Landmark Hobart CBD Block Sale Tops Expectations

A landmark city block in Hobart has sold for more than $30 million, topping price expectations for the property known as the K&D site.

The 1.12ha site at 103 Melville Street and 159-163 Harrington Street was sold on behalf of the University of Tasmania to an unnamed purchaser after an expressions-of-interest campaign attracted more than 117 enquiries.

The sale is one of Tasmania’s largest commercial transactions of 2025 and was marketed by Claude Alcorso and Matthew Wallace of RWC Tasmania, alongside Matthew Wright and George Wilkinson of Burgess Rawson from CBRE.

Alcorso said opportunities to purchase a property of its scale and in such a strategic location were rare not just in Tasmania, but nationally.

He said the deal reflected the significance of the asset and the strength of the Hobart commercial market.

Kemp & Denning (K&D) was founded in Hobart in 1902 as a timber merchant. It expanded into hardware and building supplies, and was a pioneer in retail and manufacturing, including building Tasmania's first tunnel kiln for bricks in 1975 and Australia’s first home and building warehouse in 1986.

The business was sold and the CBD site was acquired by UTas in 2019, which had planned to redevelop it for student accommodation.

Wright said there had been “strong engagement from domestic and international investors, driven by Tasmania’s attractive yield profile and constrained supply”.

“The sale underscores Hobart’s emergence as a key destination for institutional and private capital.”

The sale is bound by a confidentiality agreement; however, the purchaser described it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity and that they were “committed to working with the community to create a development that transforms this pivotal CBD location and delivers lasting benefits for all Tasmanians,” according to the agents.

▲ A rendering of the five-storey office block proposed for Murray Street.

Meanwhile, plans have been filed for a five-storey office block to replace a single-storey vacant commercial building about 350m north-west of the K&D site.

The scheme now before the City of Hobart for the site at 240-244 Murray Street proposes three levels of office space, ground-floor hospitality, and a terrace and meeting rooms on the top storey. The site is at the corner with Patrick Street.

The property was sold in September of 2023 for $1.5 million, according to RP Data. The buyer has not been revealed.

According to planning documents prepared for TasBuild Limited and Goldworthy Pty Ltd by Irene Inc & Smith Street Studio Design, the site is not within a heritage precinct but has heritage buildings nearby, particularly along Patrick Street, which features a row of heritage-listed properties.

“Notable structures include Beazley Cottage at 81 Patrick Street, one of the oldest buildings in the area, constructed in the mid-1800s. The current building on the site, likely constructed in the 1960s or earlier, is not heritage-listed,” the report said.

The proposal responded directly to the objectives and principles of the Central Hobart Plan and the Trinity Hill Precinct, the planner said, including that it incorporates a design that “respects and transitions from heritage-scale buildings on Patrick Street to larger commercial developments on Murray Street”.

TasBuild Limited manages the portable long service fund for eligible workers in the Tasmanian construction industry. It is a private trustee company appointed to this task by the Tasmanian Government in 1998, according to its website.

The proposal is on exhibition until November 5.