{"id":788804,"date":"2026-07-09T08:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788804\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:36:11","slug":"developer-ifm-plans-to-redevelop-brisbanes-wintergarden-shopping-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788804\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer IFM plans to redevelop Brisbane’s Wintergarden shopping centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developers have lodged plans to knock down and rebuild inside the Wintergarden shopping centre in Brisbane’s main street.<\/p>\n

The developer IFM has submitted plans to demolish the “fragmented” interior of the Queen Street Mall shopping centre and replace it with two levels of shops.<\/p>\n

The simpler, two-level layout would create a pedestrian link connecting Elizabeth Street to the Elizabeth Street mall.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The butterfly facade would be removed and replaced with a restored brick facade.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The plans include scrapping the iconic butterfly screen out the front and restoring the old brick facade behind it.<\/p>\n

A new ground level shopfront would be built along Elizabeth Street, under the InterContinental Hotel.<\/p>\n

The hotel lobby would open directly onto the arcade, but the towers would be unchanged.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The InterContinental Hotel, formerly the Hilton, will have a new street-facing exterior.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

In its application to Brisbane City Council, the developer says the site would improve foot traffic to the Brisbane mall.<\/p>\n

“The proposed development provides for the revitalisation of the existing retail under the InterContinental Hotel to reinforce the identity of Queen Street Mall as the premier retail precinct in Brisbane,” IFM said.<\/p>\n

“The proposed scheme will not only enhance the site’s long-term performance but also generate significant economic benefits and revitalise the broader retail precinct as a vibrant mixed-use destination.”<\/p>\n

Retail ghost town\"An<\/p>\n

Wintergarden used to be a popular shopping destination. (612 ABC: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

Retail analyst Catherine Michael said Wintergarden used to be a thriving shopping destination, but foot traffic had slumped significantly over the decades.<\/p>\n

There was an attempt to redevelop the site in 2012; however, Ms Michael said it was still a far cry from its glory days in the 1980s and 90s.<\/p>\n

“Covid came and hit, and it’s never quite regained that vibrancy that they were aiming for,” Ms Michael said.<\/p>\n

“In 1982 when it was developed ahead of the Commonwealth Games it was a really modern and stylish place to go shopping.”<\/p>\n

Ms Michael said she was optimistic that the new, more walkable design would bring customers back to that part of the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developers have lodged plans to knock down and rebuild inside the Wintergarden shopping centre in Brisbane’s main street.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,14005,372060,134,372059,372058],"class_list":["post-788804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-city-council","tag-elizabeth-street","tag-entertainment","tag-ifm","tag-wintergarden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}