Will Hobart change?

[drron]

My feeling this will not get approval-

Singapore billionaire James Koh unveils plans for Tasmania's tallest building - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hobart's skyline is set to change dramatically if two new hotel projects are built over the next five years.
Singapore-based Fragrance Group has unveiled its plans, with a pledge Hobart's first skyscraper and another 20-storey futuristic structure would create 1,000 full-time jobs and ease the city's accommodation shortage.
At 120 metres, one hotel at 28-30 Davey Street will become the tallest building in Tasmania.
On the drawing board, the 35-storey five-star hotel features a bridge for pedestrians to walk to the waterfront without crossing Macquarie and Davey Streets.
The second hotel — a 20-floor, 75-metre structure with 495 rooms — is slated for 2-6 Collins Street.
It would also have a bridge to allow people to walk and cycle to the waterfront Macquarie Point site now under development.

 

[kpc]

Lots of jobs and tourist $$$ for Hobart that would be tempting for the govt....

 

[GDSman]

City of Hobart Council doesn't have a history of supporting this type of development, unfortunately....

 

[opusman]

Hobart definitely needs more hotels though.

 

[vetrade]

Tassie & Hobart definitely need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. If Mr Koh has some more cash I'd suggest he build a hotel/shops/restaurants at Freycinet as well - prices and quality there might then start to approach reasonable.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

City of Hobart Council doesn't have a history of supporting this type of development, unfortunately....

Not to mention the large green vote that exists in Hobart.

 

[drron]

Saffire at Freycinet is definitely world class as far as accommodation and restaurant is concerned.But out of most people's price range.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I've done business in Tasmania and Hobart and they are their own worst enemy with greed and laziness manifesting

 

[Steady]

I've done business in Tasmania and Hobart and they are their own worst enemy with greed and laziness manifesting

Thats a very broad brush stroke Sprucegoose

 

[Franky]

Thats a very broad brush stroke Sprucegoose

If the cap fits...

 

[Steady]

If the cap fits...

Really... ? seems the cap being mentioned is a one size fits all

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I've done business in Tasmania and Hobart and they are their own worst enemy with greed and laziness manifesting

And I have been doing business with Taswegians from King Is to Flinders Is to Launceston to Hobart to Bruny Is for 35yrs - what a fabulous ethical, honest, trustworthy and unadultered population of inhabitants - could not begin to enunciate the 1,000s of business deals I have undertaken face to face / over phone / via fax / via email over the journey and not a one have I been stooked on unless it was my own bad judgement.

What a pleasure to get down there and deal with some people who still look you in the eye - shake your hand - and then fulfill their obligations as they promise. Are there lazy people in Tas - prolly - cough load more back here on mainland - give me a Taswegian any day.

FTR - I still own freehold property and operating business in Launceston - I love every second of the interaction I can get with our Southern cousins.

 

[RooFlyer]

City of Hobart Council doesn't have a history of supporting this type of development, unfortunately....

Proposals of a glass tower in a heritage neighbourhood, twice the height of anything existing in the city? No, probably not. Funny that.

Tassie & Hobart definitely need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. If Mr Koh has some more cash I'd suggest he build a hotel/shops/restaurants at Freycinet as well - prices and quality there might then start to approach reasonable.

Saffire not good enough for you then? Tried its restaurant? Nor Freycinet Lodge? Any of its eateries? How about my own place at Freycinet then? None of these "approach reasonable" ?

.

I've done business in Tasmania and Hobart and they are their own worst enemy with greed and laziness manifesting

Gee, you've done 'business' in Tasmania AND Hobart, eh? Golly, you sure have been around.

And I have been doing business with Taswegians from King Is to Flinders Is to Launceston to Hobart to Bruny Is for 35yrs - what a fabulous ethical, honest, trustworthy and unadultered population of inhabitants - could not begin to enunciate the 1,000s of business deals I have undertaken face to face / over phone / via fax / via email over the journey and not a one have I been stooked on unless it was my own bad judgement.

What a pleasure to get down there and deal with some people who still look you in the eye - shake your hand - and then fulfill their obligations as they promise. Are there lazy people in Tas - prolly - cough load more back here on mainland - give me a Taswegian any day.

FTR - I still own freehold property and operating business in Launceston - I love every second of the interaction I can get with our Southern cousins.

My new best friend CE .


Now to the OP. The site is excellent; nothing heritage exactly on the site, although it was the site of my ggg-grandfather's timber yard and it is in a heritage neighbourhood.

The problem will be the height and the 'glass tower' aspect. Design is asking to be refused. Why would you propose a tower twice as high as any other building in Hobart, plonked in a heritage neighborhood and expect it to get through? I suspect its an ambit claim for something that'll be more reasonable and hopefully successful.

Sorry to rise to several baits, but there appears to be quite a lot of ignorance here.

And nothing price and quality "reasonable" at Freycinet? Tasmania AND Hobart?

ps Does anyone really think that the second tower, with a stylized Asian junk (type vessel) across the front belongs in a Hobart heritage neighbourhood?

Hey, maybe this could be built at Freycinet, overlooking Wineglass Bay. Yes!! Reasonable and quality. . .

 

[Cruiser Elite]

In about 81 or 82 I bought a boatload of bullocks (approx 100) off the Bligh brothers who had Prime Seal Is leased - these bullocks were 4 and 5yo - they had been put over on PSI as calves and never mustered again for 4yrs. They were huge bullocks - poor as crows (skinny) but huge frames (large skeletal structure) that if we could get meat on them (fatten them) they would weigh like lead (heavy carcasses when slaughtered).

They were as wild as March hares (very undomesticated) and the whole process was going to be a big gamble on my behalf. After I bought them the weather cut up rough and blew its cough out for weeks on end - the cattle boat they were using at the time was the 'Lady Jillian' and could not sail in rough weather.

The deal on those days was that all Livestock Purchase Contracts were null and void of ship could not sail and cattle could not be lifted within 30 days. It blew and blew and price for US manufacturing beef increased by something like 30% IIRC in 30 days. The bullocks I paid $300 for were now worth min $400 as I bought them under the odds to start with - Roo Bligh and his brother were well within their rights to cancel contract and cop a higher price elsewhere. But nope - Roo insisted we had a deal and he would stick to it.

Stock Agent at the time was Gary Blundstone (yep his family made boots too) relayed details to me when boat finally left - I told him split the diff with Roo and make price $350 - Roo was ecstatic - I made a poultice out of these bullocks as they turned inside out (fattened very quickly) and everybody happy. Roo spread the word length of Fl Is and we then had a never ending stream of deals ongoing - only instructions I ever gave the agents or coughies was give me accurate description and don't upsell - we bought gazillions of cattle and sheep off Flinders and King Is coughies from there on many times sight unseen.

In those days I would fly from Welshpool or Moorabbin on twin engine into Whitemark or Currie - then onto Launceston or Hobart for a night or 2 in Casinos before heading back to MEL. In those days you could not get into Wrest Point or Launceston without jacket - you would hire one at the door. Here is a suggestion - what is the chance we could go back to those days instead of some of the experiences we get in Australia in 2016.

But I digress - is this too OT? Jeez I would love to tell some more tales but I type too slow.

 

[RooFlyer]

That's the biggest load of bullocks I've ever read on AFF.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

We were up around Smithton or somewhere one time I don't really know except the farm was part of a McCains spud processing operation. They had the land leased to a coughy who had some young bullocks on the land and they were fed potato peeling from calves from about 8mths age. Technically they were not bullocks as were only 2.5yrs old so really steers - but they had been fed so much potato pealing over 20mths they were huge.

As they had foraged through mountains of wet soggy potato peelings for years their front feet never dried out and their hooves had spread to the size of dinner plates - I had never seen anything like it. I said to the agent I can't buy these cattle and try to ship them back to mainland as their feet will never stand up to it and was ready to walk away. coughy said I will guarantee they travel and if any don't make the trip we will just scratch them from the deal.

My kinda language - beautiful young bullocks just perfect for the Japanese trade so we did the deal - I think we lost 5 or 6 in the journey out of 80 odd head - coughy was true to his word and we only paid for those that walked off the boat at Footscray - drag the Tassie-ites into today's world? Nah let's go back and join them.

 

[dajop]

I suspect its an ambit claim for something that'll be more reasonable and hopefully successful.

Isn't it standard practice these days by developers to do this? If you want to build a 10 storey building ... put in for planning approval for a 20 storey building.

 

[vetrade]

..................Saffire not good enough for you then? Tried its restaurant? Nor Freycinet Lodge? Any of its eateries? How about my own place at Freycinet then? None of these "approach reasonable" ? ........................

I feel like I poked a bear and upset the sensibilities of our southern cousins.

Firstly, Saffire is lovely, BUT it's $2000 a night. I know what's "reasonable" is subjective but I suspect that not a lot of people equate reasonable with dropping $2K for a single night and a couple of meals, no matter how good the rabbit stew is.

The thing about Freycinet NP / Coles Bay is that for practical purposes it's not a DI/DO (drive in / drive out) option for most people. The drive to or from the closest towns is a bit too long for that so the only real option is to stay there and get charged about double what the equivalent standard of accommodation is anywhere else to the north, south or west. Accommodation options overall aren't plentiful and there seems to be a premium built into the rates for the nice scenery or the clean air or whatever........

To cite your example, Freycinet Lodge certainly isn't good value at nearly $400 a night for the standard of the rooms, beds etc. Even average B&Bs in that area charge $300 - 350 a night when you can book the same virtually anywhere else in Tassie for $150 - 200.

Coles Bay is the epicentre of Freycinet and it's HOPELESS because there's virtually nothing there and the couple of dining options are deplorable. There's a little humpy of an Italian style restaurant across the road from the supermarket which serves cough pizzas etc. at ridiculous prices and if they sit you on the "lean-to" deck you eat your meal gagging on the smell of the septic underneath the floor. Then there's a take away place which should be condemned because it's so grotty, which also has the only petrol available in town which they sell for 40 cents a litre more than what you pay in Hobart. And don't go into town expecting to find somewhere to eat at 8.30 - 9.00pm because they've probably all gone home by then! (admittedly that's a trait that seems common in other parts of Tassie too - we couldn't even get a feed at 7.30pm on a Sunday night anywhere in Port Arthur- WTF??)

Freycinet is a place where virtually everyone overcharges and under-delivers IME - it really does stand out for all the wrong reasons compared to nearly anywhere else in Tassie. That's why I say a bit of competition is what they need to shake them out of their gouging and apathetic mentality. Bring on Mr Koh!

 

[Abdul_A350]

We scattered our son's ashes at Friendly Beaches and go back to the area at least once a year. To use an expression I learnt recently, it is what it is. Very happy for it to stay that way.

If you can book the same virtually anywhere else in Tassie, then perhaps you should book there.

 

[vetrade]

If you can book the same virtually anywhere else in Tassie, then perhaps you should book there.

Don't see your point - I wouldn't book a hotel in Miami if I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. Likewise if I want to walk the tracks in Freycinet NP it's not much point booking a hotel or restaurant in Burnie!