Retail will return to the old Toombul shopping centre site through a new masterplan designed to resurrect the flood-ravaged site as a major community destination.
Brisbane-based Irvine Group has lodged plans with Brisbane City Council for the 10-hectare site, combining a central retail centre with residential development, dining and entertainment, parkland and new pedestrian and cycling connections.
Despite the broader mix of uses, the developer says retail will remain at the heart of the new Toombul.
The proposed retail core will offer fresh food, daily services, specialty retail and essential shopping, supported by restaurants, community spaces and other local experiences.
No individual retailers have yet been confirmed, but Irvine says it is aware of community interest in seeing businesses similar to those at the former centre return.
The former Toombul shopping centre closed following severe flooding in February 2022 and was subsequently demolished. Irvine acquired the site from former owner Mirvac in 2025.
The application lodged with Brisbane City Council on October 6 seeks preliminary approval for the overall masterplan, with detailed designs for individual parts of the development to come later.
Planning consultant Urbis has said the plan establishes the overall structure needed to coordinate the redevelopment, including development areas, the retail core, public open spaces, transport infrastructure, pedestrian and cycling connections and the site’s response to flooding.
Detailed building layouts, uses and staging will be refined through future development applications.
The 97,776sqm site will be anchored by the central shopping precinct, with residential development concentrated around its edges.
Three residential sites are proposed along Grace Street, with another two in an “Eastern Hub” fronting Masefield and Widdop streets. A further gateway development site is identified near the corner of Sandgate Road and Kedron Brook.
Building heights could reach 12 storeys along the Sandgate Road frontage, stepping down to eight storeys towards Widdop Street and the neighbouring residential areas.
The masterplan also envisages substantial new public space, including central parkland, a community green and an urban common plaza within the retail precinct.
A pedestrian and cycling spine would connect Toombul railway station through the site to the existing Kedron Brook bikeway and pedestrian bridge, while the existing Toombul bus interchange on Sandgate Road would be retained.
Flooding shapes new Toombul
Flood resilience is a central element of the masterplan following the events that forced the former centre to close.
Irvine says it has undertaken detailed flood studies since acquiring Toombul, with the results shaping the design of the redevelopment.
The development area would sit on a raised platform that steps down through landscaped areas to lower parkland along the southern boundary.
Those lower parks and open spaces would serve two purposes — providing recreational and green space during normal conditions while helping safely manage and store water during major flood events.
Irvine says its flood assessment found the proposed redevelopment would not worsen flooding for surrounding properties, Council land or infrastructure.
The approach effectively integrates flood management into the landscape rather than treating it solely as an engineering issue.
A staged return
The redevelopment is expected to be a multi-year project delivered progressively, with the current application only the first planning step.
Irvine says the masterplan is intended to provide certainty around the essential elements of the redevelopment while retaining flexibility to respond to changing community and market needs as individual stages are designed.
