First look at new $60m cultural centre in Launceston

The Kanamaluka Cultural Centre, to be situated near Kings Wharf Road and Lindsay Street, is a joint venture between developer Errol Stewart and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

The name of the centre comes from the original name of the river from the Indigenous people, and was approved for use by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

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The centre will include a TSO auditorium with 750 seats, a 1000 seat conference space, a space for Indigenous art and culture, exhibition and function halls, an outdoor screen, space that can be used as a recording studio, a digital suite, large public foyers, bars, a cafe, and a specific black box area for the performing arts.

"I think the conference centre and the exhibition space will help pay for the arts because arts generally doesn't produce a lot of revenue," Mr Stewart said.

However, he said it was unknown whether the black box space would have the capacity to hold main stage touring productions, but could instead be used as a film studio.

The planning for the two-floor development has been in the works for the past six months, and Mr Stewart hoped a development application would be approved by the end of the year, with funding to follow soon after.

He said $40 million was needed from the federal government and $15 million was needed from the state government, with a further $5 million needed to be raised corporately.

"We just need some money," Mr Stewart said.

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"If we get the gig and get the nod on the development of Kanamaluka, we would then build another 100 room hotel, potentially 120 to 140 rooms."

Tasmania Symphony Orchestra chief executive Caroline Sharpen said the cultural centre would be an equivalent to the Sydney Opera House.

"There are so many wonderful cultural institutions around the world that become a signature of the place that they are in and Kanamaluka could be exactly that for Tasmania," she said.

"The Kanamaluka Cultural Centre is one of those once in a lifetime, once in a generation opportunities to develop a cultural centre from the ground up and to have something of this nature in Launceston ... creates so many possibilities."

Ms Sharpen said the development would create a Northern home for the TSO to be in-residence and a place to perform, workshop and host other activities.

"We have a wonderful performance space at the Albert Hall and Princess Theatre, but they have certain limitations for an orchestra needing to do the sorts of things that we do," she said.

"This is a state-of-the-art concert facility, but with so many other things in the venue it opens the doors for all artists across Tasmania."

The proposed development site had been an area Mr Stewart had previously had plans for, but was unable to get them off the ground.

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Mr Stewart said he put the failure of the previously lodged plans in that area down to the fact it was a residential project.

"There is some issues that if we put residents in a high rise and there is a flood, we couldn't get them out. The difference here is it's a commercial development," he said. "So really it's a commercial project rather than a residential project."

Ms Sharpen said the development was a wonderful way to position Tasmania.