The Roma Street Transit Centre was built in 1986 and incorporates a mix of uses including 2 commercial towers, a hotel, retail over several levels, commercial car park and a long distance bus terminal connecting Brisbane to the rest of Australia.

DMA Partners was commissioned in 2013 by the joint owners APPFC (a Lend Lease managed fund) and GPT to work with the client and the asset manager to conceive a development strategy for the redevelopment of the aging asset.  Buchan architects and a team of design and planning consultants were also appointed to work on the project.  Collectively we developed a strategy that would add significant income and capital value to the asset and the project planning was well underway to support that strategy throughout 2014.

In late 2014 the Qld government announced its intention to force a compulsory acquisition of the asset to secure the site for an underground station for the proposed BaT (Bus and Train) Tunnel.  This provided a new challenge for the team who then worked together to support the owners to understand the impact and opportunities that this presented.

In 2016 GPT sold it’s ownership of the asset to APPFC.  Given the growth in the Brisbane market and the plan for the (now) Cross River Rail project to connect a large part of the cite, APPFC could see the opportunity to redevelop the site after all existing buildings were demolished to build the new infrastructure.  In 2017 DMA was instructed to commence working on a new development strategy with a new team that was led by DMA Partners reporting to the client’s representatives.  The Cross River Rail continues to evolve with a close interaction with the proposed Brisbane Live project.  This project continues.

Project partners: GPT, Lendlease, Buchan, RLB, Blight Rayner, JLL, Herbert Smith Freehills, Colliers