A new $74 million mixed-use office building could soon be built in the heart of Hobart’s CBD.
Plans for the eight-storey development on Bathurst Street have been submitted to the Hobart City Council by Hanging Garden Group, a company partly owned by MONA owner David Walsh.
The development includes several floors of office space, a ground-level lobby with retail tenancies and 16 basement parking spaces.
A previous development on the site, proposed in October 2022, included an 11-storey building with basement parking and an office tenancy over nine floor levels.
It was withdrawn before it could be assessed.
The proposed building’s materiality is a combination of coloured cladding with a concrete effect, textured and natural finish concrete, glass and charcoal coloured aluminium louvres and mullions.
“The proposal provides office use in a location that is well connected to the service functions of the CBD,” an application document reads.
“The proposal activates valuable land within the CBD by replacing carparks and under-utilised/dormant spaces with contemporary office spaces.”
The report notes that the development will provide a “critical mass” of office occupants to support surrounding local businesses.
It also proposes a retail or hospitality opportunity along Bathurst and Watchorn streets to activate the street front.
“The proposed building has a character that engages positively with an evolving precinct and whose uses will support and strengthen the primary activity centre by diversifying the range of activities provided within the CBD,” the document states.
The Hobart City Council recently approved plans for a new 12-storey office building on nearby Liverpool Street in July, adding to the revitalisation of the outskirts of the CBD.
Across the road at 125 Bathurst Street, plans for a 10-storey, 68-room hotel were approved in 2021, but the site was reportedly listed for sale several months later and construction never began.
Feedback on the plans is open until November 5.
