Queen's Wharf: the precinct you are staying in

The Star Grand is one building in a much larger redevelopment of the river edge of the CBD. Half of a good weekend here is walking that precinct — the colonial sandstone, the art, the steps down to the water.

Illustration of an arcaded colonial sandstone building by a river at dusk with a glass tower behind — A heritage street in the precinct, as we imagine it. Illustration, not a photograph of the hotel.

Who is behind it

Queen's Wharf Brisbane is owned by Destination Brisbane Consortium, which its own website describes as a privately owned joint venture between Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium. The resort inside it trades as The Star Brisbane, and the footer of the official site names The Star Entertainment Brisbane Operations Pty Ltd. The owner's page says it now oversees the performance of the resort, which is run by an external operator. The Star's FAQ still describes the consortium as a three-way partnership that included The Star; that is older wording, and we note it rather than settle it.

Work began in 2017. The owner gives the cost of construction as $3.6 billion.

How big is it? Depends who you ask

Figure	Who gives it
More than 12 hectares of CBD land	The owner, Destination Brisbane Consortium
More than 26 hectares across land and water; nearly 10 per cent of the CBD	The owner's construction page
About 10 hectares of state-owned land and about 8 hectares of public open space	Queensland Government, August 2024
The equivalent of 12 football fields of public space	The Star Brisbane

These figures measure different things — land only, land and river, public space only — so they are not really in conflict. What they agree on is that most of the precinct is outdoors and open to anyone.

The heritage buildings

The owner calls the precinct the birthplace of European settlement in Brisbane and a home to Indigenous Australians for thousands of years; The Star acknowledges it as the land of the Turrbal and Jagera people. The Queensland Government counts nine heritage buildings brought back into use. Among those the owner lists:

The Commissariat Store — described as the oldest occupied building in Queensland.
The Mansions, 40 George Street, built in 1889.
Harris Terrace, 68 George Street, built in 1867.
The Printery, in what the owner calls the historic heartland of the precinct.
Queens Gardens, also known as Queens Park, the CBD's foremost historic urban park.
The Land Administration Building, 142 William Street, home of the Treasury Hotel.

The Land Administration Building

Built in 1901 to a design by Thomas Pye, the four-storey sandstone building was meant to show off the state's resources, and almost all of it came from Queensland: Mount Crosby and Enoggera granite at the base, Helidon freestone on the face, and cedar, silky oak and black bean inside. It housed the Premier's office, the Executive Council and the Lands Department, and its top floor was the Queensland National Art Gallery from 1905 to 1930. Today it holds the Treasury Hotel — our journal compares the two hotels.

The Riverline

Below the resort, the owner has rebuilt the river edge. The Brisbane Steps lead down towards the water, a pedestrian boardwalk runs through the mangroves to the Goodwill Bridge, and the Bicentennial Bikeway has been upgraded along more than a kilometre of riverfront. It is the walk we would take on a Friday evening if you arrive before the weekend proper.

Public art

The Star counts ten works across the precinct that you can see on a self-guided walk. The best known is Lindy Lee's Being Swallowed by the Milky Way, an illuminated bronze eight metres high and eight tonnes in weight. Other artists named on the official tour page are Tony Albert, Antony Gormley, Tom Friedman, Samuel Tupou, Wukun Wanambi and Justene Williams. Our journal entry on the Saturday tour explains how to see them with a guide.

Other places to stay in the precinct

The owner's home page lists The Star Grand as the five-star hotel and Dorsett Brisbane as a 4.5-star hotel for business and leisure travellers, with a Rosewood hotel and the restored Treasury Hotel "coming soon". Its stay page also names Avani Living Queen's Wharf Residences, with apartments for short stays. We write only about The Star Grand; the others are useful to know if it is full.

Markets on Thursday

Brisbane City Markets set up at the George Street entry every Thursday from 8 am to 2 pm — fresh produce, street food, flowers. It only matters for a weekend if you arrive a day early, but it is a good reason to.

A green rating

The Star's FAQ says the precinct was the first development in Brisbane to receive a 6-Star Green Star Communities rating. The owner expected the precinct to bring about 1.4 million additional visitors a year, according to the same FAQ.