NSW government backs new $20 billion 'vision' for Pyrmont
The NSW government is getting behind a $20 billion plan to transform Pyrmont into a tourism and entertainment hub.
The Western Harbour Alliance and Committee for Sydney lobby groups is suggesting a waterfront promenade, metro train station, extra ferry services, a major festival and a reopened Glebe Island Bridge would reinvigorate the area.
A "cross-city sky car" running from Centrepoint Tower in the CBD to Crown's Barangaroo casino then across the harbour to The Star casino and Sydney Fish Market at Pyrmont is also part of the committee's "vision”.
Speaking to Fairfax, Committee for Sydney consultant Geoff Parmenter said a food festival, harbour pools, stand-up paddleboarding, swimming with salmon in a tank, a "splash and dash" fun run, and a "synchronised" film event with 20 floating screens were some of the ideas “we're thinking about".
"Maybe some of those ideas won't get up, but it gives you a snapshot, and a picture, that if we work together we could really transform this area for the better," he said.
The Western Harbour Alliance's membership includes The Star, Sofitel Darling Harbour, Google, Lendlease, Mirvac, Infrastructure NSW and the Sydney Fish Market.
The government is currently developing new planning controls to turn the Pyrmont area into the "gateway to the CBD" following the planning commission’s rejection of The Star’s $530 million Pyrmont tower development that included a new Ritz Carlton hotel.
But City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore threw cold water on some of the committee’s suggestions, saying they should remain just “ideas”.
Sheridan Randall, 4th December 2019
