Talking Point: Chambroad will work with Clarence council on Kangaroo Bay site

We’ve already put $10 million up for the hotel and hospitality school in Kangaroo Bay, and we will find a way to make it work – if council and COVID-19 let us, says Chambroad director Finely Zhang.

CHAMBROAD Australia has demonstrated its commitment to the $80 million Kangaroo Bay development by investing more than $10 million in the project over the past five years.

The Kangaroo Bay development will combine a boutique, international five-star hotel and a hospitality management college. It is a once-in-a-generation project.

In simple terms, we are not going to walk away from either the development or our investment. That anyone could allege Chambroad Australia will start construction and walk away, leaving a derelict site, doesn’t understand what $10 million means.

What has been made very clear to the Clarence City Council is that the Kangaroo Bay development represents a once in a generation opportunity. Chambroad Australia is ready now to begin construction on the 5-star hotel and college.

What stands in our way today is the COVID-19 pandemic, which is shattering lives and economies around the globe.

The past five years have also thrown up a number of roadblocks, none of which could have been predicted.

We began our journey in 2016, when Chambroad and TasTAFE signed a Heads of Agreement for a Hospitality Management College at Kangaroo Bay. In 2017, a Development Application was approved.

But in late 2018, TasTAFE withdrew from the project. Chambroad then had negotiations with several higher education providers, but we have always seen this as a Tasmanian project and we entered into a memorandum of understanding with the University of Tasmania in 2019. It is also the reason we engaged a range of Tasmanian professional companies and consultants to deliver the project.

The Kangaroo Bay development will be one of the very few hospitality management schools integrated with a global brand hotel group.

When the COVID-19 pandemic is under control and international travel and tourism can resume, Chambroad believes the development will further enhance Tasmania’s much-vaunted profile as a tourism destination and industry leader in niche tourism.

We are especially aware that Kangaroo Bay is one of the most iconic sites in greater Hobart, with its breathtaking views across the River Derwent to kunanyi/Mt Wellington looming behind.

Artist impression of the proposed development at Kangaroo Bay on Hobart's Eastern shore. Robert Morris-Nunn/Chambroad Australia

The hospitality school will be built alongside the new 109-room hotel, both designed by renowned Tasmanian architect firm Circa Morris-Nunn Chua, headed by Robert Morris-Nunn.

Chambroad has a strong cultural tradition in education and community-building and has chosen Tasmania and the international hospitality management school and boutique 5-star internationally branded hotel as its first Australian project.

The project contains a number of firsts, including the first major development at Kangaroo Bay in the City of Clarence; a world-first combination of a boutique 5-star hotel managed by an international hotel group and hospitality management school; and the first major economic activation of Kangaroo Bay and Bellerive Quay precinct.

The Kangaroo Bay hotel will have five-star accommodation and facilities combined with a five-star restaurant, a first for the Eastern Shore.

It will be the first University of Tasmania operation on the Eastern Shore.

The reality is that the Kangaroo Bay development is totally dependent on two of Tasmania’s hardest hit industry sectors – tourism and hospitality and domestic and international education.

Our development partner, as in our education provider, UTAS has had to cope with the evolving impact of COVID-19 on enrolments and in particular the ability of international students to arrive in Tasmania.

Which is why we have sought from Council — with the support of the Office of the Co-ordinator General and the University — an extension of 24 months to the “substantial commencement” period.

We have also committed to six-monthly reviews of the situation, so that if the COVID-19 pandemic came under control, we would start construction immediately.

Chambroad Australia will work with Council to find an ongoing use for the Kangaroo Bay site until the project achieves substantial construction commencement and is completed.

The Kangaroo Bay development is about the future of Tasmania and the future of the Eastern Shore.

It can play a major role for the state in the COVID-19 recovery, with more than 100 direct construction jobs and, when complete and in operation, the activation of the Bellerive quay and community in major and ongoing economic development.

University of Tasmania Associate Professor Stuart Crispin, Executive Dean of the School of Business and Economics, said the hospitality college could become one of the country’s standout hospitality management offerings. He noted it was an opportunity to meet Tasmania’s need for international standard tertiary studies in tourism through the hands-on experience in a new combination of school and internationally branded hotel.

Chambroad Australia is committed to the Kangaroo Bay development. But with our partners we need the time, like the rest of Tasmania, to come through COVID-19.

Finely Zhang is director and general manager of Chambroad Australia.