Mac Point’s ‘DNA’ begins the vision

People will be able to see the site in all its entirety early next year, and can walk it, use it and enjoy it — MARY MASSINA

A FORMER cold store on Hobart’s waterfront is fast becoming a creative hub which Macquarie Point Development Corporation chief executive Mary Massina hopes will “set the DNA” for the rest of the revitalisation project.

The Long.House building, being built on the corner of Evans and Davey streets, will be finished this financial year.

It will be home to chef Luke Burgess’s latest food adventure, innovative office space, an Aboriginal space and cultural and creative community hub complete with fitness centre.

“Macquarie Point is about art, design, science, culture and tourism,” Ms Massina said.

“What the community can expect from early next year is an evolving and alive site. This Long.House development is setting the DNA for what Macquarie Point is all about.”

It is one of 13 projects on the move, she said, including the construction of a cycle way to Berriedale and the refurbishment of a 1914 woodshed.

There was no mention of light rail, however.

“People will be able to see the site in all its entirety early next year, and can walk it, use it and enjoy it,” she said.

Burgess said his leasing of a restaurant space in the Long.House was about no longer being tethered to a site like he had been in the past. The chef has taken out a fiveyear lease on his space.

“It is a fresh space with other like-minded tenants. I see Macquarie Point becoming an invigorated former industrial site similar to those that have been so successful in cities on the mainland,” Burgess said.

Hobart Fitness Training said it would have both indoor and outdoor space at the Long.House.