DEC SALE SO CLOSE
Tassie’s NBL team deal hits another milestone
THE first domino in the deal to see the rebirth of a Tasmanian NBL team is on the verge of falling with the sale of the Derwent Entertainment Centre potentially just a week away.
Glenorchy City Council mayor Kristie Johnston has revealed a decision on the sale of the DEC to the State Government will be addressed at next Monday’s council meeting.
It comes after the GCC’s planning authority voted to initiate changes to the planning scheme relating to the Wilkinsons Point precinct last Monday night.
Should council agree to transfer ownership of the venue — and the government signs off on the purchase — it would complete the first part of the complex deal involving the two parties and NBL owner Larry Kestelman.
Kestelman has submitted an offer to purchase Wilkinsons Point from GCC, where he is proposing a $200 million shopping, retail and hotel precinct. In return he will hand the 10th NBL licence to the state for the 2021-22 season, forging the path for a Tasmanian team at the highest level for the first time since the Devils dissolved in 1996.
Taxpayers will fund the required $40 million upgrade of the DEC to ensure the building is compliant for not only NBL matches but world-class events, while a further $20 million of taxpayers’ money will be used to fund a multi-sport indoor facility next door — half of which was promised by the State Government before last year’s election.
The Government will retain ownership of the DEC and lease it to Kestelman, who will initially run the Tasmanian team until he finds a suitable owner.
“We are looking at the sale of the Derwent Entertainment Centre at our council meeting on Monday night,” Johnston told ABC local radio. “We hope to have a very big announcement on Tuesday morning.
“At last night’s planning authority meeting we considered initiating the planning scheme amendment for the greater Wilkinsons Point/Derwent Entertainment Centre precinct.”
Kestelman, who is understood to have been in Hobart yesterday to continue discussions with the government, told the Mercury last week a deal would need to be finalised by the end of February.
Basketball Tasmania chief executive Chris McCoy attended last weekend’s NBL awards night and also met with Kestelman, and is confident an announcement is not far away.
“There are record attendances in the NBL, the league continues to go from strength to strength so it is an ideal time for Tasmania to join,” he said.