Hi all.

There is a new 10 story Apartment project going up in Townsville called Mint. Mint is a 55 unit Complex being developed and built by Townsville's own Honeycombes Property Group. Townsville is one of many Regional Australian Cities to feel the brunt of the High-rise Inner City Unit trend that is sweep the Nation of its feet.

So take your time to look at the Render(s) and give your opinion

Enjoy, Buon-Appitie or Whatever it is. I dont do Hospitality.
Gertzy

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2208/mint8lf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It's only 9 storeys Gertzy - I'll get some photos of the site and some more renders for this thread tomorrow.

Cool, that sounds good.

From the renders, it looks much nicer than Urban Quarter. Can't believe the colours they painted that place!

Here's a picture of the model in the sales office (ground floor of Metro Quays).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintModel.jpg

The massive crane is now up - I got some pictures that I will add tomorrow.

looks cool.
what you reckon about height?
9x 3m =27m?

I hate to be a burden but Mint is actually 10 stories high. The Car park level is Ground Height up on the Stanley Street side. You can even see where it starts. About Halfway at the Brown Fence there (on the picture). But on that model looking at the Stanley street side you can see that it's 10 Up. I originally though it was 9 until I saw that Model. Also, Is the Crane the same one they used on Urban Quarter and Highpoint.

I didn't think that site would be big enough for this! Obviously, it is. On another note, the crane is now in place completely. :)

I'll have to take a closer look at the model next time Gertzy - I think TCC considers the first storey to be the first level that ends more than 1.4m above ground.

Some of my pictures from yesterday

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintSite.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintCrane.jpg

I didn't know Hinspeter had such huge cranes. The tower crane is from a company called CIA Cranes.

It's the Invasion of the Yellow Cranes. It blends in good with the Hedley Crane. Hopefully, the Gateway crane wont be a yellow one.

I dont mean to sound stupid here, but it could be Central Intelligence Agency Cranes, Nah! What I was really going to say was that I think that was the Crane used for Claredon in Cairns. In fact, that came down on Friday the 24th September when I was up there for The Holidays. And Claredon is also a Hedley Project.

Another Pic of the model except from the back or Stanley Street side of things. Its 9 floors plus Car Parking level on bottom making it 10.

Here the Pic.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/pb062792f9a8e63441b877974cf3be881/f6996b30.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/pfd16053c743d90fd825d37713d05313c/f69686a0.jpg

Another Pic of the Crane at Mint

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/pfe0b00e797647200f7b8ab5ba75a0537/f6996459.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/p27c3ff4d5d6dc1473d8e182d952093e6/f6996095.jpg

Tried to get a Picture of the Site from the top bit of UQ1 but as we all would pretty much know. UQ is accessed by only its residents. I'm going to try some more and just sweet talk my way in:).

I have got a few friends who live in Urban Quarter complex, i should get up there on the weekend and try and get some pics.

Here's the site from Castle Hill yesterday afternoon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintCastleHill.jpg

I have some info I will put on the forum that people will find quite interesting. I enquired last year when it was annouced on the Market. And I got stacks of info.

Photo taken on the 24/12/04

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintDec.jpg

Things seem to be going abit slow there. Especially being there since october, usually Honeycombes would've had it up to about 3 levels now.

Yes, very slow progress on this one. Hopefully, it's gonna be a bit better quality build than Urban Quarter. It's very average.

The elevator should be a bit more accurate than UQ as well. I've heard its goes from 4-6 at one bit or something.

Construction update taken yesterday 7/2 - getting there!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintFeb.jpg

I've been meaning to get down there and take some pics! Oh well, you beat me to it. :)

Looks like a great little project. It's so interesting to see other QLD centres densifying their CBD's.

A couple of Construction photos from Yesterday:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/pc272a943c5e4124b2685a2e149ea6da6/f51a58d0.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid158/p33ec0c42694c8c35b33b47da2aaa1e10/f51a58c8.jpg
Both taken from Stanley Street.

I'm trying to get into UQ and try to take a picture of the Mint site from the top bit there. I'm sure there's a caretaker at UQ but I don't know the number.

Some serious storm clouds coming in there.

>13/2/05 from Townsville's natural observation deck
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_1806S.jpg

One of my mates lives in UQ. But my camera is broken. Lol

Do you know if there's a caretaker, if there is, could you PM the Unit no so I could get a couple.

Taken 2/4/05. Coming along nicely.

Front
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintAprFront.jpg
Back
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintArpBack.jpg

Nicely Done :), Its really coming up now, Its shot up alot during the last 2 months.

I think this one is slated to finish Nov/Dec 05. It's looking pretty much about right to me.

Honeycombes said December on the Information Package I got but yeah, It'll be probably a bit more of a Masterpiece than UQ.

I noticed the other day that they had started to fitout an apartment on the lower levels. Obviously must be a display apartment. Also, you can see the curved balconies starting on the street side of the building.

Contruction update taken yesterday - up to 7 storeys. If you include the scaffolding the left hand side is full height of 8 storeys now - right still has to go up to 10 storeys.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/100_2777S.jpg

This is probably going to be Honeycombs best looking building i think. Not that it would need to be very good looking to be better than their others!! Lol

Construction update - 8/6/05.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintJune.jpg

Wow, Its only got 1 and a 1/2 stories to go. So It'll be finished September, thats what I think anyway by the way its going.

I finally got my digital camera back, i was going to slip by within the next few days to get a shot of this one, looks like i don't have to now!! lol. Thanks once again Oriolus.

Gertzy, i think the left hand side is at full height if thats what you mean by the 1/2 a story?

No, I'm meaning the Right side, needs another two to go, but really it only needs 1 and a half stories to go.

Mint has now toppped out!
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/9795/mintjuly0yn.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

I'm actually beginning to like the shape of this one. The good thing about it is when you come over the railway overpass from Ross Island intersection, it hides most of the back of ugly old Urban Quarter.

A good place to take a pic of Mint is from Central Park (Between Stanley and Victoria Bridge there), they had the Naidoc Celebrations there and and it was a good angle for a pic or construction update.

Construction pic taken 16/8/05 from Stanton Hill
As you can see part of the rear has been exposed and painted but the rest looks much as it did in the last photo, still covered in scaffolding.

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4969/1004307s8hx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It's getting there huh? You've been busy today Oriolus!! Well done! :)

Tthats definetly a great pic and a great angle to take it from, someone should get up to UQ and Try and take a snap from there before its finished.

I was up at UQ1 last Friday night helping a friend move, but only on the 4th floor. Not that great a view from there.

Noticed some colour starting to appear in places on the building now. Colour looks better than anything on Urban Quarter!! :)

I've only noticed the White painted on the side of the only bit I've seen Exposed.

^ It's like a off white/cream colour. Looks ok so far. Hopefully they won't go and do something stupid like purple or yellow etc etc. Lol

Construction pic from Castle Hill yesterday - the front still hasn't progressed much - it'll be interesting to see how that turns out.

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1622/mintsept7lz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Thats a good angle on Mint, pretty good construction update pic.

Another sections of Mint's rear has been revealed - but this part (the black & blue bits) wasn't on the model (taken by Gertzy). Makes me wonder what other funky changes they're going to make. :)

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/9647/1004629s1tm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid143/pfd16053c743d90fd825d37713d05313c/f69686a0.jpg

It's turning out alot better than what the model looked like. The model kinda reminded me of the old hospital. Eeek.

Thats the only thing about the proposal plan and the Construction plan, they are both different, so you'll see a fair amount of changes around in the construction plan than in the proposal plan.

This morning:

Some more facade has been revealed on the back.
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/3546/mintback8tj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The only change to the front is that they've put up a sign to advertise their little "bribe" of the chance to win a car to get rid of the remaining apartments.
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4964/mintfront3ez.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Have you updated some of these on emporis, same with T1. But anyway that win a Car thing has been there for a while now, just put it up there before it topped out.

^^Ah, no I havn't. Have to get around to it some day.

That WIN A CAR sign hasn't been up there that long - it used to just be the FOR SALE on (see pic above)

By the way you can see T1's crane tower just to the right of Mint. Also interesting to note - two Cowboys banners on the back of Mint. And also two crows on a light post. I think that's all... :)

Funny occurance indeed, its like from now, every picture you take of mint theres two of something, like say maybe next time, two boats, two construction workers visable and such.

Across the face of the Great Northern Railway Building towards Mint
http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/2146/gnrmint9ig.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

"The Old, dominated by the New", sounds like a good caption for that pic.

Construction shot from yesterday. That blank wall between the crane and the external lift column (the first part of the building to be revealed) doesn't look so good now the rest of the back has been revealed. It's a different colour.. it actually looks like it could be exposed concrete! Hope they're going to paint it.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/9558/mintnov7hq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Thats looking much better than UQ, infact, to me, Mint makes Urban Quarter look like a Eastern European Communist Apartment Block, thats my opinion.

I'm with you on that Gertzy. Thanks for the updates Oriolus.

The blank wall has been exposed for a while now..... I was wondering the same thing about whether they were going to paint it or not as well. Surely they wouldn't leave it unpainted after the rest of the building is painted? But at the same time, i can't understand why they wouldn't paint it while the scaffolding was still there? I think it might stay unpainted by the looks of it...........................:(

Finally, some of the front has been revealed. The scaffolding was coming down as I watched (on Friday):

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/9253/1005128s8hv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

That is good, very good, Now Oriolus, get down to the Pedestrian Rail Overpass and take a few snaps before this crane comes down.

It always amazes me how close this building is to the water's edge. I guess they've thought it all through in terms of flood levels, etc. Hope they have.

^^Same here hopper. There's meant to be a board walk along the front of the building, I hope that is still going ahead.

Gertzy - yeh I've never been up there to the Saunders St overpass to take photos. I drove over last night and Mint has quite a presence from there. I'll definately get up there next time I'm in the city.

I wish they could cut out all of those horrible looksing mangroves along the river front. That would go a long way to making the place look tidier. I can just imagine if they were removed though, the greenies would be up in arms.

They removed abit more scafolding from the Building from what I could see Tonight, So on the 8 story side, the top 3 floors have been exposed, and on the 10 story side, its exposed to the bottom 3 floors.

Another thing is too, with Mangroves, The Mangroves help to keep the Banks (of the Creek) in place and helps to keep Erosion down too. Imao, Iam not a Greenie though, Environmental things is a bond with my Culture though.

But putting a Boardwalk, like they were with the Original model should help it significantly.

I know the mangroves play their part for the environment & marine life etc etc, but they just look bloody awful. I hate them.

Nice pic.....
Love those glass balconies....

I'm very environmentally minded but I wouldn't have a problem with removing those scraggly little ones in front of Mint. The dense mangroves in front of UQ are another matter though.

The boardwalk along the front needs to happen eventually because it'll form part of the Ross Cr pedestrian promenade but I'm thinking maybe they'll wait until they can put it right through to the North yards redevelopment. I doesn't really have anywhere to go at the moment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/Oriolus/MintModel.jpg

I'm starting to dislike this building again as they reveal more and more. The back actually looks better than the front!! They should have used tinted glass & dark window frames. The ones they used look terribly cheap.

From Central Park yesterday
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/7106/1005262s4oj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

As requested Gertzy I went up to the Tom Aitkens overpass yesterday and made a pano, which I put in the Townsville Panos (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=6397126#post6397126) thread

That's a good angle for this building. One difference I've noticed between the model and the actual building is that the white spandrels (below the windows) on the corner units don't extend various amounts over the balconies as they are shown in the model. Also, the balustrades on the units facing the creek are shown in the model as part glass, part white in an alternating pattern, but seem to have been built as just glass. Seems like they have tried to simplify (cheapen) the building during construction.

It's looking really great though, only some slight Design Changes compared to UQ though, where with UQ, Its got the Craggy extra 10th floor pointy thing, would've got some good shots of Mint from there though.

Thats definitely the best angle to view Mint from. Thanks for the pic Oriolus.

But it looks like Honeycombes learnt from its Mistake :D.

This should now Change to "Complete", The Rest of the Scaffolding and The Crane has been taken Down.

You beat me to it!! I meant to put that in yesterday!! lol I forgot. :) Looks ok now with all the scaffolding down i guess. Better than UQ anyway.

^^Yeh, I'm very impressed. I wont change it to complete yet though - there's still plenty to do.

taken 6/1/06
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2641/mintjan0wf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I hope they're going to do something along that daggy looking waterfront??

I hope they still do go ahead with the boardwalk thats part of the CBD - Wherever part.

I didn't get a photo of Mint on Friday but here's a nice one from RealEstate.com.au

http://www.realestate.com.au/objects/props/4337/102874337ml1138690457.jpg

I know that they are still finishing up Internally but you should change this to Complete now.

They are actually still working on the podium area & entrance etc etc

^^Yeh, I don't like to change it to completed until all the fences come down, the last tradesman packs up and leaves and people start moving in - ie when it becomes a functioning part of the city.

Still no sign of a boardwalk along the front by the way. :(

photo from yesterday:
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/6620/1006729s8ig.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It might've slightly changed in design from the Model, but I am proud to have this building in our City, it turned out really good.

Yeh, agreed, I think it's stunning. Taken yesterday:

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/9513/mintmarch5dk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

mmm i really dont like the bars on it..... makes it look like a prison

Yeh same here Tom and belated welcome to SSC. (I'm a former student of IPC by the way :))

My only gripes with Mint are the bars running up the back of the building (although they seem to work well on the little annex and along the front) and some of the windows (eg above the white strips on front right) - they look a little cheap. And I would have liked a boardwalk along the front but I've just about given up on that now.

Here's another angle (from the reservoir above Walker St):
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/1526/1006931s5mx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Thats a good shot from the back there, they have just started to f**k it up slightly, It looked nice as it was, but then the Bars came in, Its like with the old plan for Central.

View of Mint on the skyline, from the foothills of Castle Hill. It's the tallest building west of Stanley St (except for the T&G spire)

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/7105/1006946s2ow.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

From Central Park yesterday:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7752/mintmar37vl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Well Mint is now fully complete. Here's a pic of the back over the rubble of TGS last Thursday :)

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/2104/1007122s1dp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

A couple of the apartments now have residents living in them as well. They started moving in about a week ago.

The waterside walkway in front of Mint is now open, but all it is is a loose gravel track with a bit of construction debris strewn around the place - very strange. You can see it at the bottom of this photo:

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7041/1007146s8az.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Might be a council job to finish off the walkway?? Now that Mint is finished, they can get in and do it.

They should add another apartment complex there, then it'll look like Berlin :D, with all the contemporary arty type designed ones.

Mint - latest addition to the Honeycombes precinct:

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2696/honeycombesprecinct9wg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

LOL
Good photo Oriolus. You're always scoping out new angles aren't you?? :)

^^You know I clambered down the enbankment, through some mangroves and onto the mud at (very) low tide to get that second last one :D The one above is taken from Melton Tce.

Lol, that last one kinda looks like Mint is way taller than UQ.

The bars running down the back are the one thing that lets Mint down, but check this out - at this angle (from Central Park near the end of McIlwraith St) they actually look like shinny dark grey cladding and they even reflect the white balconies! And this wasn't just some freak occurrence - I took a similiar shot a few weeks ago and the effect was exactly the same.

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9698/mintreflec3nl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I've redrawn Mint since it was completed. There were quite a few differences between the render and the actualy product, mostly for the better I think.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/908/mintoldnew2sr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

But it still turned out pretty good though.