JESSICA HOWARD, Mercury
September 26, 2017 6:00pm
Subscriber only
http://www.themercury.com.au/reales...n/news-story/56e00299b2d6710210c0204dbfc5241f
PLANS for a $60 million expansion at the site of the heritage-listed Lenna of Hobart hotel in Battery Point will be lodged with the Hobart City Council this week, the Mercury can reveal.
The original 1874 sandstone building, on the corner of Salamanca and Runnymede St, already features a 1970s extension and owners Lloyd and Jan Clark have joined forces with developer Dean Coleman for a new 85-room, six star boutique hotel on the existing car park.
It would also feature three street-level retail tenancies and a publicly accessible social space that opens up onto Princes Park.
The seven-storey building would have an overall height of 33.2m, 6.2m higher than the existing Lenna building, which contains 52 rooms.
The current height limit for the Sullivans Cove precinct is 18m.
Designed by Partners Hill, the plans have been two years in the making and have been changed in consultation with council planners over the last 18 months.
Mr Clark said the final courtyard-style design was aimed to integrate with the existing structures and to avoid being a single, block-like tower.
“We love and greatly respect Lenna and are committed to preserving the existing buildings for future generations to enjoy,” he said.
“As well, we are maintaining maintaining and further developing a viable tourism business into the future that is able to compete with existing and future accommodation developments.
“Our goal from the outset was to develop a proposal that would enhance the current Lenna site and the area generally and also respect the local history.
“We wanted it to be a development that Hobartians could be proud of and for there to be a large public area where anyone could bring their guests and enjoy the adjacent park and water views from the podium level.”
The new building would features three distinctly different facades on the park, water and Salamanca sides.
Mr Coleman, who will project manage the development, said it would create 400 jobs during construction and 80 hospitality industry jobs.
Mr Coleman’s Melbourne-based company Solutions*Won was a key partner in several major Victorian projects, including Southern Cross Station, the Melbourne Convention Centre, South Wharf and the Hilton Hotel complex.
In Tasmania, he is perhaps best known as the man behind the alternate hospital redevelopment proposal on the Queens Domain, which failed to win over the State Government.
He is also one of the developers behind the $9 million Richmond Maze redevelopment.
Mr Coleman said the mantra for the Lenna project was “locals doing it right”.
“You can’t please everybody, but we like to think we can please as many people as possible,” he said.
The development application will be lodged with the council in the coming days, Mr Coleman said.
If approved, it will take approximately 18 months to build.
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Get ready for some Battery Point comments on this! Mercury comments are blank so far.
It will look good though, but quite commanding on the hill - look at the last image via the link. Will try and post images ASAP.
