Australian casino operator The Star Entertainment Group’s plans for a 66-story hotel to complement its Sydney casino are in the dustbin after being rejected by state officials.
On Thursday, the New South Wales Planning Department issued a report declaring that The Star’s plan to build a A$500m (US$347m) hotel and apartment tower adjacent to its flagship gaming venue in Sydney’s Pyrmont district was “not in the public interest.”
The report acknowledged that the tower, which would have featured 220 Ritz-Carlton Hotel rooms and 202 private apartments but no additional gaming facilities, would provide “some economic and other public benefits” but that these benefits were insufficient to outweigh the negative impacts on the Pyrmont area.
Said impacts include the belief that the tower “would appear isolated and overly prominent and unrelated to its context within Pyrmont to the detriment of local and wider views from many public vantage points.” The Department expressed doubt that these negative impacts “can be appropriately mitigated” by any further design changes.
The report also rubbished The Star’s claims that the hotel tower would form part of a “global waterfront precinct,” pointing out that this concept wasn’t part of any existing or emerging government planning direction.
The fate of The Star’s tower now rests with the Independent Planning Commission. Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore has already urged the Commission to accept the Department’s report, which she said reflected the views of the local community.
The Brisbane Times quoted a spokesperson for The Star saying the company was “extremely disappointed” by the report and that it was considering “the avenues and other opportunities available to us.”
The Star’s local rival Crown Resorts went through something similar a few years back when it was trying to get approval for its Crown Sydney casino-hotel tower in the Barangaroo district. Fortunately, Crown had friends in high places who proved willing to do whatever it took to ensure the VIP-focused project made it over the finish line. Crown Sydney is expected to open in 2020.
Last month, The Star announced plans to cut up to one-fifth of its non-customer facing staff to offset a major decline in its VIP gambling business. The ill-fated tower project was presumably meant to keep its remaining VIPs from being lured by Crown’s shiny new venue across town.
