Bid to transform Claremont House into hotel and restaurant could be over

A NINE-year bid to restore and transform the National Estate-listed Claremont House into a hotel and restaurant could be over, with the owner blaming Glenorchy City Council regulations.

Joel Van Sanden at Claremont House. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

A NINE-year bid to transform the National Estate-listed Claremont House into a hotel and restaurant could be over, with the owner blaming Glenorchy City Council regulations.

Joel Van Sanden has spent more than $1.5 million on refurbishing the 33-room building since buying the 1839-built property in 2007.

Claremont House was built as a four-room Georgian home by Henry Bilton, the warden of Glenorchy from 1868 to 1874.

Mr Van Sanden has run tours of the property since 2012 and also turned it into a hotel and a restaurant.

Joel Van Sanden has spent more than $1.5 million on refurbishing Claremont House since buying the 1839-built property in 2007. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Last week the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal agreed with a Glenorchy council ruling that the 50-space car park had to be sealed, along with the driveway.

Mr Van Sanden has stopped running tours and closed the restaurant. He said that otherwise he would be trading in breach of his licence.

“I’ve closed the restaurant and the tours,” Mr Van Sanden said.

“With the new planning permit, the council is requiring a sealed carpark and a sealed driveway.

“And to do this would have to rip up nearly all the plumbing to put in a drain on the driveway, and it’s not worth it.

“Over the last few years since I lodged the initial application in February 2015 it’s been caught up in red tape and other battles and it’s cost me over $200,000 with the development applications.

“To do these changes it would be another $70,000 to upgrade the carpark.”

Mr Van Sanden said the council needed to understand that heritage-listed homes needed to be taken special care of.

“They need to understand that ... the current criteria [don’t fit] a home that was built in 1839,” he said.

Glenorchy Mayor Kristie Johnston, the council’s official spokeswoman, said she would reach out to Mr Van Sanden as quickly as possible to discuss how they could find a solution.

“It’s a beautiful piece of heritage and it’s a much loved part of the community,” Alderman Johnston said.

Launching the restorations in 2015, Mr Van Sanden said at the time he was looking forward to the community being exposed to the work on the historic buildings.

“It’s been challenging and it’s had some ups and downs but I think I get the most enjoyment from the tours when people recognise the work we have done here,” he said at the time.