GAME ON FOR DEC
A $200 million masterplan for a world-class lifestyle precinct at the Derwent Entertainment Centre and Wilkinsons Point would include a hotel, restaurants, shops and multipurpose sports facilities, National Basketball League owner Larry Kestelman has revealed.
NATIONAL Basketball League owner Larry Kestelman has unveiled his masterplan for a world-class lifestyle precinct at Wilkinsons Point, Glenorchy, with up to $200 million invested in the area.
Ahead of the NBL Blitz preseason competition hitting Tasmania this week, the Mer
cury can reveal Mr Kestelman’s plan for the waterside property includes a hotel, restaurants, multipurpose indoor sports facilities, a high-performance centre and retail shops.
The project hinges on support from the State Government to refurbish the Derwent Entertainment Centre.
Mr Kestelman, owner and executive chairman of the NBL, is in exclusive negotiations with the Glenorchy City Council over the sale of the DEC and Wilkinsons Point.
He said his masterplan, with the Government’s backing, would return Tasmania to arguably the second-best basketball league in the world behind the NBA.
He said architects were assessing the DEC and the amount of funding needed to bring the venue into the 21st century. He stressed that public funding would be needed only for the basketball infrastructure in the centre, including enhanced sporting facilities, not for his plans for the surrounding area.
“This cannot be done without government,” Mr Kestelman said.
“I’m certainly not going to invest all of my money into the facility. The commercial aspect of it has nothing to do with the government, but the DEC itself, that’s a government conversation.
“The rest of it is a commercial proposition and we were certainly not asking for money from government to develop the commercial aspects of Wilkinsons Point but the DEC and the training facilities and the community facilities, that’s a conversation with the Government.”
Mr Kestelman and the Glenorchy council are about halfway through their sixmonth exclusive negotiation time frame and he said they were progressing well.
He said once the masterplan was approved, talks would step up with the Government.
“The idea is to create an amazing proposition for the council and for Tasmania. The masterplan needs to get approved first and shortly after that we’ll be presenting to the Government the requirements for the DEC and the elite sports component,” he said.
“We’re hoping all negotiations by the end of the year will be wrapped up both with the council and the State Government.
“That will then allow us to also at the same time issue the [NBL] licence.”
The masterplan is for a year-round precinct, not just around NBL match days, with discussions already under way with MONA ferry operators for a stop at Wilkinsons Point.
“We want community to be interactive with it,” Mr Kestelman said.
“That’s why we’re building the elite sports facility. We’re also building four courts for multipurpose sports for people to come with kids … Obviously with the coffee shops, the food and beverage [facilities] and the hotel we want it to be a lively place that operates not just when there is an event on but actually 365 days a year.”
Tasmanians can register their support for a Tasmanian NBL team at www.NBLTas.com.au and view the masterplan at www.wilkinsonspoint.com.au, from this morning.