Hobart City Council reaches agreement with Stadia Precinct Consortia on Macquarie Point Stadium 2.0

Hobart City Council has advised that a majority vote was secured on 29th January for Council to provide in-principle support of Stadia Precinct Consortium Pty Ltd to progress their proposal for Macquarie Point Stadium 2.0.

The Macquarie Point Stadium (formally named the Regatta Point Multi Purpose Stadium) is a proposed multi-purpose stadium at Macquarie Point, on the foreshore of Hobart.

The new stadium will have capacity of up to 23,000 seats, a retractable roof, and will be designed to Australian Football League (AFL) specifications. 

Hobart City Council has voted to support, in principle, the transfer of land to Stadia Precinct Consortia, the group behind the second design for the stadium, should the Tasmanian Government agree to proceed with the stadium option if it is determined that the project offers superior advantages compared to their own proposal.

The alternative vision was designed by Melbourne-based Tasmanian developer Dean Coleman, who has said the precinct would be funded by the commercial sector.

Under the Coleman proposal, the stadium would be half-built into the Regatta Point hillside, with a 5000-car subterranean carpark, public transport and freight access.

The other half would project into the Derwent and include an outer wall made up of 450 private apartments, a hotel and convention centre, restaurants, retail space and a private hospital.

The Council decision recognises that it is a condition of the State Government’s consideration of the Stadia 2.0 proposal that, among other things, it receives the in-principle support of the Hobart City Council.

The Council's support is not at the exclusion of any alternative proposals for Regatta Point.

Now that the council has agreed it would sign over the land, it is up to the state government to decide if it will proceed with the Coleman proposal.

In late November, Stadia Precinct Consortia Managing Director Dean Coleman said they had been asked to supply the Tasmanian Government with “financial information in relation to investment, ownership and operation of the stadium and environmental and cultural aspects” by 5th February, 2024.

“The Tasmanian Government has agreed to defer consideration of any other approaches around an alternative stadium until it has received our response,” Coleman advised.

“At this stage, we feel we have sufficiently addressed government concerns on a range of issues, including the impact of stadium height on Hunter Street, the TSO and the Cenotaph and the operational financials and we await the government’s public release of their responses to stakeholders on these same issues.”

The ongoing support of the Council is conditional upon the preparation of a further report containing qualified advice about the proposal and the request for in-principle support of the disposal of public land in accordance with Council's probity policy and s177A of the Local Government Act 1993.

Any disposal of public land will require a separate decision and follow an in-depth process guided by the Council's Probity Guidelines for the Consideration of Commercial Property Transactions.

Image. Concept of a Macquarie Point Stadium which includes an outer shell of apartments, proposed by the Stadia Precinct Consortia. Credit: SolutionsWon