Hobart’s crumbling heritage for sale

“KEEP OUT DANGEROUS TERRACE”

Corner of Salamanca Place and Davey St, Hobart, Tasmania
photographed in January 2008.
Photo © Echo’s Pond 2008 ARR

Heritage buildings up for sale

Source: The Mercury online

PHILIPPA DUNCAN
Political reporter

April 07, 2008 12:00am

A PRIME block of Hobart real estate that boasts Salamanca Place frontage, heritage buildings and a high-rise office block will be up for sale as early as this week and will net millions of dollars for the State Government.

The buildings, bounded by Murray St, Salamanca Place, Davey St and Parliament House, are expected to attract keen interest from private developers.

Treasurer Michael Aird will this week announce the buildings – dubbed Heritage Square – are on the market.

A hotel, artist enclave, apartments, tourism or commercial developments are among possible suggestions for the buildings.

The Government has recruited Ernst & Young, an assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services company, to help sell the block that includes the former Printing Authority building and an 11-storey office block.

Mr Aird would not comment on the imminent sale.

In 2006 Knight Frank director Rod Parker said the buildings would command plenty of interest and several millions of dollars.

“You are not going to get a better position,” he said.

“They’ll all be an attractive buy. There is a big shortage of office space in Hobart.”

This shortage will be heightened by Premier Paul Lennon’s recent decision to remove the Bathurst St Education Department office block from sale and investigate its use as accommodation for the homeless.

Parliament House is the only building in block, metres from the waterfront, that the Government will keep.

In 2006, Mr Aird said the site presented significant challenges because of heritage values and interconnections between some of the buildings.

Work has been under way for years to untangle the intertwined titles and access.

The buildings are either empty or house public servants. The largest building in the block is 10 Murray St, an 11-storey office block that houses public servants.

An older sandstone building at 36 Davey St is in poor condition and in 2005 needed substantial work to restore its crumbling facade.

This and a two-storey building at 6 Salamanca Place are used largely for storage but the rest of the buildings are in good order.

The vacant four-storey art deco building at 2-4 Salamanca Place housed the Printing Authority until its move to an industrial estate in 2005.

Source: The Mercury online