GRAYA has recorded $102 million in sales at The Gallery

Brisbane developer and builder GRAYA has recorded more than $102 million in apartment sales at The Gallery in Hamilton, the majority secured before construction commenced. 

The development is now launching a leasing campaign for its ground-floor retail precinct, which GRAYA will retain and hold long-term as it sets out to reimagine Racecourse Road ahead of the 2032 Games.

GRAYA is seeking dining, hospitality, retail and lifestyle operators for a curated precinct it will own and hold long term. 

Rather than lease and divest, GRAYA will retain the tenancies after completion, bringing the mix together as a single destination and staying invested in how Racecourse Road performs for years after handover.

Racecourse Road is one of Brisbane's established high streets, with a recognised strip, a settled residential community and proximity to the river. 

What it has rarely offered is a single site with the scale to add to the street rather than build above it, which is what took GRAYA several years to assemble.

GRAYA CEO Rob Gray said the sales result and the leasing launch were two halves of the same ambition.

“The sales success tells us people believe in Hamilton’s next chapter,” Rob said.

"Passing $102 million before we had even finished demolition is a serious result.

“But the retail is where The Gallery earns its place on the street. 

"We are looking for operators who see what this precinct can become and want to help shape it. 

"New dining, new operators, an activated ground plane. 

"That is what adds to the fabric of a suburb.

“We are holding the retail because we want to remain accountable for whether it works. 

"This is a long-term commitment to reimagining Racecourse Road, not a launch and walk away."

The Gallery is part of a wider shift for GRAYA from multi-residential into mixed-use and retail, pursued selectively and only in precincts that can carry it. 

On James Street, GRAYA is behind The Pavilion, and is currently building James Place, both purely commercial and retail, alongside The Silo and Silo Lane, a mixed-use addition within the James Street precinct. 

With The Gallery on Racecourse Road, this gives GRAYA a footprint on two of Brisbane's most recognised high streets.

GRAYA development director Shaun Mets, said the tenancy mix at The Gallery was being put together as one offering, not leased piece by piece.

“We are thinking about the whole ground plane at once," Shaun said.

"How dining, hospitality and retail sit alongside each other, how people move between them and how the operators support one another.

“We would rather hold out for operators who share the vision than fill space quickly. 

"Retaining the tenancies lets us do that, and keep shaping the precinct alongside them well beyond completion.”

The precinct sits within The Gallery by GRAYA™, developed and built in-house, where most of the residential sales was secured before construction began.

GRAYA managing director Andrew Gray said the scale that makes the retail possible was the hardest part of the project to secure.

“What was hard was finding enough scale in one place on Racecourse Road," said Andrew.

"Amalgamating this site took time and persistence.

“A smaller footprint would have meant density above the street and nothing given back to it. 

"The scale is what makes a genuine retail precinct possible rather than a token few shops.”

The Gallery was designed with Brisbane practice bureau^proberts.

Director Andy Bell said the scale allowed the building to contribute to the street.

“The question was how the building meets Racecourse Road," said Andy.

"How landscape and public space work, how someone experiences it whether they live there or have come for dinner. 

"The retail and public realm are where the building comes to life at street level.”

GRAYA is now inviting expressions of interest from dining, hospitality, retail and lifestyle operators who want to be part of The Gallery. The residential campaign is led by WHITEFOX Real Estate, while the retail leasing campaign is being led by Handler Property.

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