Builder-developer brothers buy Toowong Private Hospital site

Toowong Private Hospital has passed from the hands of one Brisbane family to another, with liquidators selling the collapsed mental health facility for more than $12 million to local developers.

The psychiatric hospital, which collapsed under millions of dollars worth of debt, was founded by influential Brisbane builder and philanthropist Noel Austin Kratzmann in 1989.

It was still owned and operated by NA Kratzmann & Sons until its sudden closure in June last year.

Liquidators sold the 5835 square-metre Milton Road property in Auchenflower to Carbone Developments, led by second-generation developers and brothers Don and Tony Carbone, for $12.2 million.

Carbone Developments have been operating in Brisbane for more than 20 years.

According to their website, they “specialise in delivering bespoke contemporary medium- to large-scale residential projects located in specifically selected urban locations”.

The brothers bought the fire-damaged, heritage-listed Broadway Hotel in Woolloongabba for $8.8 million under their related entity Broadway Projects in 2021.

Despite securing approval to restore the historic pub and build a 34-storey apartment tower behind it , the developers put the hotel back on the market earlier this year to focus on their pipeline of medium-scale developments in Brisbane’s northern suburbs.

They have recently started construction on The Atley apartments in Mitchelton, next to their existing Parque complex.

Carbone Developments declined to comment when contacted by this masthead.

Toowong Private Hospital, which treated 3000 patients annually, was once one of Brisbane’s leading psychiatric hospitals. It collapsed amid a hospital funding crisis that is putting private health facilities across the country at risk.

Administrators EY were appointed last year, but found no viable option to keep the hospital operating, and the Crisafulli government rebuffed doctors’ and patients’ pleas to acquire the facility .

Selling agents Colliers marketed the dual-frontage site as one of Brisbane’s most versatile and rare inner-city land holdings.

“Large development sites in established inner-city suburbs ... are becoming increasingly difficult to secure and, when they do come to market, competition is fierce,” said Troy Linnane, Colliers’ director of Queensland residential development sites.