Harry is Happy about Soleil

"FOR "high-rise" Harry Triguboff, it doesn't get much better than this. Despite the downturn in residential property, especially in once white-hot Brisbane, Mr Triguboff says business has rarely been so brisk.

He explains with more than a hint of satisfaction how the Australian property dream is changing -- trading up, he argues, from the quarter-acre block in the suburbs to an eyrie in the centre of town.

His 74-storey Soleil tower, at 280m, will be Brisbane's tallest building by the time it is completed this year. But its record will stand for only three years, as Mr Triguboff is building an even bigger residential tower on the other side of the Brisbane CBD.

Soleil will be Australia's eighth tallest building when it opens later this year, but there are several within metres of each other. Soleil will be able to house 2000 people, right on the edge of the CBD, while it would take about 500 homes, the equivalent of a small suburb, to house them in detached cottages. The Brisbane inner-city high-rise market, where Mr Triguboff will soon be king, has had two major tower proposals withdrawn in the past few years, with developers unable to get either the finance or the customers. "I think a thing like this should be self-funded, because otherwise you have all these banks worrying and pushing you," he said.

"It's hard to say what the market's like, because you build this building for a few years, so when you start it could be very bad and when you finish it could be a lot better."

Property analysts say that, with the limited number of developments this year, the increasing demand predicted by Mr Triguboff means rental rates for apartments in the inner city are likely to rise."

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With 2000 people in Soleil, I hope Harry has included enough elevators!