Industry Pioneers
Industry Pioneers Affordable
In 1950, Italian immigrant Cesare Pradella settled in Brisbane. With an Engineering degree, he quickly moved from labouring to building his own houses, and constructed his first office at James Street, New Farm in 1957. In 1959 Cesare expanded his business with the incorporation of the first of many Pradella owned companies.
Seeing an opportunity in the market, in the early 1960’s Cesare constructed Brisbane’s first official Motor Inn in the CBD – the 54 room Metropolitan Motor Inn at Spring Hill. A testament to his building skills, this motel and dining set a benchmark for Spring Hill accommodation.
Putting his own engineering flare on their specifications, for the next two decades Cesare’s house designs won him countless tenders with the Qld Housing Commission. The creation of a prefabricated house method, led to the construction of “a house a day” and saw thousands of houses throughout Brisbane suburbs constructed by Pradella in that time. Cesare’s framing concept was patented in 1958.
Acquiring prominent sites in Spring Hill throughout the 1970’s, the skyline was transformed during the 1980’s with the construction of Centrepoint, SDK House, Allenby Townhouses, The Springs and The Summit.
In 1969, Cesare Pradella was the Developer and Manager of the Ridge Motel at Spring Hill – the first high rise motel in the Brisbane CBD, again setting an industry standard for accommodation and rooftop dining. Pradella retained the management of this iconic Brisbane hotel for many years.
Taking over the business from Cesare, in 1981 David Pradella with his older brother Silvio, designed, built and operated the first purpose built apartment hotel complex in Australia. In 1989, Silvio became the Managing Director of Welded Tube Mills of Australia and separated from the group in the early 2000’s.
From 2001, David was Joint Managing Director of the Pradella Group with his younger brother Kim, which specialised in Construction, Development, Hotels and Property Management. Pradella is now one of Queensland’s most awarded developers, builders and property managers.
A corporate restructure of the Pradella Group in 2007 saw David become the Managing Director and sole shareholder of Pradella Property Ventures. Kim Pradella became the Managing Director and sole shareholder of the Pradella Development group.
