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Utopia Space will be an apartment project of 300 apartments, with a choice of one, two, or three bedrooms with prices starting from $399,000. Aimed at investors and young professionals, Utopia is located almost in the heart of Fortitude Valley.
Artist Impression of Living Room
Apartments come with bi-fold doors to connect the balcony with the living areas which should make the indoor/outdoor space quite integrated. The balconies feature an interesting twist given Brisbane’s climate, as they are all fully enclosable with folding glass partitions. This is a nice feature as it will make the balconies quite usable. Fortitude Valley is a busy suburb, and Wickham Tce which runs beside the building carries a lot of traffic, so we would expect that most residents would take advantage of these doors.
Artists Impression of the Kitchen in Utopia Space
Kitchens will feature stone waterfall benchtops, with a choice of light or dark colour schemes.
Most communal amenities will be located on the podium which overlooks The Wickham, a well-known and recently renovated pub across Wickham Street. The roof podium will feature an open-air cinema, alfresco dining and BBQ space and pool. There are plans to hold weekly events on the podium. Overall the facilities are on par with similar sized projects in Brisbane.
As we mentioned above, Utopia Space is located on Wickham Street, a busy four-lane road that takes traffic out of the Brisbane CBD towards the Northern and Eastern suburbs, including the Brisbane Airport. It is a busy road so living in Utopia Space means living beside constant traffic, but this is inner city living after all, and the Developers have catered for this through both soundproofing and the closing balcony doors we mentioned above. Fortitude Valley is Brisbane’s entertainment hub, so as well as traffic noise, you will have bands, nightlife in general and a whole heap of activity…. all the things many Brisbanites love about the Valley and if you are an investor, why Utopia should rent well.
This location is extremely well serviced by road, train and bus. The Fortitude Valley train station is only a minute walk away and services every line in the Brisbane network.
A unique feature of this project is the use of ‘Nano Glass‘, where windows will be coated with a molecular shield of titanium dioxide (an active chemical in sunscreen) that blocks 99% of UV rays, and 76% of ‘near-infrared light’. This protects the interiors from damage such as fading and claims to keep the apartment 8.3 degrees cooler with around 20% savings on energy. The treatment is not only water repellent but also dirt and scratch, making them lower maintenance than untreated structural glass – they are, essentially, self-cleaning!
Utopia Space Street View Artists Impression
Nano-glass technology originated in Japan in 1995 and has been welcomed as a first in Brisbane by the likes of Professor Huai Yong Zhu, who specialises in nano-glass technology at the Queensland University of Technology. Mr Zhu hopes it sets a precedent for future buildings, due to the high risk of skin cancer in Queensland.
The floorplans for Utopia are well suited to rental use, with the floorplans separating the bedrooms, a beneficial feature when renting as it adds privacy and natural separation. As you can see from the above floorplan samples, the 2 bedroom units have both the bedrooms and bathrooms well separated.
The floorplans are, overall, average internal size for similarly prices apartments in Brisbane, however, the balconies are definitely larger than you will normally find.
Utopia Space is being developed by Sandt Development Group and designed by Kris Kowalski Architects. Construction is underway with Hutchison, one of Australia’s premier builders. We would expect an excellent build quality with Hutchison involved.
The apartments start at $399,000, and the body corporate fees range between approximately $3,600 – $4,600 per year.
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