Former Forestry Tasmania offices bought by UTAS in brighter economic times now up for lease as office space

It was one of the properties snapped up by the University of Tasmania as part of its rush on Hobart real estate, now it’s being offered back to the market as office space.

AN inner city Hobart property that was bought by the University of Tasmania in 2018 for $15 million is now up for lease as office space.

The former home of Forestry Tasmania, on Melville St, was bought by the university as part of its rush on Hobart city property in 2018-19 in preparation for the campus move from Sandy Bay to the city.

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The government valuation of the property was $5.7 million in 2018.

A university spokesman said at the time the purchase of the building was “financially prudent” as it would prevent the university from potentially being forced to negotiate an overheated commercial property market in the future.

UTAS had never officially said what it planned to do with the building.

UTAS snapped up the old Forestry Tasmania building on the corner of Murray and Melville and are now advertising it for lease.

Some of the university’s other recent inner-city purchases for student accommodation include the former Fountainside Hotel for $18.7m, the former MidCity Hotel for $23.5m and the former K&D site for $30m.

A spokesman said the university was exploring whether there was commercial interest in a section of the building.

“It makes good financial sense and, if there is, it will support commerce and bring life to the CBD,” he said.

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Local real estate firm Edwards Windsor is overseeing the lease of the former Forestry offices.

According to the property listing, it is available to lease over one lot of 500m2 for $145,000 per year, or the space can be split into two smaller office areas at $60,000 and $85,000 per year.

At the end of March, Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black said non-salary costs comprising 40 per cent of the UTAS budget would be slashed across travel, entertainment and capital expenditure, with all credit cards suspended unless approved by an executive director operations or chief finan-cial officer. The Southern Campus master planning has been put on hold and UTAS’s 2019 annual report is due to be released in the coming months.