Korean suburb ParanVille plans back before Clarence City Council

THE dream of a “Korean suburb” in Hobart remains alive.

For Sale Sign winter june 22 THINKSTOCK

HOBART’S Little Korea has taken another step towards becoming a reality.

Developer Moon bae-Kim has resubmitted plans for a 325-lot subdivision at Rokeby, the first stage in a proposed $1 billion new suburb to be known as ParanVille.

The full development of about 800 homes, and facilities such as an English language school, was approved nearly three years ago.

But spokesman Stephen Kim said changes to the Clarence Council planning scheme while funding was being finalised had forced the developer to change the layout and reduce the size of the project by 20-30 lots.

“Most basically the reason why it’s been delayed is to get funding from the bank,” Mr Kim said.

“Due to the subprime mortgage [issue] from 2009, the older banks on the mainland and often in Tasmania don’t want to invest in property like this.”

ParanVille was designed with Asian homebuyers in mind and was to include shops, student accommodation and a sports centre.

Moon bae-Kim said at the time Tasmania’s climate and open spaces would prove attractive to buyers from Korea, Japan and China.

“That was our original concept, but we didn’t mention anything about that we are only going to sell those properties to the overseas and especially Korean people,” Mr Kim said.

“We are just saying that we will get some kind of investors from overseas, not particularly in Korea but other Asian countries as well.”

Mr Kim said a memorandum of understanding was in place with the University of Tasmania to examine the language school.

But turning the remainder of the commercial zone into something resembling a Chinatown had not been decided.

“It could be possibly developed that way as well but also we want some kind of Australian fine dining,” he said.

“We want to integrate every kind of culture business in the commercial district.”

An American investor was close to committing to the estate, which could create 1000 jobs over its eight-year building schedule, Mr Kim said.

Between 1000-1500 Koreans live in Tasmania, but Moon bae-Kim has estimated that could increase to 5000 by 2019.

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