Queensland property group Stockwell has been revealed as the buyer of South Brisbane’s Parmalat milk site and has put forward a 15 year masterplan that would turn the riverside peninsula into a sport and entertainment precinct for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The buyer of the prime inner city Parmalat site has finally been confirmed. Stockwell has purchased the riverside factory for an undisclosed sum, adding one of South Brisbane’s last large industrial holdings to a growing inner city portfolio.
The plan is ambitious. The Parmalat factory would anchor a master-planned development spread across several Stockwell owned sites on the South Brisbane peninsula, stitching together housing, dining, public space and a Games legacy in one long term vision.
At the centre of it sits the 2032 Olympics. Stockwell would extend and renovate the riverside parkland to create a premier destination for fans during the Games, including an athlete walk of champions along the water.
Stockwell has proposed replicating Paris 2024’s Champions Park, the free festival style celebration where athletes were presented to crowds of around 13,000 people, at the new riverside parkland.
The developer would also lobby Brisbane 2032 organisers to host two urban sports, sport climbing and skateboarding, in a civic square built on the demolished milk site between Montague Road and Hope Street.
The wider precinct is where the masterplan starts to feel like a city in miniature. It would feature a riverside pavilion inspired by a mussel, a public square, and 300 metres of restaurants, bars and music venues tucked underneath the railway line.
The first piece of the puzzle is concrete. A development application for 299 apartments in a 30 level tower, on a vacant Pauls Milk site bordering Montague Road and Boundary Street, would be lodged within weeks. A 400 room hotel is slated for the site at a later stage.
Stockwell is also proposing to turn the Queensland Theatre car park into Kurilpa Square, a public space modelled on New York’s Times Square. Montague Road would be raised and rebuilt as a flood resilient, tree lined high street, while a pedestrian link along Boundary Street would funnel people toward the river.
The proposal also sketches out a “beer mile” that would better connect South Brisbane to Suncorp Stadium, alongside a push for easier access across the Kurilpa Bridge.
Stockwell has compared the development in significance to Howard Smith Wharves and Queen’s Wharf. Mark Stockwell told the Courier Mail the precinct would offer more.
I think it’s comparable to all those places, but it’s got more. It’s so connected. I can meet you at Kurilpa Square and we can go to the beer mile, and then we go to the theatre and then we can go to South Bank, or we can go to Suncorp.
Mark Stockwell, Stockwell
The timing fits the site’s own clock. The Parmalat site, wedged between the Merivale rail bridge and the William Jolly Bridge, would close in September ahead of decommissioning and demolition in February.
Mr Stockwell told the Courier Mail that Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie were supportive of the proposal. Because Stockwell owns the sites, he said the development would not require government funding.
He would, however, advocate for a new CityCat terminal near the Go Between Bridge and better use of the government owned park at Kurilpa Point.
Delivery is the open question. Queensland’s booming construction pipeline is expected to stretch the labour market in the six year lead up to the Games, but Mr Stockwell insisted the project could be built.
You’ve got to build a stadium, and you’ve got to build the National Aquatic Centre and you’ve got to build a village and those sort of things, but big cities can handle it and sophisticated cities can handle it. Net migration of workers from Victoria and New South Wales will continue and I think we’ll get there.
Mark Stockwell, Stockwell
Stockwell, formally W. A. Stockwell, is a family owned Queensland property group that Mark Stockwell has led as managing director since 1994. The company spans residential, retail, commercial, industrial and leisure projects, and is best known in the inner city for pioneering the revitalisation of West End through its Regatta Apartments development in the early 2000s.
Its broader portfolio includes the Noosa Civic shopping centre on the Sunshine Coast, residential and retail towers at Stones Corner, and the Solana Lifestyle Resorts brand. The group’s development pipeline is reported to be worth more than 8 billion dollars and remains invested entirely in Queensland.
Project Rundown
| Development Parameter | Proposed Development |
|---|---|
| Address | Former Parmalat / Pauls Milk site, Montague Road, South Brisbane (first stage bordering Montague Road and Boundary Street) |
| Development Type | Masterplanned mixed use precinct (residential, hotel, retail, dining, entertainment and public space) |
| Masterplan Scope | 15 year plan across several sites proposing 12 residential towers and close to 200 eateries, cafes and entertainment venues |
| First Stage | 299 apartments in a 30 level tower |
| Apartments | 299 in the first stage tower |
| Hotel | Proposed 400 room hotel at a later stage |
| Communal Space | Riverside parkland, athlete walk of champions, civic square, Kurilpa Square public space, 300 metres of restaurants, bars and music venues under the railway line |
| Retail | Close to 200 eateries, cafes and entertainment venues across the masterplan |
| Developer | Stockwell |
| Key Dates | Parmalat site to close September, decommissioning and demolition February, first stage development application due within weeks |
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Absolutely beautiful, Brisbane needs these sorts of projects, I can’t wait
Well done, great inspiring design and great use of the space. I hope this sets the trend of future design language along the river, theres only one chance to get it right.
I love the renders, aspirationally removing yet another bikeway. I don’t know how anyone’s going to get around this city by the time the Olympics arrive. Air taxi, I suppose.
I’m not sold on that tiny wedge of Queensland Theatre carpark becoming a usable “Kurilpa square.” Not unless there’s some road closures (or pedestrians only segments) added as part of the redevelopment.
Otherwise, who’d want to “meet up” at a tiny (half) square that’s surrounded by heavy traffic on two sides? (Note that both Cordelia St AND Montague Rd feed traffic to the Go-Between Bridge: these aren’t quiet side-streets.)
Hopefully the only public cost will be a new City Cat terminal, which makes sense for future proofing such a dense inner city area.