Toowong Tower Gold Coast Developer’s River City Debut

Another Gold Coast-based developer is making a strategic move up the Pacific Motorway into Brisbane’s inner-city apartment market. John Kearney’s Immerse Projects has filed plans for a 15-storey tower comprising 88 units at Toowong in the city’s inner-west. It is earmarked for a 1760sq m site at 22-24 Sylvan Road, behind the heritage-listed Regatta Hotel built in 1886 fronting the Brisbane River. The proposal follows prolific Gold Coast-based developer Chris Leet’s Sherpa Property Group lodging plans in July for a 28-storey tower comprising 147 apartments at South Brisbane. With an approval now in hand, Sherpa is looking to begin construction in early 2026 with builder LPS Group tapped to deliver the project. For Kearney, the Toowong proposal is also his first project in Brisbane as a developer. But through his construction arm, Greyburn Building Contractors, he is familiar with the River City’s development landscape. “As a contractor we’ve done plenty of work in Brisbane over the past decade but I think the market is right and the timing is right for Immerse Projects to do something in its own right … and with all the contacts and work we’ve done up there it has really set the site up well,” he said. Kearney has fond memories of the Toowong precinct and the Regatta Hotel from his university days while studying civil engineering. ▲ Renderings of the 15-storey tower proposed for 22-24 Sylvan Road, Toowong. “It’s almost smack bang between UQ (University of Queensland) and QUT (Queensland University of Technology) so I’ve got quite a connection with that whole area and I’m a great believer in it. “Hence the reason why we’ve secured the site … and with all the other great developments in the area it’s going from strength to strength.” Subject to approval, construction is slated to begin in the second half of 2026. Under the plans, a mix of 11 one-bedroom, 44 two-bedroom and 33 three-bedroom apartments would occupy 11 levels topping a four-storey podium with ground-floor retail plus a food and drink outlet and upper-level parking for 165 cars. Capping the proposed tower, a communal rooftop spanning 563sq m would provide amenities including outdoor terrace and dining areas, barbecue facilities, sunbeds, sauna, swimming pool, hot and cold plunge pools and residents’ lounge. ▲ A rendering of the rooftop terrace capping the tower proposal at 22-24 Sylvan Road, Toowong. The scheme has been designed by BDA Architecture with a “sculpted form … [that] is driven by desired view lines, protection of privacy and sheltering from the sun but is inspired by the movement of the river, the shade of the trees and the classic subtropical Queenslander vernacular”. It features a terracotta and muted-neutral palette from its inverted podium—designed to promote permeability at ground level—to its crown. Bricks to be used in the base of the building are designed to match the bricks used in the nearby Western Districts Rugby Football Club. Fronting both Sylvan Road and Landsborough Terrace, the proposed development is positioned within walking distance of the Bicentennial Bikeway, Toowong Railway Station and Regatta Ferry Terminal. “The characteristics of the site have been a key driver in the decision to deliver a 15-storey outcome, with the three-frontage configuration, flood constraint necessitating an above-ground podium, and the expansive allotment size all supporting a taller, more efficient built form than the 10-storey outcome in the applicable Acceptable Outcome under the Toowong-Auchenflower Neighbourhood Plan,” a planning report said. Meanwhile, back on the Gold Coast, Kearney’s Immerse Projects has two developments under way—a 14-storey tower with 105 apartments at Coolangatta and an 8-storey building comprising 95 units at Robina.

Residential
Phil Bartsch
Wed 03 Dec 25

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ResidentialPhil BartschWed 03 Dec 25

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Residential
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Wed 03 Dec 25