Urbis said the proposal would protect and maintain the view of Shafston House from New Farm and the Brisbane River.

“The future ownership structure of the proposed residential estate provides the opportunity to retain and restore Shafston House and its grounds, as well as the wards, nurses and postal depot buildings by sharing the ‘maintenance’ expenditure between all owners of the domain, and thus reducing costs. maintenance load,” Urbis said.

Designed by Kerry Hill Architects, the tower would house 51 homes – 48 units, two river houses and one guest house, up from 37 units and two river houses.

The proposal also included a six-berth private marina.

Site coverage on this famous open space would also increase from 27 to 32.5 percent, including heritage-listed buildings on the site. There would be 102 car parks (including six for visitors) and 70 bicycle spaces (including 14 for visitors) on site.

But the proposal would likely encounter opposition. Several arguments have been made to council against the smaller 15-storey projects.

“We believe the government and council have an obligation to the people of Queensland to ensure that nothing modern is ever built on this heritage site and that this treasure of the Brisbane River is preserved,” wrote an anonymous author.

“Accordingly, this property and its grounds must be preserved “as is” for current and future generations.

“We believe 99 per cent of Brisbane residents and visitors would feel the same if they knew this is a protected heritage site and the developer is planning to evict
one of two remaining historically significant houses on the Brisbane River.

Another proposal called for more radical intervention.

“I would support BCC and/or the state government buying out this entire property and putting it back into public hands,” they said.

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