The City of Launceston council and the state government both welcomed the plan by Mr Stewart, which was revealed on Thursday.

Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten said the potential proposal was “exciting” and the council would remain open to future projects in the Kings Wharf area.

“With work well underway on the council's Riverbend Park redevelopment, the completion of the Silos Hotel and the new Seaport pedestrian bridge, it's only going to create more opportunities to open our river frontages up in new and exciting ways,” he said.

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However, as there was no proposal to formally consider, the council’s support is only theoretical at this stage.

Mr Stewart said he had plans to build a 400-metre-long and 15-metre-wide wharf near the Silo Hotel “in the near future” and design work was underway on the redevelopment.

He said the wharf would start from the hotel and end at the Kings Wharf building. 

“I think there is a good proposition to the government to rebuild Kings Wharf … I’d like to put a proposition forward so I will do just that in the not too distant future,” Mr Stewart said.

“We’ve started to look at it. We kind of have a design on it in terms of architecturally.”

Mr Stewart said some analysis would be done on costs to fix the existing poles and he plans to get government input on the project.

Infrastructure Minister Jeremy Rockliff said Mr Stewart’s proven track record as a developer would put him in good stead if a proposal for the wharf area was put to the government.

“There is now an increased focus on the Tamar River and the Tasmanian Government would consider any formal proposal from Mr Stewart in the future to re-purpose the Kings Wharf area,” he said.

With the Silo Hotel and the Seaport, along with the under-construction Riverbend Park, and a proposed rowing precinct, the hotel end of Lindsay Street has become a revitalised public space.

Cr van Zetten said there had been significant investment in Launceston in the past few years and took the increased development as a sign of economic confidence.

“The council approved more than $209m worth of development across the municipality last year, up from $112m the year before, and we are demonstrably open for business.

“We're pleased to see that the growing economic confidence we're helping to foster in Northern Tasmania is translating into new investment proposals and projects like this.”

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