Graya’s co-founder on how to tackle the city’s housing crisis

Welcome to CityChats, where Brisbane Times meets our city’s most interesting characters on our most iconic form of transport. This week, Graya co-founder and managing director Rob Gray tells us how he thinks the city should tackle the housing crisis, what Brisbane 2032 will mean for construction prices, and the suburbs Graya has its eye on.

We meet Gray at Teneriffe ferry stop, just a short walk from his head office. He’s immediately recognisable in a Graya branded T-shirt. As we cruise along the Brisbane River, we spot multiple Graya-branded signs at prime real estate spots in the city’s most affluent areas.

What’s your controversial Brisbane opinion?

I think, personally, we have a little bit of a housing crisis at the moment. Houses are really expensive; rents are really expensive. What would really help would be going up and not out. Potentially lifting some height limits in the busy areas would really help everybody.

In a perfect world, if money wasn’t an object and you could do whatever you want, what would be your dream Brisbane project?

This is going to sound corny, but I think the dream Brisbane projects I’m already doing. You know, from riverfront developments in Saint Lucia, to restaurants and retail developments in Racecourse Road and James Street, it’s things that I’ve always wanted to do. Maybe the next thing I really want to be part of is the Brisbane skyline.

What inspired you to get into development?

From a very young age, I always wanted to get into property development. I just really loved doing things with my hands. I loved creating something. I like the fulfillment, seeing something come out of the ground and be able to experience the hard work.

There are whole areas in Brisbane that Graya is really reshaping. Do you feel it’s a big responsibility, and how have you dealt with that?

I think as Graya has matured as a business, I am starting to feel more responsibility to the Brisbane community that we need to do a really good job.

Especially now, because we’ve moved out of individual homes and now we’re doing what we like to call lifestyle developments. We like to bring in the retail and fashion and restaurants. It’s putting a huge responsibility on us to make our city great.

You’ve had an enormous amount of success in quite a short period of time in what’s very famously a hugely cutthroat industry. What’s the secret behind your success and your rapid growth?

It might look like it’s quite quick from the outside in, but for us, it’s been quite slow. But we’ve been really determined from the outset to do a really good product, so we really focused on that for a long period of time.

And you look back over a decade and a half, and you really have done a lot of things.

Graya’s got a really distinctive aesthetic and style. How did that come about? Is there a building in Brisbane you’re particularly proud of?

I think we’re really fortunate in Brisbane, we’ve got such a good climate – it’s not too cold, it’s not too hot – so we can do this really subtropical architecture.

We really like to put greenery within our buildings, and something that I’m really, really proud of is a New Farm building called Mason. It’s on the corner of Moray Street, and it has this draping greenery. Every year it ages, it just gets better and better.

Graya’s obviously got its detractors, and you’ve got under the skin of some other developers, among others. Why do you think that is, and how have you dealt with that?

I think as we grow as a business, we’re moving into more prominent areas, and in those areas, there’s been a lot of long-standing owners that have, and like it, run a certain way.

As we move into these areas, we just need to be really mindful of that previous history and try not to step on too many toes, and respect other people’s opinions and do the best job we can.

LoadingAdvertisement

Is there an upcoming project you’re particularly excited about?

We have heaps of upcoming projects that I’m like crazy excited about. There’s one particularly, on James Street, that’s under construction right now called James Place, which is just a phenomenal development. What it will do to Brisbane and James Street is going to be next level, much like what the Calile did to James Street when it was first developed.

Are there any suburbs that you’re moving into, or any suburbs that Graya’s really eyeing as future growth areas?

Graya has really taken a shine to the Saint Lucia pocket. It’s something that we’ve always known about because we grew up in Indooroopilly and the Chapel Hill area.

In the very early days, we spent a lot of time developing the New Farm, inner-city area, but we’ve really highlighted Saint Lucia as somewhere we want to do more and more apartments.

With your knowledge of development in Brisbane specifically, how do you see the years leading up to the Olympics and beyond playing out? How do you think Brisbane’s going to change in that time?

I’m really excited for seeing what’s going to happen in Brisbane leading up to the Olympics. I think everyone can already see the value that’s been added with that.

I think it’s probably one of the safest investments in the world right now. I think the construction market is going to get awfully busy. I feel like that will push up construction prices, which is probably not a good thing but it’s just always a temporary thing that everyone just needs to be mindful of. If someone wants to do some construction, you probably should get going pretty soon.

It’s probably a dream for some people and a nightmare for others, but what’s it like working with your brother every day?

Oh, it’s definitely a nightmare some days, but no, I’m really fortunate, like just having someone you’ve grown up with as your ally next to you that you trust implicitly. We’re just really lucky to be working together.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

License this article

William Davis is a reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via email.Dominique Tassell is a reporter at Brisbane Times.Neesha Sinnya is a social media journalist for Brisbane Times.AdvertisementAdvertisement