One of the Brisbane CBD’s most watched development sites has a new owner and a new, more measured vision. Canberra-based DOMA Group has taken control of 30 Albert Street, the cleared “island” holding a block from the City Botanic Gardens, and intends to deliver a 47 storey mixed-use tower anchored by its Little National hotel brand.
The move draws a line under one of the city’s more protracted development sagas. The site had been slated for a 91 storey residential mega-tower, and DOMA’s plan roughly halves that height while re-casting the project around hospitality, wellness and flexible living rather than a single tower of apartments.
The 1,642 square metre parcel sits on its own city block, bounded by streets on all sides, a rare “island” configuration that gives any building on it a genuine four-sided presence. It is adjacent to the City Botanic Gardens, a short walk from the river, the new Kangaroo Point Bridge and the heart of the CBD.
Singapore-listed World Class Land had held the site since 2014, when it paid $35.36 million. Its proposal, a 270.5 metre, 91 storey apartment skyscraper of 857 dwellings designed by Cox Architecture, secured approval but was ultimately shelved, with engineering constraints tied to the adjacent Cross River Rail works making the slender, super-tall form unviable to build.
DOMA acquired the cleared site off-market for $33.55 million through JLL’s Paul Noonan and Jack Sullivan, picking up a development-ready CBD block at close to what its predecessor paid more than a decade earlier.
Where the previous scheme reached for the sky, DOMA’s is deliberately more grounded. The developer is planning a 47 storey mixed-use tower rising above a six storey podium, a form the company says responds more realistically to the site’s engineering conditions and to the market Brisbane is building for ahead of 2032.
The lower levels of the building will house Little National Brisbane, the first Queensland hotel under DOMA’s boutique brand. DOMA describes a hospitality-led base wrapped in resort-style amenity: pools, a gym, yoga spaces and landscaped lounges on the lower levels, with bars, restaurants and conferencing facilities activating the podium and street frontages.
The uses stacked above the hotel are still being worked through. DOMA has flagged that the upper levels are under assessment for a mix that could include build-to-rent, apartments, co-living or purpose-built student accommodation, a flexible brief that lets the final composition track demand as the project moves toward a development application.
For DOMA, the project marks the expansion of a hotel brand that has become one of the group’s signatures. Little National began in Sydney’s CBD, a circa $120 million hotel above Wynyard, and has since grown to Canberra and Newcastle, trading on a “premium essentials” model of compact, design-led rooms paired with generous shared lounges and lobbies.
Bringing that brand to 30 Albert Street gives DOMA a Queensland flagship on one of the CBD’s most visible corners, opposite parkland and within easy reach of the river and the emerging Kangaroo Point connection.
The location is exceptional, adjacent to the Botanic Gardens, a short walk to the river, the Kangaroo Point Bridge and the heart of the CBD.
Jure Domazet, Managing Director, DOMA Group
Domazet pointed to the genuine momentum Brisbane is carrying, with Cross River Rail and the 2032 Games providing long-term tailwinds.
DOMA has signalled it will lodge a development application before the end of 2026, with the tower targeted for completion ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. An architect for the new scheme has not yet been publicly confirmed.
If it proceeds on that timeline, 30 Albert Street would shift from being one of the CBD’s longest-dormant approved sites to an occupied, activated block well before the city’s Olympic moment, a smaller building than once imagined, but a more deliverable one.
Project Rundown
| Project | Little National Brisbane |
| Address | 30 Albert Street, Brisbane City QLD 4000 |
| Developer | DOMA Group |
| Hotel brand | Little National (DOMA) |
| Site area | 1,642 m² (island site) |
| Height | 47 storeys (approx.) |
| Podium | 6 storeys |
| Primary use | Hotel and mixed use |
| Upper levels (under assessment) | Build-to-rent / apartments / co-living / student accommodation |
| Ground plane | Retail, dining, conferencing |
| Amenities | Resort-style pools, gym, yoga spaces, landscaped lounges, bars, restaurants |
| Waste Management | To be confirmed (no development application lodged yet) |
| Architect | To be confirmed |
| Acquisition | $33.55 million, off-market (2026) |
| Selling agents | JLL (Paul Noonan and Jack Sullivan) |
| Previous scheme | 91 storeys / 270.5 m / 857 apartments (World Class Land, Cox Architecture, shelved) |
| DA status | Expected before end of 2026 |
| Target completion | Before the 2032 Brisbane Olympics |
About the developer: DOMA Group
DOMA Group is a Canberra-based developer with a portfolio spanning residential, commercial and hospitality, and is best known nationally for its Little National hotels in Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle. 30 Albert Street represents the group’s debut in Brisbane, announced alongside a first Adelaide project, and its most significant statement yet in the south-east Queensland market as it positions for the run-up to 2032.
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