Ray White to market Canberra's Kingston Arts Precinct

The ACT government has appointed Ray White Commercial to market the Kingston Arts Precinct, an urban renewal project in Canberra’s oldest suburb.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the project offered developers the opportunity to transform the four-hectare area around the Canberra Glassworks into a arts and creative hub.

The 40,295 square metre site would include about 22,000 square metres of commercial space, 7,000 square metres of arts amenity, apartments and public space.

A master plan for the Kingston Foreshore was approved last year, and an independent feasibility study into the arts hub came out in June.

Ray White Commercial Canberra director Andrew Smith expects developers - local, national and international - to express interest. 

“The staging of the project will be proposed by developers in their tenders, but the public realm and arts deliverables are expected to be delivered in the first stages,” he said.

Expressions of interest have been sought by early December and the preferred developer is expected to be announced in mid-2016.

“It will be a place where artists, cultural organizations and creative businesses make, teach, exhibit, perform and sell their work,” Barr said.

“The area is already home to leading arts organisations the Canberra Glassworks and Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, and the Old Bus Depot markets.

"We expect others will relocate to the precinct."