The Tasmanian developer who plans to invest $128 million across the Apple Isle by 2028 has revealed its latest scheme.

Stewart Group Hobart has filed plans for the Tasmania Police headquarters in the capital, proposing its conversion into an apartment tower,

The $5-million proposal now before the Hobart City Council is for the 10-storey building at 47 Liverpool Street on the corner of Argyle Street, opposite the Royal Hobart Hospital in the CBD.

The tower is home to police, fire and emergency management staff, who are expected to vacate the building before the state’s lease expires on June 30.

The plans filed by Era Advisory on behalf of the Stewart Group seek to convert the building, which was completed in 1967, into 17 apartments and a ground-floor cafe.

The development would comprise 16 three-bedroom apartments across floors 3 to 9 and a 478sq m four-bedroom penthouse on the top floor.

The ground and first floors would be reconfigured to provide 40 car parking spaces for residents.

External changes to the building are expected to be minor and include garage doors, timber-look aluminium battens and a canopy at the penthouse level.

The 1513sq m property served for decades as Tasmania Police’s state headquarters.

▲ A rendering of the apartment tower conversion proposed for the Police headquarters in Hobart.

The building was sold to Stewart Group earlier this year by long-time owner Sandran, who had held it for about two decades.

A sale price was not disclosed but the site had been valued at up to $18 million. According to RP Data, Sandran paid $9.2 million for the asset in in 2004.

Stewart Group Hobart is a Tasmanian property and commercial development entity spearheaded by prominent businessman and developer Errol Stewart.

The company is the Hobart-focused arm of his broader Tasmanian business interests, which include the JMC Group (Jackson Motor Company) and JMC Property Group.

Its projects include a $35-million beachfront hotel at Burnie, part of a broader $128-million investment program across Tasmania over the next three years.

▲ The Stewart Group developed Peppers Silo Hotel in Launceston, a 108-key hotel in converted grain silos on the Tamar River foreshore.

The group is no stranger to adaptive reuse projects; in 2017 its conversion of grain silos into a 10-storey, 108-key hotel, Peppers Silo Hotel, opened in Launceston.

Stewart, managing director of both Stewart Group Tasmania and JMC Property Group, built his property development career alongside running the Jackson Motor Company car dealership business.

He entered development in the late 1990s with Launceston’s Seaport Hotel for $10 million, later adding the $32-million Silos Hotel on the Tamar River to his portfolio.

JMC’s broader development pipeline includes the $20-million City Scape Towers project in Hobart’s Campbell Street that comprises twin five-storey apartment buildings.

Public submissions on the Liverpool Street proposal are due to close June 9.

Launceston

Residential

26 May 26

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