Mr Stewart said while the site had good potential, it wasn’t on his radar to purchase.

“I’m not interested in it at all because of my commitments at the moment but it is a good site; I’ll leave it for another great entrepreneur,” he said.

Mr Stewart has existing development commitments at the controversial CH Smith site as well as the Launceston Silo hotel project, both of which are underway.

The St John Street site has opened up for a potential redevelopment after Defence Minister Marise Payne announced the army cadets, who use the site, would be relocating to Youngtown.

The announcement, made on Monday, is part of the federal government’s commitment to defence under Launceston’s City Deal.

The City Deal stated the cadets would be moved to a precinct in the northern suburbs but it is not clear if that means Youngtown or if the home for the cadets has been changed since the City Deal was released.

Mr Stewart said the barracks could be developed into accommodation if the right developer came along.

He said he believed the right person would come along who understood the historic significance of the buildings for the city.

“They will see the beauty of the buildings, the significance of the buildings has been there for over 200 years so someone will come along who will be sympathetic to that,” he said.

An opportunity has arisen for the site to become a boutique historic hotel, similar to Federal Group’s recently opened and highly acclaimed MACq01 development in Hobart.

“There is a potential there for a boutique hotel, they are very pretty buildings. Potential to convert to accommodation,” Mr Stewart said.

However, Federal Group said they weren’t looking at the St John Street site at present.

“Federal Group has already outlined its medium-term future tourism priorities as the development of luxury accommodation at Port Arthur and Cradle Mountain, building on the success of projects like Saffire and MACq 01,” executive general manager Daniel Hanna said.

“The St John Street site isn’t one that we’re looking at. However, the barracks could potentially be suitable for a tourism development that draws on the history of the site, while adding to the story of Launceston and boosting the visitor experience offered in Northern Tasmania.

Mr Hanna said the early positive response to MACq01 demonstrated there was demand for high-quality tourism products that “celebrate the history of Tasmania and bring to life the stories of our people and places”.

The site will become vacant when the army cadets move to their new base.