University of Tasmania to sell former K&D site after purchasing in 2019
The former K&D site purchased by the university for $30m in 2019 with plans for student accommodation will be sold. Here’s why.
Tasmania
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The University will sell the former K&D site it bought for $30m for student accommodation in 2019 and is now home to a popular basketball centre Swisherr.
It says the 1.3ha site, which occupies an entire city block, including Bathurst Street is now surplus to requirements.
The K&D site and property at 65 Argyle St will be put on the market in the coming months.
UTAS revealed the sale of the former K&D site which once was home to a big hardware centre as part of its plan to have four campuses at Sandy Bay and Hobart.
“As a strong supporter of Swisherr and its important community engagement, the University will work closely with them and other users of the former K&D site to plan for their future,” it said.
In January 2021 then acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane Long said the basketball centre would be in use for at least three years until it was developed as part of a new inner-city campus that has been delayed by Covid.
The proceeds from the sale of the two sites will be invested in the ongoing project to redevelop the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies facilities at Taroona and the soon to begin research facility for the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture at Newnham.
The sales of K&D and Argyle St properties follow the university’s sale of two Hobart hotels.
The state government bought Hobart’s Fountainside Hotel from the university in August for $16.25m as accommodation for key health workers.
The 50-unit hotel was bought by Homes Tasmania to be used by health workers from the Royal Hobart Hospital.
In September the university sold the 122-room Allurity Hotel, previously known as the MidCity Hotel, in Hobart’s CBD to Singapore-based company, Fragrance Group for $25.3m.
The decision to sell the hotels was motivated by forecasts that overseas student number would never return to pre-2020 highs.
UTAS has been criticised for buying real estate with some arguing it should remain at its Sandy Bay campus.
In an elector poll two years ago, Hobart ratepayers voted overwhelmingly against the university’s proposal to relocate the Sandy Bay campus into the CBD.
The vote to support the move was 25.62 per cent with 74.38 per cent against.
In the face of the result of 30,428 ratepayers the university withdrew a planning scheme amendment for Sandy Bay which had included 2700 new homes.
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