Vision Suspended

"PLANS for Brisbane's tallest tower appear to be crumbling with builders told yesterday the contract for works on the Vision tower had been suspended. Builder Grocon told workers at the Mary St site yesterday that the main works contract had been suspended by the developer, Austcorp. Last week an Austcorp spokes-man said the $950 million, 287m Vision was a live project and it would be Built. Austcorp head Trevor Chappell was overseas yesterday and un-able to be contacted to confirm the suspension" Source: Courier Mail.

Doubtful Vision

"The developer behind the $900 million Vision Tower skyscraper on Mary Street is confident construction will proceed, despite the global credit crisis and economic uncertainty. Austcorp's ambitious 79-storey building will be the tallest in Brisbane when complete and is tipped to become an icon of the city's burgeoning growth. However, doubt has been raised over the likelihood of construction, following last week's collapse of the high-profile Empire Square development on Elizabeth Street that was sparked by the worsening world economic climate.

Industry sources told brisbanetimes.com.au a contingency plan had been devised if finance, which had been arranged but not officially confirmed, was to fall through.

Excavation of the building's basement-level car park is underway, but that could be as far as Vision gets if the credit crisis prohibits Austcorp's financial backing. The developer could sit on the site and operate it as a public car park until things improved, one source said.

However, Austcorp spokesman Terry Lee rejected the suggestion that Vision was in doubt, and said plans remained very much on track. "We have funding commitments (and) we are still working with the banks to finalise that documentation ... it will take time for us to do that," Mr Lee said.

"This is a normal process that all development projects go through."

Mr Lee acknowledged the turmoil in the global market, but would not be drawn on whether it posed a risk to the development.

"I know there are various rumours circulating in the market, there has always been talk about Vision one way or the other," he said. "We are progressing as we planned ... I don't want to be drawn on market speculation."

He would not comment on the possibility Vision would be delayed by the on-going credit crisis.

Austcorp had secured more than $12 million in apartment sales in the last quarter, which meant about 70 per cent of residences were now pre-sold with unconditional contracts. "Total apartment sales amount to $260 million ... Vision will ride out the current market turmoil to become Brisbane's landmark building when delivered in three to four years' time."

See Brisbane Times

Vision or not?

See this AFR story, which says that Vision does not have finance and no construction contract has been signed. Trilogy sounds more optimistic. It reports that 74 out of 192 hotel apartments have been sold. The Westin Empire Square -- hard to tell what is actually happening -- sales are good, but no finance yet.

Brisbane Building Heights

Trilogy (proposed) - 265 m
Vision (proposed) - 259 m
Empire Square (proposed) - 250 m
French Quarter (proposed) - 230 m ??
Aurora - 207 m
Riparian Plaza - 200 m
Skyline - 150 m
Waterfront Place - 162 m
M on Mary - 145 m
Charlotte Towers - 138 m
Festival Towers - 135 m
Felix - 131 m
Admiralty Towers Two - 126 m
Casino Towers - 120 m

Brisbane Project Sales - First Quarter 2008

Not including M on Mary (for which no data is easily available), there were only six new apartment projects selling in the January to March 08 quarter. These were Aurora, Evolution, Pinnacle, Skyline, The Macrossan and Vision. (Empire Square and Trilogy Tower were taking expressions of interest, but no contracts were issued or signed in this quarter.)

Of these six buildings, there were only 20 reported sales in the first quarter 2008.

Aurora - 2 sold, none remaining for sale
Evolution - 3 sold, 23 available for sale
Pinnacle - 1 sold, 12 available for sale
Skyline - 2 sold, 16 available for sale
The Macrossan - 1 sold, 13 available for sale
Vision - 11 sold, more than 100 available for sale
Empire Square - about 100 available for sale
Trilogy - 192 hotel rooms and 109 Skyhomes available for sale

Totals - 20 sold, about 592 available for sale.

By way of reference, there are just under 7000 completed apartments in the Brisbane CBD. In 2007, there were 1229 apartment sales in the Brisbane CBD.

Vision

"Vision has captured the imagination of Brisbane and has proved enormously popular with sales now at $250 million, with 70% of apartments already sold," Mr Chappell said.

"The pre-sales of apartments and the recent commercial sale shows the strength of the Brisbane market and confirms an enthusiastic acceptance of the project among future residents and investors."

See: http://blueprint.austcorp.com.au/edition-07/vision.html

Brisbane Videos

These interesting videos show future developments for Brisbane. So take care when buying -- some existing buildings will loose their views; and there will be a huge influx of apartments into Brisbane in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmGWIbOYZmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l687g1Ub5qM&feature=related

Trilogy Tower

Wickham Terrace & Turbot Street (Central Station)

Vision

Tennyson Reach

NorthBridge (office development, which will block some views from Evolution)

Brisbane Now, from PleaseTakeMeTo.com