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Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane’s New ‘Festival Hall’ to Open in July 2019

The music hall as of January 2019 (Photo Credit: The Fortitude Music Hall/Facebook)

Fortitude Valley, once the centre of alternative music in Brisbane, will become livelier with the soon-to-open Fortitude Music Hall.

The brand new music venue, located at 312 Brunswick Street right in the middle of the Brunswick Mall is slated to open this July.

It will be a 3,300-capacity venue with a mix of retail stores, an events space and a smaller, intimate “bar-style” venue for approximately 300 guests upstairs.

The $43 million venue is backed by construction giant Hutchinson Builders, former Powderfinger bass player John Collins and and the band’s former manager Paul Piticco, in partnership with his Secret Sounds Group co-founder Jess Ducrou.

Fortitude Music Hall’s launch will be a celebration of Brisbane music, according to Collins who announced there will be performances from Queensland’s artists.

As early as now, the venue already has bookings for the second half of 2019. Aussie surf rock and garage trio Skegss will perform in the venue this July whilst British rock band Architects will hold a concert in the music hall in August.

The Beatles’ Abbey Road Live, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the iconic album, will also take place in the Fortitude Music Hall in August 2019.

Collins has high hopes for the new music venue, anticipating it to become a popular destination not just Friday and Saturday night but throughout the week.

The new music hall is set to replace the Brisbane Festival Hall, an iconic indoor arena sold and demolished in August 2003.

It hosted performances for virtually every major tour by visiting overseas artists, with the likes of The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, U2, and Ozzy Osbourne.

Scott Hutchinson, CEO of Hutchinson Builders, believes that the venue will fill a huge gap in the market, since the demolition of the original Festival Hall.

To stay in the loop about the upcoming gigs in the new venue, check out their website or follow them on Facebook.

Coming Soon in Fortitude Valley: Betty’s Burgers at Howard Smith Wharves

Photo Credit: Betty's Burgers & Concrete Co./Facebook

Love Betty’s Burgers’ mouthwatering beef, chicken, and crispy pork belly pork burgers? If you can’t help but drool over their custom blend patties, you will be glad to know that your favourite burger joint is opening a location at the Howard Smith Wharves in Fortitude Valley.

Expected to open in late May 2019, the new Betty’s Burgers will offer a nice view of the city and the riverside as the Howard Smith Wharves is located just underneath the Story Bridge.

The soon-to-open Betty’s Burgers is the restaurant’s 11th location in Queensland but will be the first-ever venue in the Brisbane CBD.

Betty’s Burgers famous concretes (Photo credit: Betty’s Burgers & Concrete Co./Facebook)

Along with their classic juicy burgers, the latest venue will likely offer their house-made frozen custards or “concretes,” salads, thick shakes, and sides. Like the rest of their other venues, the new location in Howard Smith Wharves is expected to have a 50’s retro shack fit out.

The burger chain will join a handful of restaurants and bars in the riverfront precinct, like the brewery Felons Brewing Co, Mr Percival’s overwater bar, Greek restaurant and bar GRECA, and the newly opened ARC Dining and Wine Bar.

For updates on Betty’s Burgers at the Howard Smith Wharves and other locations coming soon, check out their website or follow them on Facebook.

Experience the Richness of Thai Culture at the Songkran 2019 in Fortitude Valley

Photo Credit: Thomas Quine/Wikimedia Commons

Fortitude Valley hosts many music and cultural events throughout the year and among them is the Songkran or the Thai New Year by the Brisbane City Council.

Everyone is free to join the event on 13 April 2019 from 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Chinatown Mall in Duncan Street, where there will be a range of activities that will showcase the cultures of Thailand and South East Asia.

Before the event officially starts at 4:20 pm, market stalls will already be open for visitors. There will be henna tattoo workshops and Thai head and shoulder massage to keep everyone entertained before the shows start.

Songkran will begin with a klong-yao performance or a long drum dance from Central Thailand. Thais perform this unique dance on all festive occasions such as weddings and monk ordination ceremonies.

Like how Songkran is celebrated in Thailand, the opening ceremony will be followed by a traditional water blessing ceremony which signifies the ‘washing away of bad thoughts and actions.’

You can discover more of Thailand’s rich culture with performances like the Junior Thai traditional dance, Songkran music, the King Ka-La dance, a dance drama called the Khon show, Wai Kru Muay Thai traditional dance, and a demonstration of authentic Muay Thai or Muay Boran.

Apart from traditional dances and art from Thailand, you will also get to see performances from its neigbouring Asian countries, including the Laos New Year dance, Assamese folk dance, Sinhalese dance, and Sri Lankan traditional Wes dance.

The festival will end will a performance from the Full Moon Band, who will sing Thai pop music.

Gelato Messina Opens Second Brisbane Store in Fortitude Valley

Photo Credit: Gelato Messina/Facebook

Australia’s homegrown gelato brand, Gelato Messina, has opened its second store in Brisbane, and it can be found at the foodie hub in Ada Lane on James Street, Fortitude Valley.

Gelato Messina in Fortitude Valley officially opened its doors on Thursday, the 21st of March. You’ll easily spot the parlour when you pass the location for its Palm Springs vibe.

Situated next to the pastry shop, Jocelyn’s Provisions, the ice cream parlour has neon signages, comfortable benches, and plenty of indoor plants. The Gelato Messina menu is set on a pegboard but there’s also a video projector blasting cool visuals to entice customers with the specials.

*Photo Credit:* *Gelato Messina/Facebook*

Gelato Messina in Fortitude Valley offers 40 different flavours on rotation every week. These are placed in new cabinets with sunken gelato tubs. Apparently, this is the second Gelato Messina store to carry the innovative design.

As with its other branches, this Fortitude Valley store also serves cakes, shakes, and sorbets.

Gelato Messina in Fortitude Valley is open from 12:00 noon until late at night.

Fortitude Valley: Among the Most Affordable Suburbs Close to the CBD

Buying a property close to the CBD need not cost an arm and a leg. In fact, you can get as close as two kilometres from the city, such as the suburb of Fortitude Valley, and find an affordable unit to buy, according to the latest report from Domain.

Just about 1.8 kilometres from the city, Fortitude Valley offers some of the most affordable units with a median unit sale price of $391,000, the Domain report said. Fortitude Valley has seen its unit median prices dropping by 7.5 percent from $432,500 in 2016 to $400,000 as at 31 December 2018, according to realestate.com.au.

Also, latest data from realestate.com.au, shows that the median price for units in Fortitude Valley from 1 Mar 2018 – 1 Mar 2019 is $400,000. Renting makes up the majority of property ownership in Fortitude Valley, about 73%; the median unit rental price per week is $420, Domain suburb profile said.

Among the most affordable suburbs within the 10 kilometres radius from the CBD, Keperra offers the most affordable house with median price of $541,500 whilst Milton offers has the lowest-priced units with a median price of $363,750, according to Domain Group’s list of affordable suburbs by proximity to the city.

Affordable Suburbs Under 10 Kilometres from Brisbane CBD

Suburb for Units	Median Sale Price
Milton	$363,750
Moorooka	$367,500
Clayfield	$382,500
Everton Park	$390,000
Fortitude Valley	$391,000

Suburb for Houses	Median Sale Price
Keperra	$541,500
Chermside	$580,000
Everton Park	$590,000
Chermside West	$591,000
Stafford Heights	$602,500

Zillmere, with a median unit price of $340,000, is the most affordable suburb within 10- 20 kilometres from CBD and is also close to Westfield Chermside. Inala, on the other hand has the lowest median house price at $365,000.

Affordable Suburbs 10 – 20 Kilometres from Brisbane CBD

Suburb for Units	Median Sale Price
Zillmere	$340,000
Runcorn	$365,000
Richlands	$370,000
Calamvale	$380,000
Eight Mile Plains	$382,000

Suburb for Houses	Median Sale Price
Inala	$365,500
Acacia Ridge	$400,000
Durack	$411,000
Strathpine	$438,750
Thorneside	$445,000

Photo Credit: Kgbo [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] / Wikimedia Commons

The most affordable for houses within 20-30 kilometre radius is Kingston with a median house price of $325,000 whilst Kallangur offers the lowest median unit price at $292,000.

Affordable Suburbs 20 – 30 Kilometres from Brisbane CBD

Suburb for Units	Median Sale Price
Kallangur	$292,000
Dakabin	$365,000
Griffin	$377,500
Mango Hill	$383,500
Redcliffe	$387,500

Suburb for Houses	Median Sale Price
Kingston	$325,000
Bundamba	$331,000
Goodna	$337,000
Redbank Plains	$338,500
Bethania	$344,000

Looking beyond the 30 kilometres radius, there are still affordable suburbs you can find yet still are relatively close to the city such as Eagleby with a median unit price of $252,000. Raceview will also not disappoint buyers hunting for bargain houses with its median house price of $338,000.

Affordable Suburbs 30 – 40 Kilometres from Brisbane CBD

Suburb for Units	Median Sale Price
Eagleby	$252,000
Deception Bay	$260,000
Morayfield	$325,000
Redland Bay	$448,500
Scarborough	$495,000

Suburb for Houses	Median Sale Price
Raceview	$338,000
Brassall	$347,250
Beenleigh	$350,000
Yamanto	$359,000
Morayfield	$359,900

Analysts believe that now is a good time to buy in these bargain suburbs closest to the CBD, considering that these areas are already primed for growth, however, recovery on units market may take some time since units are not considered as primary choice among buyers.

Fortitude Valley Raised a Glass for St. Patrick’s Day at Finn McCool’s

Photo Credit: Jill111/Pixabay

Finn McCool’s at the Brunswick Mall in Fortitude Valley turned a fun shade of green on Sunday, the 17th of March, for its St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. The much-awaited Irish party was even bigger than last year, with dining, dancing, and drinking lasting up to the wee hours the following day.

The restaurant secured an extended licence for its St. Patrick’s Day party with the Brisbane City Council. Various pop-up establishments and food trucks set up shop to feed and serve the eager guests.

It was an event honouring everything Irish from the food, to the beer, to the band, to the activities and giveaways. Party-goers were mostly dressed in green, the day’s official color.

*Photo Credit:* *Finn McCool’s/Facebook*

Guests above 18 years old toasted and cheered to a bottle or pint of Kilkenny, Magners, Guinness. Entertainment was provided by these line-up of performers:

Barley Shakes
Limerick
The Gathering
The Munster Bucks
Scoil Ard Rince Irish Dancers
Queensland Irish Pipe Band

St. Patrick’s Day, also known as St. Paddy’s Day, is celebrated anywhere in the world where there are Irish or Irish descendants. Aside from the party at Finn McCool’s, Brisbane also had a street parade featuring 80 floats to highlight Irish heritage.

Art Series Hotel on Howard Smith Wharves to Open March 2019

Photo Credit: Instagram/ArtSeriesHotels

Art Series Hotels is opening its eighth site at Howard Smith Wharves in Fortitude Valley. Slated to welcome guests beginning 2019 March, the hotel has begun taking reservations since November 2018.

The new attraction in the revitalised Howard Smith Wharves precinct joins favourite watering holes Mr Percival’s and Felon’s Brewing Co. It’s seven kilometres away from Art Series Hotel’s The Johnson in Spring Hill which, in keeping with the hotel’s name, celebrates the works of Australian abstract artist Michael Johnson.

For its part, the Art Series Hotel on Howard Smith Wharves will feature the works of Australian contemporary artist Vincent Fantauzzo. The site of six-storey 166-room hotel, aptly named The Fantauzzo, will be under the Story Bridge and has been designed to blend with the cliff’s neutral tones.

Mr Fantauzzo, whose parents come from Italy and Ireland, was born in England in 1977. The family moved to Broadmeadows in the Melbourne in the 1980s but the Fantauzzos would move around Australia a lot while the artist was growing up.

Undiagnosed with a learning condition as a child, Mr Fantauzzo had difficulty in primary school and was grouped in a special class with other children with learning difficulties. He fared no better in high school and was expelled for “misbehaviour.” By this time, his parents had separated and the artist tried to help his mother by apprenticing as a kitchen helper in an Italian restaurant.

Mr Fantauzzo, however, excelled in sports and competed in Martial Arts tournaments. During competitions, Mr Fantauzzo would discover his growing love for painting and would illustrate sporting pictures he had seen.

Fearing he’d fail again, the artist resolved to improve his art and did so at an impressively progressive state. He enrolled at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) for college, sans a high school diploma, and paid for his school fees with by selling his paintings.

Unfortunately, the school found out he did not complete high school after discovering a plagiarised paper he paid someone to write. Mr Fantauzzo said he had to confess his learning problems and the school facilitated tests to help him get a proper diagnosis. He found out he was dyslexic.

Mr Fantauzzo said he has learned to embrace his dyslexia more positively, especially with the help of the school’s disability liaison. In 2003, the artist received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting degree from the RMIT and completed his Masters two years later.

Photo Credit: Instagram/vincent_fantauzzo

In 2012, RMIT made Mr Fantauzzo an Adjunct Professor. He has also travelled to Central Australia to create a portrait series featuring Aboriginal artists. Following an exhibit in Sydney in 2016, Mr Fantauzzo established himself as a well-recognized Australian painter whose works are now displayed in many homes and buildings.

Mr Fantauzzo has also done exhibits in Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Vietnam. He has worked with famous Austrian director Baz Luhrmann and received various awards as an artist, such as the Archibald Prize People’s Choice.

Apart from Fantauzzo’s original artworks, guests at The Fantauzzo at the Howard Smith Wharves will also get to enjoy the view of the Brisbane river from the rooftop pool terrace. The hotel also has a bar, a gym and several rooms for different functions.

Snack Man to Expand in 2019 with Famous Chinese Bite-Sized Dishes

Photo credit: Happy Boy/Facebook

Snack Man, Fortitude Valley’s bespoke wine bar, will expand to include larger and more hearty dishes, with the same flavoursome, on-style Chinese eats as their sister venue Happy Boy.

The wine bar, which opened next to Happy Boy in November 2018, only had five bite-sized dishes when it was launched. There were barbecue chicken cha siu bao, pork and prawn dumplings, crispy chicken ribs, seasonal mushroom, and the crowd favourite salt and pepper prawn.

Snack Man finally unveiled its full menu in January 2019. Cameron Votan, co-owner of the wine bar, said the menu comprises all small plates representing food that China is famous for and it will be the Votans’ “favorites from across all Chinese regions.”

Guests could choose from 20-food item menu that complements Happy Boy’s more work-focused menu. Guests could expect Taiwanese Fried Chicken on Milk Bun and Prawn and Pork Wontons in Chilli Broth.

Votan said guests could come in and do dinner. Aside from picking the menu for the wine bar, she is also in charge of sourcing bottles that cannot be easily found anywhere else. Unlike the Happy Boy that only serves Australian wines, they import wines from other countries.

For updates on Snack Man, check out their Instagram account or visit Happy Boy’s website.

Stone & Wood Will Open its Brisbane Location in Fortitude Valley Mid-2019

A heritage-listed building in Fortitude Valley will soon be home to Byron Bay-based craft beer brewery, Stone & Wood: its first Brisbane location.

After opening its purpose-built brewery and office space in Byron Bay, Stone & Wood will enter the beer brewery scene in Brisbane once it opens its newest venue situated within the Trails Ltd Ice & Cold Stores heritage building.

Photo Credit: Brisbane City Council / pdonline.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Photo Credit: Stone & Wood / stoneandwood.com.au

The 90-seat venue, located on Bridge Street in Fortitude Valley, is expected to open mid-2019 and will be offering a pure tasting room experience. The site will feature a small brewery producing a rotating range of beers, about 600 litres at a time, exclusive for the on-site tasting room consumption.

“A big part of what we do in our existing Byron Bay tasting room is centred around education and developing people’s appreciation for good beer. We believe we can add value to the emerging good beer scene in Brisbane and continue to grow the market by adding our beer experience into the mix.

“We have found a great space in a building with a heritage overlay, and we’re looking forward to letting our team loose to give it a new lease of life in a very Stone & Wood way,” their website announcement said.

Whilst retaining the external facade of the building, the development proposal will involve internal improvements to the building’s ground floor that will feature an ancillary office space, bar, retail shop, function space, beer hall and dining space.

99 Bridge St Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 Australia

Kerbside Collection Time for Fortitude Valley: Ways to Kickstart Your Waste Reduction Goals

Brisbane City Council’s Kerbside Collection Day is coming to Fortitude Valley on Monday, 21 January 2019. If one of your goals for this year is to be kinder to the environment, there are several ways for you to up your reduce, reuse, and recycle game.

As part of their promise to make Brisbane clean, green, and sustainable, BCC had lots of ways to encourage residents to recycle and reduce waste.

Recycling at Home

If you are a fan of the trending KonMari method of tidying up, you would probably end up with a pile of things to discard.

Rather than tossing out old clothes to the bin, you can donate them instead to the following organisations in Fortitude Valley:

Suited to Success

This organisation mainly accept work appropriate or casual clothing donations. Suited to Success helps people on their journey towards career and personal development. As part of their program, they provide interview and job appropriate styling sessions to those in need.

You can donate your clothing to them from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. from Monday – Friday and from 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. every last Saturday of each month. Visit their website or call 3216 1969 for further information.

Location: 47 Anderson Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006.

Vinnies Fortitude Valley

Photo credit: Vinnies Australia/Facebook

St Vincent de Paul Society is also accepting clothes donation. Their donation rule is “if you’d give it to a friend, then it’s ok to give to Vinnies”. Apart from men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, they are also accepting homewares, kids toys, books, CDs, and DVDs.

Vinnies Fortitude Valley is open from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday and from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Check out their website or call Vinnies Fortitude Valley on 3252 9856 to learn more.

Location: 210 Brunswick Street (Corner Brunswick & Alfred Streets), Fortitude Valley

Hosting a Garage Sale

Alternatively, you can set up your own garage sale and turn your pre-loved items into cash. This ‘Get Garage Sale Ready’ guide can help you prepare for a successful garage sale on your own yard.

Council’s Recycling Guide for Households

Credit: Visy – Official Channel/Youtube

BCC made it even simpler for households to recycle through the ‘Brisbane’s Best Recycling Guide for Households’. This pocket guide shares the benefits of recycling and provides the following:

the easiest ways to collect recyclables from your house
what can and cannot go in Council’s recycling wheelie bin
answers to frequently asked questions
information on sorting recyclables
answers to recycling myth
guidance on how to recycle items not accepted in Council’s kerbside collection (includes reusable household goods, scrap metals and garden waste).

You can download the Brisbane’s Best Recycling Guide for Households on a pdf or word format.

These are just some of the ways on how you can recycle at home. Start your year right by get your recycling game on for 2019 and do your share in caring for the environment.