Overview
Things are looking up in Brisbane, with rooftop bars popping up all around the River City in recent years, plus a new 100-metre-high Sky Deck set to follow. Sydney has the Sydney Tower Eye, Melbourne has its Skydeck and now the Queensland capital will gain its own lofty tourist attraction — complete with a restaurant, bar, glass-floor viewing platform, and 360-degree vantage out over the Brisbane CBD and Brisbane River.
The Brisbane Sky Deck forms part of the city's $3.6-billion Queen's Wharf precinct, a project that's been in the works for at least eight years now. Finally slated to open by the end of 2023, and sprawling between Alice, George, Queen and William streets, the development will be crowned by the sky-high spot to grab a bite, drink and take in stunning views — which'll sit atop everything other dining options, hotels, shops, apartments and a heap of public space.
While part of one of Queen's Wharf's resident resorts — it's set to feature four hotels — Sky Deck will be open to the public. Also, it isn't small, with a capacity of 1500 visitors at a time. Here, folks keen to scale great heights can also host parties, with an events space part of the setup. Brisbanites, your shindigs are looking up as well.
Specific details about Sky Deck's restaurant and bar, including their menus and operators, haven't yet been revealed; however, that glass-bottomed platform will sit around the midway mark of the structure. From the just-released artists impressions of the venue, locals and tourists alike can expect ample greenery and crucial outdoor seating elsewhere, the latter giving everyone plenty of places to stop, sit and take in the panoramic vista.
Expect Brisbane's Sky Deck to be popular, too. The Queensland Government certainly does, with Deputy Premier Steven Miles advising in a statement that "the Sky Deck will be a magnet for the estimated 1.4 million international, interstate and local visitors to the city each year."
As for the rest of the Queen's Wharf Brisbane redevelopment area, it spans across 12 hectares in the CBD, and will include around 50 new bars, cafes and restaurant; a casino; those four aforementioned hotels; approximately 1500 apartments; and a swathe of retailers in a huge new shopping precinct. The full precinct features repurposed heritage buildings, too, plus the Neville Bonner Bridge and Brissie's first riverside bikeway cafe.
For Brisbane inhabitants, Queen's Wharf has been in the making for so long — and the construction around it just seems to be taking forever, too — that it feels like it has always been coming. But "let's meet at Queen's Wharf" is something that'll soon be able to be said, including by visitors.
Ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, the River City is transformation central, including tearing down and rebuilding the Gabba; renewing and reinvigorating South Bank, complete with a treetop walk, a permanent handmade goods market and new riverside lawns; making over Victoria Park; and revamping and expanding Northshore Hamilton.
Also, a new seven-hectare riverside parkland is set to join South Brisbane, QPAC's fifth theatre is under construction and Kangaroo Point is set to score a new green bridge with an overwater bar and restaurant.
Queen's Wharf is slated to start opening in the Brisbane CBD from late 2023. We'll update you when a specific date is announced — and you can find out further details in the interim via the development's website.