Packer hotel tower plan to expand Southbank precinct
The battle between casino giants Echo Entertainment and James Packer’s Crown Group for high rollers is heating up, with Crown set to build a new luxury hotel tower in Southbank in a bid to attract more big spending tourists to Melbourne.
Crown Melbourne said its proposed Queensbridge Hotel Tower, to be situated in Melbourne’s Southbank area near Crown casino, will offer around 400 guest rooms and suites to tourists.
British architects Wilkinson Eyre won the contest to design the hotel, the building of which will employ around 3000 construction works and 1000 permanent positions upon completion.
Crown Resorts (CWN) chief executive Rowen Craigie said the new Queensbridge Tower, a joint venture between Crown and Schiavello Group would seek to lure high rollers to Melbourne. The 90-storey project is reportedly set to cost $1.5 billion.
“The development will ... assist Melbourne in attracting more high-net-worth tourists, reinforcing the city’s appeal as a destination for important international conferences, sport and cultural events,” Mr Craigie said.
Competition between local casino operators has been growing in a fight to take full advantage of the influx of Chinese tourism to Australia. A record 1.7 million international tourists visited Australia last year, including a 21 per cent surge from China.
That boost helped to drive a 53 per cent growth in Echo’s VIP business and underpinned better-than-expected profit numbers.
Packer’s Crown is looking to smash Echo’s Sydney monopoly as its new Barangaroo development nears completion. Echo, until recently, had the licence to operate the only casino in New South Wales, with its Star venue.
Meanwhile, Echo, which is rebranding as Star Entertainment, recently beat Crown in the tender for Brisbane’s multi-billion dollar Queen’s Wharf precinct development.
The successful consortium, made up of Echo Entertainment Group, Far East Consortium and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, will convert the Treasury casino heritage building into a shopping centre.
Echo’s rebranding will bring its Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane venues under the same moniker, chosen to build on the name awareness and recognition of its Sydney casino.
Crown said its new luxury hotel, coupled with the recently announced expansion of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, will reinforce Southbank’s position as Victoria’s leading tourism, meetings, exhibitions and business destination.
The tower, which is subject to planning approval and project financing, would be taller than Eureka Tower in Southbank, and five metres shorter than the Q1 tower on the Gold Coast.
Source: The Australian, Michael Roddan, 19th October 2015
Originally published as: Packer hotel tower plan to expand Southbank precinct
