Gold Coast gets a $3 billion casino

So finally James Packer’s Crown Resorts and the Chinese-owned ASF Consortium have detailed their plans for a $3 billion casino and residential project for the Gold Coast on The Spit.

Work on the project will begin as early as March 2017 after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Infrastructure and Planning Minister Jackie Trad and State Development Minister Anthony Lynham signed off on the process deed.

Cabinet is expected to give the master plan the go-ahead before Christmas.

Located between Palazzo Versace and Sea World resort, the casino will come with three towers and seven high-end restaurants.

It will also have Florida Keys-style bridge designed to reduce the area’s traffic by linking The Spit to Southport.

It will be designed as a draw card for well-heeled Asian tourists.

The casino is the biggest and most expensive development in Queensland’s history and there’s already speculation that it could result in Star cranking up its expansion plans for Jupiter’s casino at Broadbeach. It might also see Star fast-tracking plans for a “mini-Manhattan” of up to seven high-rise towers on their Broadbeach island. 

The Crown development is a big change from the earlier ASF plan which had proposed building a cruise ship terminal and casino/resort on the Southport Broadwater.

That went down like a brick parachute with environmentalists and it was shot down by the government.

This time around, green groups are not protesting because the proposed development does not a cruise ship terminal or involve touching Wave Break Island.

Still, ASF director Louis Chien said the casino plan was all part of its vision for the region.

“We continue to believe in Queensland and in the Gold Coast,” Chien told the Sunday Mail.

“It’s been a long journey but it has allowed us to ensure that what we deliver is going to be something truly iconic.

by Leon Gettler, 6^th September 2016