Hobart Airport set to continue its DFO development plan
The proposed $70 million direct factory outlet near Hobart Airport would push through as planned despite looming possibility that its developer Austexx could be entering receivership soon.
The debt-stricken company has been holding talks with its lenders in Melbourne this week and reports were pointing to the likelihood of Austexx being placed into receivership.
However, Hobart Airport's Brett Reiss is undaunted and maintained that the retail development project would be realised as he stressed that 'it's a viable project, there has been good strong interest in it, so we would go ahead with a different developer if that were the situation."
Mr Reiss added that Hobart was fortunate enough to have gained approval from the federal government for the DFO project "and we remain committed to it."
Also, Tasmania's Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed confidence that the development project would go ahead and it would attract enough interest to ensure that sufficient support would be available to finance its completion.
Throwing his support on the project, Chamber representative Robert Wallace urged the people behind the proposed DFO "to make sure that they can pull together not just the land but the finances and the long-term profit that might be in it."
Though the area's retailers' association had voiced out concerns that the project could pose as a direct competition and attract businesses out of Hobart's central business district, Mr Wallace downplayed the perceived threats of the planned DFO as baseless.
Instead, he pointed to clear indications that the Cambridge estate is ripe for further growths within the next 10 to 15 years.