Housing, Heart and Hope for our CBD
The Toowoomba Chamber welcomes the announcement of a 60-unit apartment development on Ruthven Street. This isn’t just a tick in the “more homes” box—it’s a significant step toward the kind of CBD revitalisation Toowoomba so urgently needs.
At the Chamber, we’ve been vocal about the dual challenges facing our city: the housing crisis and a struggling city centre. Our members tell us every day how hard it is to attract and retain staff when there simply aren’t enough affordable homes. We know that to create a thriving local economy, we must build homes where people want to live, work and connect, and the CBD is a prime location.
This development delivers two big wins: affordable housing in a high-demand location and a major injection of life into the heart of our city. Projects like this help boost foot traffic, fill vacant shopfronts and make the CBD feel alive again.
This development is a step in the right direction. But we can still do more.
We need more mixed-use developments. Spaces that combine retail, hospitality, office and residential. We need improved public lighting and streetscaping to make our city feel safer and more inviting. We need more repurposed and reimagined heritage buildings, like Rowes & Pigott’s, in ways that honour our past while embracing modern needs.
Inner City Housing & Creativity
We also need creativity. A conference & events centre, a redeveloped art gallery, Tourism opportunities to draw investment and the dollars into our city… These initiatives add soul to our city, encouraging people to linger, explore and invest in their local economy.
The Chamber’s CBD Advisory Committee has been working with local stakeholders and all levels of government to create a vision for Toowoomba’s future – one where the city centre is not just a place you pass through, but a destination you choose.
It’s time we reimagine what the CBD can be: a place to live, a place to trade, a place to gather.
Let’s keep going.
