How the 2023 Brisbane Olympic Changes Are Repositioning the City

The Brisbane 2032 Olympics was always going to reshape the city’s skyline — but as of 2025, it’s the revised strategies, shifting venue locations, and evolving infrastructure rollouts that are creating real, lasting impacts for developers, investors, and commercial property owners.

What started as a centralised vision focused on The Gabba has transitioned into a broader, decentralised Olympic delivery model, opening up new corridors of investment and redistributing demand across multiple precincts. In the process, Brisbane’s urban logic is being rewritten — and those who act early will be best positioned to capitalise.

Why Brisbane’s Olympic planning pivot matters in 2025

Recent planning updates from the Queensland Government have seen a soft pullback from original stadium-centric plans in Woolloongabba and a renewed focus on legacy-first infrastructure, transport integration, and high-value urban renewal in new locations.

These shifts are reshaping the development landscape in ways that directly affect commercial property decisions:

• Focus on cost-effective legacy infrastructure over single-use stadium spend

• Redistribution of investment to areas better aligned with long-term urban growth

• Rising demand in new Olympic-adjacent precincts such as Herston, Northshore Hamilton, and Spring Hill

• Infrastructure staging that links commercial zones with residential, transport, and green space planning

This isn’t just an Olympics — it’s an excuse to rethink Brisbane’s growth for the next 50 years.

Strategic changes in Olympic venue and infrastructure planning

Since the government announced changes to major venue plans, commercial developers have had to rethink where and how to invest. Instead of centring all activity around The Gabba, Olympic investments are now being spread across multiple mixed-use corridors with stronger community integration.

Key venue and planning shifts:

• Victoria Park has replaced The Gabba as the preferred Olympic stadium site

• Bowen Hills and Herston now in focus for surrounding development and transport connectivity

• Northshore Hamilton considered for Olympic warm-up, training, and legacy uses

• Multiple smaller venues for swimming, cycling, and gymnastics now planned for outer suburbs or existing facilities

• Priority transport projects (Cross River Rail, Brisbane Metro) aligned with this new distribution

For commercial investors, this presents new frontiers — and new risk/reward equations — outside the initial Olympic spotlight.

Emerging Olympic-aligned investment corridors

With a distributed Games model comes distributed opportunity. Several new precincts are emerging as hotspots for development thanks to their proximity to revised Olympic plans and infrastructure upgrades.

Key areas now gaining interest:

• Herston and Bowen Hills

  • Located beside Victoria Park and the new proposed stadium

  • Benefits from existing medical precincts and proximity to major rail and bus connections

  • Ideal for commercial health services, residential towers, coworking spaces, and mixed-use assets

• Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley

  • Strong urban identity and demand from SME and service-based tenants

  • Benefits from Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro station upgrades

  • Potential uplift in land values as demand spreads out from the CBD

• Northshore Hamilton

  • Previously focused on innovation and lifestyle — now fast-tracked due to Olympic training and athlete facilities

  • Excellent opportunity for commercial ground-floor activation, logistics, marina services, and mixed-use land releases

  • Close to airport, cruise terminal, and new riverfront lifestyle amenities

• Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct

  • Identified for potential new aquatics and indoor sports centres

  • Early-stage land banking underway, especially in light industrial to commercial transition corridors

  • Close to Newstead and Albion, giving developers access to dual zoning advantages

These corridors are now where smart money is moving — ahead of title, ahead of infrastructure, and ahead of demand.

Infrastructure realignment and property impact

While sporting venues grab the headlines, it’s the transport and utility infrastructure beneath them that creates true commercial value.

Key infrastructure projects now guiding commercial decisions:

• Cross River Rail

  • Anchoring the new Olympic strategy with direct connections to Woolloongabba, Roma Street, and Boggo Road

  • Surrounding precincts now targeted for mid-rise commercial, mixed-use towers, and retail activation

• Brisbane Metro

  • Providing high-frequency access to the southside, inner north, and CBD fringe

  • Will elevate demand for tenancy-ready office and flexible use spaces near stations

• Northern road and pedestrian upgrades

  • Linking Victoria Park, Fortitude Valley, and the inner north

  • Providing the base for walkable mixed-use development outcomes

• Smart transport hubs

  • Emerging interest in Albion, Dutton Park, and Woolloongabba as intermodal transport precincts

  • Ideal for B2B services, trade counters, and medical/education commercial development

These transport-led changes are repositioning Brisbane for a more multi-nodal commercial economy — one that decentralises the core and opens up new opportunities for suburban commercial zones.

What this means for developers and investors

If you’re developing commercial property in Brisbane, here’s what to pay attention to over the next 24 months:

• Early-stage DA and lot consolidation in Herston, Albion, and Fortitude Valley

• Land-use rezoning potential in areas adjacent to confirmed venue or transport upgrades

• Adaptive reuse of outdated industrial sites near training or hospitality precincts

• Vertical strata or co-located models for medical, education, or retail in precinct-linked zones

• Smart precinct marketing aligned with Olympic messaging, investment certainty, and community benefit

Timing is everything. The Olympic spotlight might seem far away, but site planning, marketing, and stakeholder engagement are already shaping what will be delivered — and sold — before 2028.

How we help commercial property clients tap into Olympic momentum

We help position your asset in the context of Brisbane’s Olympic future. Whether you’re selling, leasing, or marketing a precinct-scale opportunity, we support your rollout with:

• Aerial and ground-level 3D renders showing Olympic infrastructure in context

• Visual storytelling that frames your development as legacy-aligned and opportunity-rich

• Full marketing rollout — branding, brochures, agent packs, signage, and digital launch assets

• Early-stage site visualisation for DAs, partner proposals, and investment presentations

• Messaging strategy that integrates Olympic alignment with local community benefit and long-term growth

We don’t just make your project look good — we show the market how it connects to Brisbane’s next decade of growth.

Let’s talk about your Olympic opportunity

Brisbane’s commercial property market is being reshaped. Not just by the Games — but by the policy and infrastructure moves being made today. If you want to capitalise on the Olympic pivot, we can help you visualise, brand, and sell with precision.