Singapore's Fragrance plans Hobart's first skyscrapers

A second four-star hotel has been proposed on a site at 2-6 Collins Street. The 495-room hotel would include a 1000-seat conference room in a 20-storey building around 75 metres high.

If approved, the two hotel towers will become Hobart’s tallest buildings.

Artist impression of one of the Hobart towers planned by Fragrance. Photo: Supplied

The listed Singaporean developer has a hotel development already underway in Hobart, a 296-room hotel development on Macquarie Street.

In all, the three projects will take Fragrance’s investment in Hobart to more than $250 million. As well, the Singaporean player is mulling a further residential and hotel development in Elizabeth Street.

Fragrance was founded by billionaire Koh Wee Meng, one of Singapore’s richest men, who established a chain of budget hotels before turning to property development.

In Melbourne, Fragrance is developing a 78-level apartment tower on the old Savoy Hotel site, after winning government consent to add 10 more floors to the design initially approved.

On another nearby site, at 555 Collins Street, the developer last month won approval for a 625-unit apartment tower on a site it has also been trying to sell.

Sky garden

Fragrance is also pursuing residential and hotel projects in Perth.

Mr Koh’s younger brother, Koh Wee Seng, heads a separate Singapore-listed company, Aspial, which is constructing the tallest residential tower in the southern hemisphere, a 101-storey skyscraper at Melbourne’s Southbank.

Fragrance’s tallest tower in Hobart, designed by Xsquared Architects, will feature Tasmanian timbers and a sky garden with local plants.

A skybridge will link the hotel over Davey Street to Franklin Square, creating access from the CBD to the waterfront and Salamanca Place.

The Davey Street development will also ensure the historic Cove Wall is displayed properly.

A pedestrian skybridge is also planned for the Collins Street project, across the Brooker and Tasman highways.

The Collins Street hotel, designed by architects S. Group, is centred on the large conference facility proposal, allowing it to tap business and industry demand for Hobart’s convention facilities.

Hobart is undergoing something of a development boom, including a swath of projects pursued by the University of Tasmania, including education buildings and a student accommodation centre.