ApartmentsChris ThomsonWed 01 Jul 26
DOMA Group Takes Covers Off Debut Projects for Brisbane, Adelaide
Canberra-based developer DOMA Group has chosen a site near Brisbane’s botanic gardens and another near Adelaide’s central parklands to launch forays into the Queensland and South Australian markets.
In a statement, DOMA said it would file a development application before the end of 2026 for its 47-storey Little National hotel, planned for 30 Albert Street in the River City.
“Resort-style pools, a gym, yoga spaces and landscaped lounges [would] occupy the lower level, while bars, restaurants and conferencing facilities [would] sit above,” DOMA said.
The hotel would be DOMA’s first project in Brisbane and the company anticipates the project will be complete ahead of the 2032 Olympics.
The Albert Street site is half a block away from Brisbane’s City Botanic Gardens and the project would have a six-storey podium.
It was acquired in 2014 by Singapore-listed developer World Class Land for about $35.36 million, with plans at the time for a 91-storey residential mega-tower on the island site between the Botanic Gardens and the CBD core.
That proposal did not proceed and was later shelved amid design and engineering constraints linked to surrounding major infrastructure works, including the Cross River Rail.
The site subsequently remained inactive for an extended period as Brisbane’s apartment cycle shifted, with higher construction costs, tighter finance conditions and weaker pre-sales weighing on feasibility for large CBD projects.
Doma Group reportedly acquired the site in an off-market transaction for about $335 million.
Meanwhile, DOMA has chosen a former Holden dealership site 100m to the west of Adelaide’s nationally heritage-listed parklands for its first residential building (pictured at top) in South Australia.
For a 2360sq m site at 215–231 Grenfell Street that spans seven titles, DOMA is proposing a 30-storey tower with 236 homes across one, two and three-bedroom configurations.
Designed by SJB, which has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, the tower would rise above a three-storey podium. The podium’s red-brick arches take cues from similar arches of the state heritage-listed Adelaide fruit and produce exchange that stopped operating across Grenfell Street in 1988.
DOMA said the project, which would have a 59-metre street frontage, reflected its conviction to Adelaide as an emerging destination for capital usually directed toward Sydney and Melbourne.
“South Australia’s outlook is strengthening with more than $100 billion in projects underway or in planning across defence, innovation, education and infrastructure, fuelling population growth and demand for well-located housing,” DOMA said.
“Development is expected to commence 2028–2029, with the site currently tenanted.”
Until 2020, the development site was part of a block that housed the flagship dealership of Adelaide’s City Holden business. City Holden closed its Grenfell Street premises in 2020 and shifted to the inner-western suburb of Mile End South.
DOMA said its project would aim to achieve a five-star Green Building Council of Australia rating.
Also on the near horizon for the Adelaide CBD is DOMA’s 237-room Little National hotel that the developer anticipates will open at 100 North Terrace in October.
