GRAYA Secures Approval for Silk, St Lucia Apartments
3 min
South East Queenslander developer GRAYA has received development approval for Silk, its riverfront project at 16-18 Sandford Street, St Lucia.
The approval clears the way for one of the suburb’s most significant boutique residential addresses in years, on a tightly held bend of the Brisbane River.
Occupying a defining bend of the river, the 810 sqm site holds a northern aspect over Orleigh Park to the Brisbane CBD skyline. The approved scheme delivers 16 split-floor and six full-floor residences across 15 levels, designed and to be built by GRAYA. The breadth of river frontage and dual direction views the bend affords are increasingly difficult to secure across Brisbane’s riverfront, underpinning the long-term significance of the location.
Genuine riverfront development sites in St Lucia are almost exhausted. Silk moves the suburb into its next phase as a boutique apartment enclave, defined by lower density, larger-format residences and long-term owner-occupier demand. The approval allows construction planning to begin without delay.
The approved design places weight on scale, privacy and outlook rather than yield. Residences have been planned as permanent homes, with proportion, separation and river orientation carried through. Buyers in this market are not seeking typical apartment product. They are seeking the scale and privacy of a private home, with the ease of apartment living and far less to maintain.
The approval signals GRAYA’s continued confidence in Brisbane’s premium riverfront market and its focus on rare, irreplaceable sites in established inner-west suburbs.
GRAYA recently completed ARC in Toowong as builder for developer Spyre, delivering the project through challenging site conditions on the banks of the river. Building on a constrained riverside site is the same execution challenge Silk presents, and it is one GRAYA has already met on the same stretch of the river.
Rob Gray, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, GRAYA, said St Lucia is a suburb people do not want to leave.
“They know the river, the trees, UQ, the golf course, Toowong and Indooroopilly, and that familiarity is hard to replace. True riverfront opportunities here are exceptionally scarce.
“What we have designed at Silk is a way to stay in the suburb people love, with the scale and privacy of a private home and far less to maintain. This is not typical apartment product. It is a proper home on the river, and that is exactly what this market has been missing.”
Brother and fellow co-founder Andrew Gray, GRAYA’s Managing Director, said genuine riverfront sites of this quality in St Lucia are not something that comes up regularly.
“The approval removes a substantial layer of execution risk, and the location underwrites demand in a way very few innercity sites can. The fundamentals here are as strong as anything we have assessed in Brisbane.”
The approval follows sustained buyer demand across GRAYA’s riverfront and Gold Coast portfolio, reinforcing its position as an emerging authority in Brisbane’s premium riverfront apartment market. GRAYA designs, develops and constructs its projects under a single point of accountability, from first drawing through to aftercare.
Silk further strengthens GRAYA’s portfolio across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It sits alongside projects such as Enclave, The Gallery, Coral, and Ripple, reflecting a focus on blue-chip locations and design-led residences in tightly held markets. GRAYA has also recently submitted a development application for The Silo, a $700 million mixed-use project in the James Street precinct and the next major development in its pipeline.
While several residential projects are entering the wider St Lucia and Toowong corridor, genuine riverfront opportunities remain tightly held. Positioned directly on the river, Silk is expected to draw strong interest from local homeowners and prestige buyers seeking a permanent address in Brisbane’s inner west.
Registrations of interest are now open. Further detail will be released as the project progresses.
Project summary
| Project | Silk |
| Address | 16-18 Sandford Street, St Lucia QLD 4067 |
| Local authority | Brisbane City Council |
| Approval status | DA Approved |
| Site area | 810sqm |
| Approved built form | 15 levels |
| Approved yield | 16 split-floor & 6 full-floor |
| Ground-level uses | Lobby, gym, integrated rivers edge and leisure space |
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Apple’s first foldable, the $1,999 iPhone Duo, combines an iPhone and iPad Mini experience—but its size, weight and price come with compromises.
4 min
As I watched a Netflix show on Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, I had two surprising thoughts.
The first: Maybe I don’t need my iPad Mini anymore.
The second: Uh oh, am I about to spend $1,999 on a phone?
I didn’t think folding phones were for me. I’ve been testing Android versions from Samsung and Google since 2019, and those early editions came with too much screen and too many compromises.
Fast forward seven years, and the technology has come a long way. Apple—in its very Apple way—has also come up with some hardware and software trickery to make up for some shortcomings of the basic design. My desire for a folding phone before today was zero. After today, it’s a lot more than zero.
I’m not ready to recommend the Duo, which ships on Oct. 23, just yet. Not until I am able to test it more fully, so be on the lookout for that review in a few weeks. But from what I experienced at Apple Park on Wednesday, I could actually picture myself using this new half-phone, half-tablet hybrid.
Crease camouflage
For months, I’ve been using Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, a similarly squat, passport-shaped foldable that opens up to a larger screen. It’s impressively thin and can easily fit into the infuriatingly tiny pockets in women’s pants and dresses. Samsung did a lot of work to minimize the crease—the dip between the two halves of the big interior display—but it’s still clearly there.
When I held the iPhone Duo open, the crease was barely visible. As I slid my finger across the display, I could feel it, but it’s more subtle than Samsung’s. Most of the time, the screen looked as flat and smooth as the one on an iPad.
Apple employed both software and hardware techniques to camouflage the crease. The matte surface of the interior 7.6-inch screen minimizes reflections to hide it. (Samsung’s Fold 8 screen is shiny.)
And as you begin to open or close the iPhone Duo, the interface shifts the controls and content away from the center crease. If, say, you’re watching a video on the outer screen, you can open the Duo to switch to the bigger display within. A black fade marks the transition. You don’t see the video full screen until the phone is completely flat.
Heavy handed
My second observation was that, when the Duo is closed, in phone mode, it was harder to use one-handed than I expected.
In the keynote trailer and press release, Apple touted how thin the Duo is. It’s marketed as the thinnest iPhone ever—when open.
But it’s actually thicker and heavier than most of its Android competitors. The Duo weighs 254 grams, and is 11.3 millimeters thick when closed. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 is just 201 grams, with a thickness of 9.7 millimeters. Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold is 239 grams and 10.1 millimeters.
Because the Duo is also wider than a standard iPhone, I found it quite a challenge to type.
I admit, I do have smaller-than-average hands. So I consulted my colleague Rolfe Winkler, who has a larger grip. He agreed the Duo feels big.
Apple rearranged the interface on the outer screen so it looks different than traditional iPhones. The dock and control center are off to the right to be more reachable. Committing to the Duo as your main device will require adjustments in your handling. You will have to learn a new way to use and type.
Work and play
My most surprising takeaway? I feel a pull toward this device.
I always thought that combining an iPhone and an iPad would mean bigger compromises. The battery life is about the same as the 18 Pro (up to 24 hours of “regular use” on a single charge), though I’ll need to verify that in my real-world testing. And it’s also as durable, with the same IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating as the rest of the iPhone lineup.
There are trade-offs, for sure. Trying out the camera, I immediately missed the 8X zoom in my Pro model. The Duo has just 2X zoom, which wouldn’t cut it for the dozens of pictures I take of my kid every day.
But the dual screens unlock new photo functionality. You can see what your shot looks like from the outside screen. As someone who has tried tirelessly to self-direct a family photo—or a spouse—I am very eager to try this out more.
Foldables, I initially thought, were for classic mobile-warrior jet-setter types, who never sit at a desk and are always on calls. For that crowd, the Duo can run two apps side-by-side.
Me, I’m more of a bed binge-watcher and ebook reader. That’s what my beloved iPad Mini is for.
Watching videos on the Duo is a nice experience—nice enough that you forget the screen is 0.7 inches smaller than the iPad Mini’s. The main screen is also a 4:3 aspect ratio. Very similar, by the way, to the IMAX edition of the Odyssey.
Because I wasn’t able to snag a ticket to one of the sold-out screenings, I will be watching Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s epic on the Duo, just as the director intended. (Just kidding! Sort of.)
The Duo costs $800 more than an iPhone 18 Pro, and I’m not sure I want to spend that premium on a first-generation Apple device. But I’m not ruling out the idea that a Duo might one day be in my future. Stay tuned for my full review.
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