Australian casino operator, Crown Resorts Limited, has reportedly announced that it has filed a Supreme Court lawsuit against the government of New South Wales over the latter’s plan to enlarge the size of its envisioned Barangaroo Central urban renewal project.
Operator fears loss of Crown Sydney views:
According to a Thursday report from The Australian Financial Review newspaper, Crown Resorts Limited disclosed the legal action as part of its most recent full-year financial results amid claims that an expanded Barangaroo Central development would threaten the views from its under-construction Crown Sydney venue.
The Melbourne-based firm declared that its lawsuit against the Barangaroo Delivery Authority seeks an injunction against enlarging the size of the central Sydney project because the state-owned developer had not met its obligations to Crown Resorts Limited.
According to a statement from Crown Resorts Limited…
“These obligations include consulting with Crown [Resorts Limited] about any application for the proposed development of Barangaroo Central that differs from that provided for in the relevant concept plan for Barangaroo Central in existence at the time the Crown Development Agreement was entered into.”
Coming development to transform downtown Sydney:
Being managed by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, the $4.4 billion Barangaroo Central scheme is set to transform a disused 12.8-acre former container terminal near the heart of downtown Sydney into a residential and commercial district complete with parks, event spaces and a harbor-side promenade.
However, in order to pay for a new train station at the coming waterfront development, the government-run organization recently detailed that had increased the scheme’s total floor space from an initially envisioned 635,070 sq ft to just over 1,614,586 sq ft.
This angered Crown Resorts Limited as the casino firm is building its five-star Crown Sydney property on an adjacent 2.4-acre plot of land and fears that the planned higher buildings will block lucrative views of nearby landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.
Lawsuit filed despite ‘low rise’ assurances:
The Australian Financial Review reportedly cited John Alexander, Executive Chairman for Crown Resorts Limited, as proclaiming that his firm remains concerned despite government assurances that the Barangaroo Central scheme is due to remain ‘low density and low rise.’
Alexander to The Australian Financial Review…
“The Barangaroo Delivery Authority wants to increase the gross floor area by about three times and obviously to do that there’s an elevation density impact.”
Developer to ‘defend its position in court’:
For its part, the Barangaroo Delivery Authority reportedly told the newspaper that it had been engaged in negotiations with Crown Resorts Limited ‘for 28 months’ concerning ‘sightlines’ from the 75-story Crown Sydney. It detailed that it had continually ‘acted in good faith and in accordance with its contractual obligations’ and now intends to ‘defend its position in court.’
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