Premier: Site should be ‘preserved for generations’
The government of Queensland, Australia, has rejected a plan for an integrated resort with a casino operated by Caesars Entertainment in The Spit, a park area on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
The proposed AU$3 billion resort was planned by the ASF Group, a consortium of Chinese business interest. The project was to have included a Caesars casinos with five hotel towers, retail outlets, restaurants and other amenities.
The surprise rejection was announced by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday, citing strict planning rules that must be followed for any future development in The Spit. One of those is that no structure should be more than three stories. “This is a unique site—the equivalent to what Central Park is to New York,” Palaszczuk said, according to the Associated Press. “It should be preserved for generations. What The Spit really needs now is a master plan to revitalize it and increase its benefit to the Gold Coast as a community asset.”
Palaszczuk did not close the door to future IR development, but stressed that any such project would require revised plans.
The project was meant to provide a rival property to Star Gold Coast, for which Star Entertainment group is currently in the midst of a major renovation project, including a new hotel tower and VIP gaming facilities. In an exclusive AP interview, Star Entertainment Group CEO Matt Bekier said the upgrades are being made to further promote the Gold Coast as key in attracting Asian gamblers to Australia.
“The Gold Coast is a fantastic opportunity, particularly when you consider tourism there,” Bekier said. “When you think about what Asian tourists are looking for, it’s the quintessential Australian experience, shopping is important, food is important, value for money and we have all of that on the Gold Coast.”
The announcement came just days after Caesars Entertainment Corp. signed an agreement with ASF to operate the casino portion of the resort.
Caesars President of International Development Steven Tight met Gold Coast Tourism Chairman Paul Donovan in June on a touring trip as part of Caesars’ feasibility study into opportunities on the Gold Coast. Other Caesars officials visited the area in July.
The Queensland government selected the consortium of the Chinese private equity firm ASF as the government’s preferred bidder for a new IR in 2013, initially planning a $7.5 billion casino resort on the man-made Wavebreak Island. That project was scrapped due to environmental concerns, and the developers settled on the Southport Spit area of the Gold Coast.
The rejection also is a setback to Caesars, which is back in expansion mode as its main operating unit emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Nearly 88 percent of common stock in Caesars Entertainment has been voted in favor of merging Caesars Acquisition Co., a real-estate investment trust, with the parent. Caesars Acquisition investors agreed with just over 95 percent of common stock in favor.
Mark Frissora, president and chief executive of Caesars Entertainment, called the move “an important milestone” in the emergence from bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., which has a reorganization plan approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court that will eliminate some $10 billion in debt.
Neither Frissora nor other Caesars officials had commented on the Australian government’s rejection as of press time.
