Packer: “Nothing more important than Sydney”
Australian casino magnate James Packer is reportedly growing impatient at obstacles that have delayed the development of his planned Crown Sydney resort.
At the grand opening of Crown’s City of Dreams Manila resort in January, Packer told reporters he’s tired of waiting for property developer Lend Lease and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority to resolve their differences; he cannot submit his planning application until that happens.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Crown originally intended to open its six-star hotel in the state capital of New South Wales in late 2018. The casino was set to open the following November, after the license held by rival Echo Entertainment Group expires. Echo operates the Sydney Star casino.
“Because the BDA and Lend Lease still haven’t settled their dispute, I don’t think we are going to open on time,” Packer said.
The Herald reports that Lend Lease won a contract dispute over profit sharing against the BDA last August, but outstanding issues remain.
Meanwhile, the projected cost of the Crown project has risen from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Packer said the lavish Sydney resort will have 350 hotel rooms and 80 apartments. “There’s never been a hotel in the world that’s cost $4.5 million per key,” he said. “We are trying to build something truly iconic.”
Packer took a dig at Echo, saying that only when faced the loss of its monopoly in Sydney did it offer a strong proposal for Brisbane. The two bidders revealed plans for their multi-billion dollar bids in December.“What I’m proud of is that without Crown (as a competitor), Echo wouldn’t have put forward the proposal they did,” he said. “Crown has played a role in getting our competitor to try harder.”
He described Echo, which also runs Brisbane’s Treasury Casino and Jupiters Gold Coast, as a “lazy company” that has abused its monopoly licenses.
In Melbourne and Perth,” Packer said, “We have never abused or milked our monopoly.”
Echo recently invested $870 million to renovate the Star.
