Hobart’s Historic Tasman Hotel Plans $9m Expansion

Plans have been filed for a $9-million upgrade of the five-star Tasman hotel in Hobart. 

The Parliament Square Property Trust has submitted an application to the City of Hobart Council for the extension to The Tasman that would add a 600sq m function room with a seating capacity of 210 people and 350 standing. 

While the Parliament Square Act gives the Planning Minister the ability to consider minor amendments, because of of the size of the project, the alterations and extensions must be put forward as a new application. 

The building at 34 Davey Street, which also has frontage at 12 Murray Street, incorporates 180 years of architecture—initally built in the 1840s, the building has had Art Deco and more modern additions.

The hotel, alongside much of Tasmania’s hospitality and tourism, has benefited from a huge uptick in tourists, domestic and international, in the past year. 

▲ The Tasman in Hobart includes restaurant Peppina (top left) and cocktail bar Mary Mary (top right) within the building that dates from the 1840s.

According to Tourism Tasmania, for the year to September, 2023, 1.3 million people visited Tasmania, spending $3.6 billion.

The trust said the proposed changes would “have a respectful relationship to the street and surrounding heritage places” including Parliament House.
 
It would also complement the approved Parliament Square redevelopment, which will deliver 15,000sq m of new workspace, bars, and a public amphitheatre, it said.

Spirit Super acquired the Parliament Square development, including the hotel, in 2022 for $338 million in the Apple Isle’s biggest real estate deal.