First look: Frank Developments triples down on Teneriffe's Wyandra Street

To say Frank Licastro is keen on Wyandra Street, the small 400m strip that straddles Teneriffe and Newstead, would be an understatement.

Licastro, who runs Frank Developments, first jumped onto the street with Ducale Teneriffe, just 26 apartments at 33 Wyandra Street.

With those apartments heading towards construction completion later this year, Frank went again just a few doors down with the recent launch of Murano House, a further collection of 41 apartments at 37 Wyandra Street.

Now Licastro is planning his third building on the strip.

Frank Developments has submitted plans to Brisbane City Council for a considerably larger 147-apartment project across an amalgamated 1,928 sqm site at 22-40 Wyandra Street, which also runs through to Wyatt Street.

The Cavill Architects-designed proposal, on the opposite side of the street to Ducale and Munro House, will rise to 22 storeys at its tallest point, stepping down towards Wyandra Street as the building transitions between the higher-density Newstead skyline and the lower-scale character of Teneriffe.

The plans comprise just two one-bedroom apartments, with the project overwhelmingly geared towards larger apartments. There will be 80 two-bedroom apartments, 58 three-bedders, six four-bedroom apartments and a single five-bedroom residence.

The apartment mix continues the owner-occupier focus Frank has pursued across its recent inner-Brisbane developments.

There will be 222 resident car spaces and seven visitor spaces across four basement levels, along with 166 bicycle spaces.

Cavill has approached the architecture as a transition between two very different parts of inner Brisbane.

The site effectively sits on the dividing line between Newstead's high-density mixed-use precinct and Teneriffe's medium-density residential area, something that has heavily influenced the massing of the building.

Rather than presenting as a single 22-storey tower, the building steps up from a 13-storey form towards Wyandra Street to its taller 22-storey element towards Wyatt Street and Newstead. The design documents describe the taller component as the "backdrop massing", with the lower form creating the transition towards Teneriffe.

The architecture itself also changes as it rises.

At the lower levels, Cavill has drawn from Teneriffe's heritage buildings and the tuff stone found below ground, before shifting towards a more contemporary Newstead-inspired tower expression with continuous balconies higher up.

Frank is also proposing a significant amount of resident amenity throughout the building rather than concentrating everything on one recreation level.

Amenity terraces are proposed at levels 13 and 16, before another major rooftop terrace at the top of the building. The plans show a pool terrace and landscaped outdoor spaces, with shaded outdoor rooms, tree planting and protected "City Rooms" incorporated into the shared areas.

At street level, the project will also seek to open up the connection between Wyandra and Wyatt streets.

A currently constrained pedestrian laneway along the northern boundary would be expanded, while a double-height "City Room" would be created on Wyandra Street. A separate two-storey outdoor arcade would run through the site from Wyandra Street to Wyatt Street.

The ground floor plans also show food and beverage tenancy space alongside the residential lobby, lounge, office and landscaped public areas.

Cavill says the intention is to create a more generous and heavily landscaped Wyandra Street frontage, with weather protection and public spaces designed to encourage people to spend time at street level.

Frank has been busy across Brisbane and the Gold Coast in recent years, with two ultra-luxury projects under construction in Surfers Paradise, as well as several projects in the pipeline across New Farm and Hamilton in Brisbane.