After revising plans for its 90-storey hotel tower, Australian casino operator Crown Resorts has now proposed a much smaller VIP casino at its Crown Sydney project in Barangaroo.
According to plans submitted with the Department of Planning and Environment, Crown seeks approval for a 6,805 square-meter VIP casino, less than the half the floor space granted under its restricted gaming license.
Crown’s proposed $2b project comprises of a 275-meter high building with a luxury hotel, multi-million dollar residential apartments, retail space and a gaming floor, all of which will cover as much as 77,500 square meters.
The license agreement states that Crown has permission to offer table games on about 15,500 square meters of space or 20% of the gross floor area based on the building size and that there is no limit to the number of table games Crown may have at the casino.
The documents were filed by Crown as a response to the planning department’s requested for a confirmation of the company’s compliance with its gaming license.
Crown also filed responses to concerns regarding the City of Sydney Council’s claim that the development was taking up too many parking spaces and that there was a lack of affordable housing in the development.
Crown argued that the facility needs 500 parking spaces for the hotel and 110 spaces to be used by residents of the 66 private apartments that will be created. The luxury apartments require more spaces as tenants will want more than one space. Crown also stated they will not offer affordable housing in the hotel resort building, but that it would be made available in other areas.
Aside from the planned six-star hotel in Sydney to lure VIPs, Crown is also expanding hotel accommodations at its Perth casino resort, with its $645 million Crown Towers featuring 50 luxury hotel rooms, private gaming salons and other facilities.
Crown’s Melbourne casino resort generated non-gaming revenue of $437 million in the 2014/15 financial year.
