TasTAFE Launceston, 10-16 Wellington St, to be redeveloped
A heritage-listed TasTAFE campus is set for a stunning facelift, with plans unveiled for a luxury, mixed-use precinct featuring an art hotel, bars and restaurants, office space and residential units.
Launceston
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A heritage-listed TasTAFE campus in northern Tasmania is set for a stunning rebirth after years of vacancy, with plans unveiled for a redevelopment which would see the installation of an art hotel, residential units, bars and restaurants, and commercial office space.
An application is currently before the Tasmanian Planning Commission to rezone 10–16 Wellington St, Launceston, formerly TasTAFE’s Launceston campus until operations were centralised at the Alanvale campus, from community purpose to urban mixed-use.
If successful – Launceston City Council has submitted its in-principle support to the TPC after considering it at an earlier meeting – it will pave the way for developer Red Panda Property Group, which purchased the site for $6.35m, to lodge a formal development application.
Red Panda managing director Andrew McCullagh said the redevelopment would involve a 137-bed “premium art hotel, an array of two, three and four-bedroom boutique residential apartments, eating houses and cafes, specialty bars, and a portion of commercial office space”, with an expected price tag of up to $50m.
Mr McCullagh said the development would be an opportunity to further activate the northwestern portion of the Launceston CBD.
“It’s central but separate, with only the QVMAG (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery) and Royal Park as neighbours and it will build a natural linkage to other recent developments and others that are upcoming in the Paterson St area,” he said.
“It links Royal Park, the gorge, and Seaport precinct to the city centre with a natural flow.”
Mr McCullagh said one option being explored with council was constructing an “airbridge” linking the development to QVMAG, with the possibility of a “substantial increase” in the latter’s patronage numbers.
He said retaining the building’s history – it is a permanently registered site on the Tasmanian Heritage Register – was a foremost consideration.
“The empathy and consideration given to the building and its surrounds have been of foremost consideration, and we think they have nailed it,” he said.
“We have subtly placed our build at around 25m to blend in to the surrounds given the site holds a little more sensitivity, all the while still taking in the magnificent views of the Tamar, Cataract Gorge, Royal Park and city itself.”
Mr McCullagh said planning was “well advanced” and he expected the TPC to approve the rezoning within the next fortnight.
Meanwhile, Mr McCullagh revealed he was in discussions with Mona as to whether the campus could host short-term art projects, including at next year’s Mona Foma, before it “goes onto the next chapter of its history”.
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