Former Harris Scarfe store in Hobart to be ‘revitalised’ with owners still searching for major tenant

The former flagship Harris Scarfe store in Collins St, Hobart, has sat largely vacant for months, but the building owners have revealed it will be “revitalised.” DETAILS >>>

• Harris Scarfe’s Hobart store will close its doors “in the near future”
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THE head of the Perth-based company which owns the former Harris Scarfe building in Hobart’s CBD has revealed their future plans for the site.

Silverleaf Investments director Gerard O’Brien said the company wanted to revitalise the building, but finding the right tenant was being made difficult due to COVID-19.

The former Harris Scarfe building on Collins St, Hobart, will be revitalised by owners Silverleaf Investments.

“We’ve got strong interest, but everyone needs to see it and it’s very hard to engage when people can’t see a product,” he said.

“Hopefully the whole of Sydney and Melbourne starts to open up and people feel fairly comfortable to fly and do business and I think that will happen by early February.”

Mr O’Brien said the plan was to convert level one into offices, which had already been done on level two, and the ground floor would be retained as retail.

The vacated department store was formerly known as Fitzgerald’s Department Store, with the Hobart branch the state’s flagship store.

It was acquired and rebranded by Harris Scarfe in 1995.

The Collins St store closed last year after Harris Scarfe went into receivership.

A development application is also currently being advertised by the Hobart City Council for a partial change of use to sport and recreation at 85-99 Collins St.

Mr O’Brien said this was technically the basement of 50 Elizabeth St, which adjoins the Harris Scarfe building and Cat and Fiddle Arcade.

Gerard O'Brien of Silverleaf Investments. Picture: SUPPLIED

“This has been pre-leased to a tenant – a gym – we have an approval to put a gym in on level one, but because of a quirk in the planning scheme you have to reapply for a different level,” he said.

DA documents refer to “trading hours for BFT,” which is understood to be Body Fit Training, which has gyms throughout Australia and New Zealand plus three in Singapore and two in the US.

BFT said they were not in a position to comment at this time.

Silverleaf Investments also recently completed the redevelopment of 109 Liverpool St, which saw the Commonwealth Bank, Bendigo Bank and men’s retailer Les Lees take up residency.

Mr O’Brien said both levels of government in the state had worked well with businesses during the pandemic.

The site connects through to the rest of the Cat and Fiddle Arcade.

“We’re in several states and they were the most proactive of all – Hobart City Council did a great job of going through and helping our local tenants and so did the state government with their land tax relief so full credit to them,” he said.

Meanwhile, another new gym about to set up shop in the state’s south is TeamFit Training at Mertonvale Circuit in Kingston.

A development application is currently being publicly advertised by the Kingborough Council for comment for the change of use from a warehouse to a gymnasium for the new facility.

Originally published as Former Harris Scarfe store in Hobart to be ‘revitalised’ with owners still searching for major tenant