James Packer's Sydney casino a penthouse for high rollers
The "Sky Villa" and "Super Villa" suites at Crown Sydney will take the top four levels of the 275-metre tower
The top level of James Packer's $2 billion hotel-casino, with 360-degree views of Sydney Harbour, is not going to be a private penthouse and is slated instead to be a luxury villa for the hotel's high rollers.
The "Sky Villa" and "Super Villa" suites at Crown Sydney will take the top four levels of the 275-metre tower, documents lodged with the Department of Planning show. There had been a long-held assumption that the upper floors would be sold as some of the most expensive apartments in Australia.
However, the application, lodged in March, suggests the villas will not be privately run and will instead form part of the Crown Resorts-managed hotel.
There will still be 66 apartments or private residences in total, comprising nearly half of the 69-storey building, which will be the second-tallest in Sydney once complete. It is understood that Crown's partner Lend Lease will also own a portion of the apartments.
Packer's casino will be Sydney's second tallest tower. Michaela Pollock
The planning proposal for the Wilkinson-Eyre-designed skyscraper was finally submitted after a lengthy legal dispute between developer Lend Lease and the NSW state government. The dispute, over how much Lend Lease should pay to develop parts of the $6 billion Barangaroo South precinct, delayed Crown from lodging its application for nearly a year.
Now mostly settled, Lend Lease was able earlier in March to proceed with its own amendment to the concept plan, which allowed the hotel to be relocated on to land from a pier on the water.
Crown has to request the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements approval before lodging an official development application. However, its initial proposal confirms the Crown Sydney Hotel Resort will more than double in size from the original proposed hotel, with a gross floor area of 77,500 square metres.
There will also be more car parking. The documents propose 500 spaces be allocated for hotel use, although Crown is also organising share parking arrangement with nearby car park operators. The initial Barangaroo Integrated Transport Plan, released in August 2012, when the hotel was still meant to be located on the pier, envisaged that about 156 spots would be allocated to the hotel.
In total there will be 323 hotel rooms and an additional 25 hotel villas located in the mid-rise section of the complex. Gaming facilities will be located in the podium but there will also be private gaming rooms, known as the "Sky Gaming" levels, almost halfway up the building. Executive offices, gyms, spas and restaurants and other retail amenities will also be located at the podium and lower levels.
Crown Sydney is due to open in 2019.
Source: Australian Financial Review - 25th March 2015
