Frank Developments has lodged plans for Avela, a 28 storey mixed use tower proposed for a prominent gateway corner at 60 Kingsford Smith Drive in Albion. The building would rise on an amalgamated riverfront site next to the Breakfast Creek Hotel, delivering 166 apartments above a publicly accessible podium of retail, hospitality and recreation.
The site sits at one of the busiest thresholds in inner Brisbane, where Kingsford Smith Drive meets Amy Street and the Breakfast Creek Road bridge funnels traffic between the CBD and the airport. It is a corner most locals have passed hundreds of times without a second look.
Frank Developments assembled the 2,433 square metre parcel from three separate holdings, combining the former office at 60 Kingsford Smith Drive with two smaller lots at 9 and 11 Amy Street. The result is a rare corner site with three street frontages and long views over the river.
Under the Albion neighbourhood plan the land carries an acceptable height of just 10 storeys. Avela seeks close to three times that through a performance based approach, and the planning case leans heavily on the site’s gateway role and the wave of taller approvals already reshaping the Newstead, Albion and Hamilton corridor.
Those neighbours set the tone. The approved Breakfast Creek Quarter across the water reaches 28 storeys, Alba at 92 Kingsford Smith Drive is approved at 19 storeys, and 11 Sandgate Road beside the pub is approved at 17. Further along, the corridor already carries approvals as tall as 33 storeys.
Rather than a single slab, the building would break into three tower elements of different heights. The tallest anchors the corner at 28 storeys, then the form steps down to 19 storeys to the east and 17 storeys to the north, easing the transition to the lower scale homes behind. At its peak the tallest tower would reach a rooftop level of around RL 99.8, close to 98 metres above the street.
According to the architect Kennon, the design is conceived as a piece of arrival architecture, a sculptural marker that announces the edge of the city for anyone crossing Breakfast Creek.
The building will rise as a sculptural landmark, a defining piece of architecture that signals arrival into Brisbane.
Kennon, Avela Design Report
The podium takes its cues from the low, horizontal work of architect John Lautner, with sweeping curved edges and planting woven through the terraces to soften the building at street level. Above it, Kennon describes the towers as drawing on Constantin Brancusi’s Endless Column, a stack of faceted modules that lend the form a vertical rhythm and a slender profile from a distance.
That faceting is not only for effect. The staggered setbacks and projecting balconies break the mass into three slimmer forms, while landscaped spines run from the podium to the rooftops to carry greenery up the building.
The apartment mix is weighted toward larger homes. Of the 166 apartments, 105 are two bedroom, 16 are two bedroom with a multipurpose room and 44 are three bedroom. A single four bedroom penthouse would crown the tallest section of the tower with its own private rooftop garden on Level 26.
Kennon has leaned into Brisbane’s subtropical playbook, applying the council’s eight Buildings that Breathe principles. Circulation is single loaded so air can move through each apartment, and the lobbies and corridors are open to the outside rather than sealed and mechanically cooled.
The amenity offer is unusually generous. Three full levels are given over to communal recreation, totalling 1,945 square metres, or the equivalent of 80 per cent of the site area.
Level 1 reads more like a wellness club than an apartment lobby, with a gym, yoga room, sauna, spa, cold plunge, hydrotherapy pool, therapy rooms and a resident co-working space. It also holds a 437 square metre indoor pickleball court that would be open to the public as well as residents.
Higher up, north facing rooftop terraces on Levels 16 and 18 would each carry a swimming pool, a pool lounge and outdoor seating, wrapped in soft landscaping and feature trees.
At the ground plane, the podium turns outward to Amy Street with a 290 square metre retail tenancy pitched as a boutique grocer and a 74 square metre cafe. Kennon frames the grocer as a village corner store, a small piece of everyday social infrastructure for the surrounding streets.
Vehicles would enter from a single consolidated crossover on Amy Street, replacing the four crossovers scattered across the three existing lots. Parking is tucked into a ground level bay and four basement levels, providing 252 spaces split 226 for residents and 26 for visitors.
Movement by bike and on foot is clearly the priority. The plans include 108 bicycle spaces, new 1.8 metre footpaths to every frontage, and direct proximity to the Lores Bonney Riverwalk, the Yowoggera Green Bridge and the future Golden Glider bus service along Kingsford Smith Drive.
Inside the towers, circulation relies on a compact central core. The architectural plans show four lifts, three serving the main residential core, one of which doubles as a loading lift, plus a separate lift to the northern lobby. That works out to roughly one lift for every 42 apartments.
There is a little history in the ground here too. The 60 Kingsford Smith Drive parcel spent years on the environmental register as a former service station and, more recently, served as the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission’s offices. The proposal would clear that low rise past for a landmark that trades on the same river views.
Project Rundown
| Development Parameter | Proposed Development |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Avela |
| Address | 60 Kingsford Smith Drive and 9 to 11 Amy Street, Albion QLD 4010 |
| Development Type | Mixed use: residential, retail, food and drink and indoor sport and recreation |
| Site Area | Approximately 2,433 m² across three amalgamated lots |
| Gross Floor Area | Approximately 31,280 m² |
| Height | Three tower elements of 28, 19 and 17 storeys (tallest rooftop RL 99.8, approximately 98 metres above ground) |
| Apartments | x166 total: x105 – 2 Bed, x16 – 2 Bed + MPR, x44 – 3 Bed, x1 – 4 Bed penthouse |
| Other Uses | 290 m² retail (boutique grocer), 74 m² café and a 437 m² indoor pickleball court on Level 1, also open to the public |
| Communal Open Space | Approximately 1,945 m² (734 m² outdoor, 1,211 m² indoor) across Levels 1, 16 and 18 |
| Elevators | 4 lifts (three serving the main residential core, including a combined passenger and loading lift, plus a secondary northern lift); ratio of approximately 1:42 |
| Car Parking | Approximately 252 car spaces (226 resident, 26 visitor), 4 motorcycle spaces and 108 bicycle spaces |
| Developer | Frank Developments (applicant 60 KSD Pty Ltd ATF 60 KSD Property Trust) |
| Architect | Kennon |
| Town Planner | Town Planning Alliance |
| Landscape Design | Urbis |
| Date Submitted | 29 June 2026 |
| Assessment Level | Impact assessable |
| DA Application Link | A007058743 |
| Sustainability | Energy Efficiency: The design would apply passive measures across the eight Buildings that Breathe principles, including building orientation, solar responsive shading and deep western eaves that reduce reliance on mechanical cooling. Water Recycling: This feature is not specified or detailed within the text of the report. Water Conservation: This feature is not specified or detailed within the text of the report. Landscaping / Deep Soil: The proposal would provide 2,571 m² of deep planting, podium planters and landscaped areas, equal to 106 per cent of the site area, including 343 m² of deep planting at ground level. Active Transport (End-of-Trip): 108 bicycle spaces would be provided, alongside new 1.8 m footpaths to all frontages and direct access to the Lores Bonney Riverwalk, the Yowoggera Green Bridge and the future Golden Glider bus service. EV Charging: Provision for electric vehicle charging is indicated by a dedicated EV board within the basement car park. Recycling: The Waste Management Plan confirms that residents will be able to dispose of both general waste and recycling via a waste hopper on each residential level, with a ground-floor diverter automatically separating recycling from general waste, eliminating the need to carry recycling to the bin room. Green Roof: Three rooftop garden levels at Levels 16, 18 and 26 would carry soft landscaping and feature tree planting. Cross Ventilation: Single loaded circulation would allow natural air to pass through each apartment, with open air lobbies and corridors. |
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Avela is being advanced by Frank Developments through the entity 60 KSD Pty Ltd as trustee for the 60 KSD Property Trust. The developer has been quietly building a position along this stretch of the river. Sources reported that Frank Developments paid $16.5 million for the 60 Kingsford Smith Drive site in early 2026, having earlier acquired the neighbouring 92 Kingsford Smith Drive, now the approved Alba tower, in 2025. Those adjoining purchases have given the group a growing footprint in what agents describe as a boutique riverfront pocket between the Breakfast Creek Hotel and the Hamilton border. Avela would be its most prominent statement in the precinct to date.
Looks incredible – this area needs something like this
wow! Stunning design
28 stories when the neighbourhood plan is only 10? That is excessive