Cafe Society: City with a definite Point to prove

Mary Massina is throwing open the gates of Hobart’s biggest urban renewal project this summer.

Cafe Society with Macquarie Point chief Mary Massina. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

BIG reveals have their place, says Macquarie Point boss Mary Massina, but it’s essential to bring the community along with you when major public sites are reactivated.

Think of the process as a slow-burn seduction rather than a ‘ta-daa’ moment.

It’s the way the Macquarie Point Development Corporation chief executive is approaching stage one of the redevelopment of the vast former railyards precinct in Hobart.

“The site should be used in various ways that build up a high degree of public ownership,” says Massina over a sparkling raspberry drink at the Hobart Brewing Company’s onsite bar.

“Contemporary urban renewal says you do two things concurrently: activate the site by throwing open the gates and pursue the hard infrastructure [for the ultimate vision].”

The $2 billion Macquarie Point redevelopment is the largest such project ever undertaken in Tasmania, with a timeline spanning decades.

Massina is not worried by the slow rollout. The former Property Council of Tasmania chief executive is accustomed to what sometimes seems like the snail’s pace of big projects.

“The important thing is to get it right and stay the course,” she says.

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If all goes to plan, Mac Point will become a landmark precinct of science, arts, culture and tourism. It will also include residential and commercial builds and lots of outdoor recreational space.

What we will see first, though, is just a hint of those themes through interim projects on the grungy 9ha lot.

You may already know it as Dark Mofo’s Dark Park.

Lying between Evans St and the Regatta Grounds, the traditional lands of the Mouheneener people have been repurposed, sometimes without a lot of love, over the years. Now remediation work on legacy pollution and other issues is winding up as the project moves into investment and development phases.

“This summer will be the first time since 1850 the site has been permanently open to the people,” says Massina.

That will happen when a bike track linking it with the Regatta Grounds opens in time for the Wooden Boat Festival in February.

When the Bridge of Remembrance is erected, it will link the cycleway with the Botanical Gardens.

The masterplan embraces Mona’s ambitious vision. Presented to the State Government in 2016, it superseded a first masterplan.

And it is Massina’s template as her team plots the redevelopment. She says concerns expressed over the residential component of recently approved plan amendments are unfounded.

The Macquarie Point site on Hobart’s waterfront. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

The main change, she says, was expediting some planned residential to help alleviate Hobart’s housing shortage.

“We have a housing crisis and moving a small footprint of residential forward is about us sitting at the table and playing a part in this discussion,” she says.

The only residential zone in stage one is adjacent to the escarpment below Queens Domain and the Cenotaph. Previously slated for executive apartments and visitor accommodation, it has been amended to straight residential apartments.

While part of the amended plan mapped as “mixed use” gave the impression more residential had been added facing Evans St, Massina says the planning rules for the area in question stipulate only arts and cultural builds.

She says no amendment affects the site’s ability to host major live events.

The amended masterplan will reach Hobart City Council for planning approval early next year when public consultation and feedback are invited.

An Antarctic and science hub relies on securing federal money through a Hobart City Deal and elements such as the Eden Project’s eco-tourism rainforest domes are not locked in.

But critical progress has been made this year with a commitment to decommission a site-limiting and unsightly water treatment plant nearby.

The amendments also sanctify transport corridors, including provision for light rail.

Massina remembers coming down Kelly’s Steps from Battery Point decades ago and seeing the abandoned Salamanca warehouses coming to life with galleries and other indie projects.

“It was full of pop-ups and little experiences. It was really exciting,” she says.

It’s that sort of connection she aims to foster at Mac Point as we wait for the construction of centres of immense cultural value, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Art Park that addresses the darkest eras of our history.

Meanwhile, this summer, there’s beer and food truck tucker to be enjoyed around Red Square. A huge edible garden with many native varieties is under leaf, with plans to soften much of the site with planter boxes full of greenery. There’s a gin festival in January in the old goods shed, which hosts loads of concerts. And Garagistes restaurant co-founder Luke Burgess is starting a pop-up restaurant. Community groups are regularly using various indoor spaces.

“We are setting the DNA now with the same elements so it already becomes about art, culture, science and tourism,” says Massina.

“It’s the school kids now who will grow up with the site.”