The Mercury - April 2008
Heritage buildings up for sale
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.
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