Revealed: Plans for Regatta Point apartments, Macquarie Point stadium hub
Housing for essential health workers would be the centrepiece of a state government proposal for Regatta Point, as further details around the official ‘urban renewal’ masterplan are revealed and the Prime Minister says why it’s important >>
Tasmania
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Housing for essential health workers would be the centrepiece of a state government proposal for Regatta Point.
The plan includes up to 120 new apartments to house locums, allied health professionals and other skilled workers for the Royal Hobart Hospital.
The plan is laid out in a letter from Department of State Growth Secretary Kim Evans and Macquarie Point Development Corporation acting CEO Anne Beach to Hobart City Council CEO Kelly Grigsby dated April 13.
It referred to recent discussions with the council about the site.
“As part of the activation of Mac Point and the urban renewal opportunities in and around the precinct, we have identified an opportunity for high amenity, medium density housing on Crown Land located at Regatta Point,” the letter says.
It says the site offers the opportunity to build 120 new apartments for health workers, facilities to “support and complement the work of the RSL as well as apartments for private sale”.
The letter says the apartments would be built to maintain views to and from the Hobart Port control tower, the Tasman Bridge and the Cenotaph.
It notes the development would complement the activation of the Huon Quays, a heritage-listed site immediately adjacent to the development.
And it notes that the Hobart City Council, the Royal Hobart Regatta Association and RSL Tasmania as key stakeholders for engagement over the future of the site.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce federal government funding for an AFL stadium at Macquarie Point this weekend.
He has made clear his preference for urban renewal to form part of what the state government is pitching as an “arts, entertainment and sporting precinct”.
Mr Albanese answered a question by a reporter today on why it was important for the government to help fund a stadium in Tasmania and an AFL team?
“My Government have been engaging with the Tasmanian Government about urban redevelopment on the site of Macquarie Point. That shouldn’t come as any surprise,” Mr Albanese said.
“In 2012, myself as Infrastructure Minister put $50 million into that site for its remediation. Bear in mind, this site will connect the City of Hobart with the Derwent River.
“Hobart is an extraordinarily beautiful city but at the moment, Mac Point sits there as an eyesore.”
Mr Albanese said Macquarie Point was “completely under-utilised”.
“And what I have said is if we can use that site for recreational activity, for housing, for private sector investment, for urban redevelopment in order to improve economic activity in Tasmania, in order to create jobs but during construction but also, in the longer term, by having a centre that can bring jobs and events to Tasmania, then that would be a positive thing. So we are working through those issues with the Tasmanian Government.”
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