Inside the South Brisbane Riverfront Plan Set to Shape the 2032 Olympics

A landmark stretch of the South Brisbane riverfront is about to change for good. Plans have been unveiled to transform the former Parmalat milk factory site on the Kurilpa Peninsula into a five-hectare riverfront precinct of homes, hospitality and an Olympic-ready event stage. Here's everything we know about one of the most significant inner-city development opportunities to hit Brisbane in years.

Render of the Olympic Games Celebrations at Southbank 2.0.

A milk factory makes way for a new riverfront precinct

The South Brisbane site has produced milk since the 1930s, but its industrial chapter is ending. In January 2026, global dairy group Lactalis announced it would close its South Brisbane factory. Developer Stockwell moved quickly to acquire the riverfront site, adding it to its earlier purchase of 108 Montague Road from Lactalis.

Those two adjacent holdings now combine into a single five-hectare masterplan on the Kurilpa Peninsula, one of the last large riverfront landholdings of its kind this close to the Brisbane CBD.

What's actually planned for the Kurilpa Peninsula site

The redevelopment is structured as a three-stage project, with a clear mix of residential and visitor uses:

• Owner-occupied housing for buyers wanting to live on the river's edge

• Build-to-rent apartments, tapping into surging demand for quality inner-city rentals

• A 400-room hotel to anchor the precinct and serve a growing visitor economy

• Hospitality, performance and entertainment spaces woven through the masterplan

The vision, including the released renders, was designed by architecture, urban design and landscape architecture practice Archipelago. Together the components are pitched as a genuine mixed-use destination rather than a single tower drop-in: somewhere to live, stay, eat and gather along the water.

The 2032 Olympics connection

This is the detail that sets the project apart. Stockwell managing director and former Olympian Mark Stockwell has said the former Parmalat site will play a defining role in the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, with plans for a riverfront stage and community spaces.

Early plans even indicate the precinct could host temporary Olympic venues for rock climbing and skateboarding, two of the Games' fastest-growing spectator events. For a riverfront site minutes from the CBD, that's a rare alignment of long-term city-shaping and global-event readiness.

Why this matters for South Brisbane

South Brisbane and the wider Kurilpa Peninsula have been steadily shifting from industrial fringe to one of the city's most sought-after riverfront pockets. A masterplanned precinct of this scale, delivering housing supply, a major hotel and public-facing event space in one move, accelerates that transformation and signals confidence in the area's long-term value.

For buyers, renters, investors and visitors alike, it's a clear marker of where inner Brisbane is heading in the lead-up to 2032.

A historic project for a Brisbane property market starved of supply

Make no mistake: this is a genuinely historic project for Brisbane. A five-hectare riverfront precinct, delivered in stages with a major housing component, is exactly the kind of large-scale supply the city needs. But here's the twist that owner-occupiers and investors should understand before the first apartment is even built: that new supply is likely to be soaked up almost as fast as it lands.

The Brisbane property market in 2026 is defined by one stubborn imbalance: far more people arriving than homes being built. Greater Brisbane's population has pushed past 2.8 million, growing roughly 2 percent in a single year, with Queensland attracting more interstate movers than any other state on top of strong overseas migration. Every one of those new residents needs somewhere to live.

Supply simply isn't keeping pace. South East Queensland's regional plan calls for around 7,500 new attached dwellings a year, yet recent apartment completions have run at a fraction of that. Construction costs, labour shortages and builder insolvencies have throttled the pipeline, and Brisbane's rental vacancy rate has fallen to around 0.6 to 0.8 percent, among the tightest in the country. The result is a structural shortage that has helped drive the city's median dwelling value above $1.1 million and lifted values roughly 80 percent over five years, with units now leading the charge.

Against that backdrop, a project like the Kurilpa Peninsula masterplan is significant precisely because meaningful new supply is so rare. Its mix of owner-occupied housing and build-to-rent apartments adds genuine stock to an undersupplied inner-city market. But with demand running this hot and the 2032 Olympics acting as a long-term tailwind, the smart expectation is that these homes will be absorbed quickly rather than easing the squeeze for long. For buyers and investors watching South Brisbane, that scarcity is the whole story, and projects of this scale don't come along often.

What happens next

A development application has already been lodged for the owner-occupied housing component at 108 Montague Road, the first of the three stages to move forward. As the masterplan progresses through approvals, expect more detail on timelines, the hotel operator and the public realm along the river.

We'll be following this one closely. Subscribe to stay across the latest on South Brisbane's riverfront transformation and what it means for the local market.