4 minute read
Derwent Entertainment Centre
Words: Stephanie Williams Image: Oculus
The pieces of the puzzle that is the development of the Derwent Entertainment Centre (DEC) are beginning to fall into place.
The National Basketball League finalised its agreement with the Tasmanian Government in early July to issue a licence to participate in the 2021/2022 NBL Season. The Glenorchy City Council has agreed to sell the DEC to the Tasmanian Government (contracts being signed any day now!) and plans are being firmed up behind the scenes to design and build the new look centre. As part of the NBL deal, the Tasmanian Government is providing $68.5 million for the upgrade of the Derwent Entertainment Centre, including $20 million for a community four court multisport facility. Melbourne’s LK Group, led by the NBL owner Larry Kestelman, are working with architecture firm Fender Katsilidis, who designed Mona, and Ireneinc Planning to create the precinct design.
Glenorchy mayor Kristie Johnston is in the box seat when it comes to benefiting from this development. “Council and community have been working for almost over a decade now to look at Wilkinsons Point. It’s prime real estate. We’ve had a master plan over the site for some time, but LK Group came along and really did present a way of actually achieving that master plan across the entire site and offering a lot to our community,” she said. “LK Group presented an opportunity to have that upgrade, so it becomes a significantly better facility for the state, but also to develop the remainder of Wilkinsons 34 Point into a family friendly entertainment, recreation and retail precinct. That’s exactly what we wanted to see happen on the site.”
Hobart has a big opportunity to create a new precinct that’s loved, used and a place of pride for all Tasmanians, pretty important seeing as taxpayers money is being spent here. For a $68m government investment, it needs to hit the bullseye and we’ve got to get something more out of it than two hours a week of gametime. It has the potential to be a vibrant hub of activity, surrounded by the likes of Mona, the GASP! track, and the future Hobart Showgrounds development potential.
“The bay is very visible when you’re coming into Hobart so to make sure that’s book-ended really well between the development of Mona is important. We have a $1.3 billion pipeline of private investment that’s happening in our city at the moment, whether it be at the showgrounds, Wilkinsons Point, Mona, Windemere Bay, Saint Virgil’s High School,” Kristie said. “Importantly we need to see those different developments connected because it’s all about curating that visitor experience and resident experience.”
Those in planning and design roles need to look further afield to similar place design projects such as the Fox Studios Entertainment Quarter development in Sydney. Once billed as the future of Australian entertainment hubs, Fox Studios has had the tumbleweed running through it at times. On game and event days the place is jumping and the retailers are rejoicing, but for much of the week it has traditionally been a dead zone. And that’s with a large surrounding population to draw upon. In 2014 a consortium owned by businessmen Gerry Harvey, John Singleton and Mark Carnegie, paid $80 million for a 30-year lease over the site. Late last year they announced a $1.5b plan to revamp the valuable inner city site with a pedestrian mall modelled on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, a 20-storey office hub for creative industries, a 10-storey hotel, playgrounds and exercise areas. No doubt the DEC development team will be watching that progression with intense interest.
Out of the box thinking needs to be fostered at the DEC to create the kind of space that is utilised daily, not just on game day. In recent years twice-weekly markets, playgrounds and cafe lunch specials have helped create extra vibrancy at Fox Studios, and light rail transport to and from the centre has contributed too. Public amenity is important, to create reasons for being there outside game day - given taxpayer funds are wrapped up in this, we need to ensure that everyone gets to use the space, not just for ticketed events. The last piece of the puzzle is jobs. “We’re talking around a $200 million investment in this, but that comes along with some jobs that we desperately need in our community, particularly now post-COVID,” Kristie said. “The economic impact assessment has shown there could be 1200 jobs created.”
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