Kingborough council approves Spring Farm Village shopping center in Kingston

Scott Spanton
There was a lot of debate and a few interruptions beforehand, but they were very, very happy with the result.

Joe Spargo
What was the debate about? So what were the objections?

Scott Spanton
Oh look, this is a very significant event. So questions were raised about what this process was going through in terms of environmental issues, of course, issues with traffic, active transport, including cycling and pedestrian access. So there are debates about all these things. And there are several additional conditions, primarily related to bicycles. But no, we are very pleased with the result.

Joe Spargo
So if we try to imagine it, where exactly is it? Are we talking across the road from Bunnings opposite?

Scott Spanton
Opposite Bunnings is easy. At that little roundabout where Bunnings is.

Joe Spargo
Do buses go there or does it really depend on the car?

Scott Spanton
Both. As part of this project we are building another bus stop on Channel Highway outside our centre. But I don’t think there are many buses on the Channel Highway at the end of the day.

Joe Spargo
Tell us about this new center. You already have a large supermarket and a large pharmacy on board. Who else will be in the mix? What is an ideal shopping center?

Scott Spanton
It’s about your everyday shopping needs. As we say, you’re killing your baking candle holders manufacturers. For medical services, food and other services, be it baking, sushi, massage, manicure, pharmacy and the like. Your daily shopping needs. We don’t have clothing stores. We don’t have jewelry stores. We don’t have Kmart or anything like that.

Joe Spargo
Locals might be a little upset about this.

Scott Spanton
Yes, I know. Everyone wants Ikea, Aldian and Big W, but I can’t make any of them.

Joe Spargo
Really? But do you see this in the future, especially at Aldi?

Scott Spanton
This would be a great market for Aldi. Personally, I think it’s probably too small a market for them because it’s too spread out for them to put the logistics for a distribution center here. But look, I’m wrong about a lot of things. So watch this space.

Joe Spargo
Everything is fine. There will be a community meeting next Tuesday evening. What do you expect from this meeting?

Scott Spanton
We’ve already received over 100 responses to this, which I’m very happy about. But look, this will be a big update to let everyone know where we are. Let’s talk about some of the other tenants we have that I haven’t mentioned today. We are about 70% leased, as I said, talking about timing and jobs. So now that we’ve got this approval, we’re full steam ahead. We are already well along the path to having one of Tasmania’s largest developers, Fairbrothers, begin construction in January. And we have just over a year to build it. Thus, we plan to open in early 2026. And also, this Monday night is all about this community update, which is about giving the community an opportunity to either throw rocks or ask questions. And I’m happy with both. We’re very passionate about this project and we love what we do with these things. And we really want to take everyone on this journey with us and really create a sense of ownership for the community in these centers as we do that.

Joe Spargo
We all love new things in Hobart. We are all moving towards something new, whatever it may be. But do you think there are enough people in the City of Kingborough to service the existing center as well as this new center?

Scott Spanton
Yes, absolutely. This is what brought us there. It was data. When you look at it and go, oh my god, there are already three big supermarkets here. Why do you need another one? But if you look at how big the reach is, we have a reach of about 60,000 people and you need 8,000 to 10,000 people for each full-line supermarket. I’m not talking about your little IGAs, but a large supermarket over 3000 meters high. You need about 10,000 people. It will therefore be able to serve six full-line supermarkets in the area. And now we are three, three and a half. Huonville has a small but very strong trade. So we go three and a half times to four and a half supermarkets in the area. So yes, absolutely necessary. And it’s also reflected in how hard both of the major supermarket operators have struggled to capture the trend.

Joe Spargo
You are also behind Glebe Hill Village Shopping Centre. Will they be very similar in design?

Scott Spanton
No, they will be different in that Glebe Hill has a large indoor shopping center with air conditioning, while Spring Farm Village will be larger and Kingston will be more traditional open air. But the quality of construction in both cases will be very similar. We’ll have the wonderful shadow sales that we have in Glebe Hill, and we’re going to be starting a whole public art process to get some artists to put their work at the bottom of those shadow sales. It will be similar in terms of how good our car park is, carport sales, parents’ quarters, amenities – it will all be the same.

Joe Spargo
George, in a message to the number 0438922936, says, could you ask why there is no cinema complex on the site of the new Kingston shopping center? Was this taken into account?

Scott Spanton
Yes, it was the fourth one that everyone wanted, and the pool. In addition to Aldi and Ikea, Big W has also appeared. They take up a huge amount of space and do not pay high rent. So, to support a movie theater, you need a lot of stores hanging next to it, and there was no room for one in this area. And it’s a notoriously bad investment because it fails all the time. So for us to invest in something like this is, at the end of the day, very questionable, as opposed to a large supermarket and 15 stores, which is very attractive and very, very safe.

Joe Spargo
Scott Spanton, the total number of trees is removed for more stores in the text, they ask why you didn’t choose a site with a minimum number of trees. Are you going to go around the trees or are they falling?

Scott Spanton
You know, we’re retaining almost half the area and returning it to the council as a conservation area. The trees we take down are not high impact trees, or I think out of the many trees that fall there might be two. But this place is surrounded by two highways and a road at the end of the day. This is an island, and there used to be two residential buildings on it. But the sensitive part of this, we are very aware of the sensitive part of this, we have done this to death with all the relevant authorities. And we are very happy to return half of this amount. Just last week we rescued a bunch of bees that were in an area where someone had trespassed and knocked down one of the trees. And the Tasmanian bees or something came and moved them, and it was great.