An 80-room hotel could be on the cards for Launceston if the city council approves the sale of part of the Cimitiere Street car park at its meeting on Monday.
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The land, located opposite City Park and the Albert Hall, is used for council employee and limited commercial parking, and is also the site of Launceston’s Harvest Market on Saturday mornings.
The size of the site is 1,660 square metres and could be sold to Stay Tasmania, which would need to gain development approval for the hotel within two years of the sale.
In the City of Launceston council meeting agenda general manager Robert Dobrzynski recommended that as a condition of the agreement the portion of the car park slated for sale would continue to be used by the Harvest Market and the council until works begin.
“Tasmania is currently experiencing a tourism boom. Unless Launceston can provide the range of accommodation to suit all travellers, it will miss out on capturing the benefits of the increased tourist numbers," the agenda said. “There are few quality hotels in Launceston and the development of a new one opposite City Park and within walking distance to the city centre, and potentially the new UTAS campus, will be highly attractive to tourists and corporate travellers alike.”
The council estimated a maximum of 45 car spots would be removed.
Assistant manager of the Harvest Market Kim Hewitt said organisers were excited about the sale of part of the Cimitiere Street car park.
“Following consultations with the Launceston City Council the Harvest Launceston committee believes that these developments will provide an exciting opportunity for the market to continue to grow in its current site,” she said.
Ms Hewitt said the car park had become the market’s home over the past four years, and the executive believed it was still the best site for Harvest Launceston but some changes would inevitably occur.
“We see this as a great opportunity to take advantage of increased space within the current car parks, with which we can reconfigure the layout of the stalls and continue to grow the market to make it even better as a vibrant community space,” she said.
The site was previously occupied by BBC hardware and was acquired by the council following the sale of the former Charles Street works depot and the Cornwall Square car park.
