Tile store grows in state
National brand heads North
ONE of Tasmania’s leading businessmen and developers has revealed plans to open the state’s second National Tiles outlet and the first in the state’s North.
Errol Stewart, the entrepreneur behind Jackson Motor Group, which has six dealerships across the state, is the owner of the commercial building at 8-10 Invermay Rd, Invermay, via his development and construction arm JMC Property Group, planning documents show.
The documents reveal the site, formerly home to Beaurepaires Invermay, is set to be
come a National Tiles outlet.
Mr Stewart said he purchased the site in July and put it on the market.
“This site is not as big as the old K&D Warehouse (National Tiles opened its first store at Cambridge Park), they have a very big showroom there. This is not as big but in a pretty prominent, pretty hot site,” Mr Stewart said.
The application is currently being advertised by the City of Launceston.
It’s not the only major project Mr Stewart is juggling.
He revealed plans to partially redevelop his Seaport Precinct, which was constructed at the site of an old shipyard in 2004. It features the fourstorey Peppers Seaport Hotel, private units and restaurants, including Mudbar.
He said he expected to lodge a development application in the new year.
“We’ve decided to completely upgrade. There’ll be a big revamp in terms of beds and furniture (in the rooms), there will be a new cafe in bottom level, and we’ll be restructuring the entrance and reception space,” he said.
Elsewhere, Mr Stewart has a $6m office development at South Launceston’s Rose Lane currently open for submissions, his company is constructing two “pretty big showrooms” at JMC Devonport
on Don Rd – one for Suzuki and one for Kia – while piling is under way for a third new showroom, this one at JMC Launceston on the corner of Lower Charles and William streets.
One of Mr Stewart’s most ambitious projects is to build a new $60m centre on the banks of the North Esk River, next to his Peppers Silo Hotel development.
The Kanamaluka Cultural Centre would feature “worldclass conferencing facilities alongside a 750-seat concert hall, black box studio and digital suite, large public foyers, flexible space, bars, cafe and a forecourt with a large outdoor screen,” its website boasts.
The City of Launceston voted earlier this year to provide $35,000 for the preparation of a development application; however, there is a feeling among some councillors the development is unsuited for the flood-prone site.
Mr Stewart said he was waiting on permission from NRE Tasmania to use the river’s edge for additional parking.
“If they’re happy for us to use it for carparking, then we’ll continue with the DA,” he said.