A $70 million proposal for a 20-storey high-rise tower in Royal Park and a completely revamped North Bank industrial site will be unveiled at today's economic summit in Launceston.
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Seaport developer Errol Stewart will present his vision for an iconic Launceston tower, complete with Cataract Gorge views and a sky deck, to the city's business community.
The radical proposal involves relocating the Launceston Bowls Club from Royal Park and replacing it was a high-rise apartment tower featuring restaurants, offices and other commercial tenants.
Mr Stewart would pay for the bowls club to find a new home in the old Roberts Woolstore on Lindsay Street, Invermay, after an overhaul completed by an outdoor bowling green.
The tower is an alternative to his idea for a sky rail from the Gorge up to Trevallyn Lake, which Mr Stewart doubts would be approved.
The three to five-year proposal includes:
A chairlift from North Bank to Seaport or Royal Park.
An adventure centre and cafe at the old grain silos featuring a rock-climbing wall.
A boardwalk wider than the one at Seaport wrapped around the waterfront of North Bank.
A new rowing club with a relocated pontoon at North Bank.
A bridge for pedestrians and cyclists from Seaport to North Bank.
Landscaping and large open public spaces.
Mr Stewart envisages a Salamanca or Darling Harbour-style development cementing the location as a must-visit place for tourists.
``Around the world you'll find just about every major city has a tower - London, Shanghai, Paris - every one wants to go to the highest building and look at the city,'' he said.
``We have to have people come and either say `I want to live there or I want to go up and visit the sky deck'.''
Building the tower and regenerating North Bank would deliver an estimated 100 construction jobs over three years.
Another year of planning and approval and two years to build mean the plan could come to fruition by 2015-16.
The plan incorporates large public spaces for the 50,000 square metre North Bank site, which is in keeping with the Launceston City Council's wish to maintain it as a community area.
``It would create a marketplace. We'd cut out some of the marina, cover up the mud,'' Mr Stewart said.
``It would be a public space, owned by the city . . . and we would link it to the Seaport with a bridge across the river.''
Mr Stewart estimated the tower would cost about $40 million while the North Bank site would be a $30 million project with some of the development possibly done in stages.
The Business Association of Tasmania, chaired by Mr Stewart, is lobbying the three tiers of government for an economic stimulus package designed to boost construction in Tasmania.