Aria unveils 231-apartment Sanctuary precinct with five laneways

Why it matters

Aria is selling the tower largely before a public launch. The developer says it has sold $519 million of apartments exclusively to its own database through September, led by three- and four-bedroom homes bought by owner-occupiers and downsizers. It said the remaining apartments would be released on 19 October. The sales figure is Aria’s own and has not been independently confirmed; we covered the presales in our earlier report.

For the street, the plan puts the public realm first: vehicle access and services sit at the rear, and the ground level opens to five laneways, twelve retail and dining tenancies and Sanctuary Park, a public urban meadow. Aria’s development director Brent Liddell called it “a rare legacy project” that could not be repeated.

The numbers

Sanctuary Residences is the first of three towers and has 231 apartments over 43 levels, with 2.9 metre ceilings. Aria says the building is all-electric, with rooftop solar and EV-ready car spaces.

Residents’ amenity covers more than 4,600 sqm over seven levels, including a members club on level 5, a double-height wellness club and bathhouse, and a triple-height rooftop club that Aria describes as Australia’s first.

At street level, two heritage buildings are being restored: the 1951 Art Deco Bond’s Sweet Factory, planned as a flagship restaurant, and the former Malouf’s fruit shop, planned as an all-day dining venue. Aria says the precinct uses roughly 240,000 red bricks, a nod to South Brisbane’s brickworks, and about 3,000 sqm of public realm. It reports 13,738 trees and plants and a green plot ratio of about 76 per cent.

What’s next

The release says the precinct will open in stages ahead of the 2032 Games, with tower completion in mid to late 2029. It did not give apartment prices or a timeline for towers two and three.