increasingly be assessed against what Brisbane's inner north could look like after billions of dollars of infrastructure has been delivered.

What the industry should watch

For agents and developers, the sale of 527 Gregory Terrace provides an early example of how existing property opportunities are beginning to be repositioned around the 2032 transformation.

The site already has three characteristics developers usually spend considerable time attempting to assemble: scale, an existing income stream and a substantial residential approval.

Its fourth advantage is now location.

As work across the Games precinct accelerates, Brisbane's Olympic story will increasingly become a real estate story as well.

The eventual buyer, sale price and plans for the site will provide another indication of how much value developers are beginning to place on being positioned inside that transformation.