Australia-based gaming operator Crown Resorts is facing challenges on its upcoming casino resort in Sydney.
In June, New South Wales gave conditional planning consent for the Crown Sydney, a project tapped to cost $1.5 billion. But the Millers Point Fund has served Crown with papers challenging the validity of the decision, according to a filing by Crown Resorts to the Australian Securities Exchange. The group is protesting the fact that the development is planned on land that had been set aside as public parkland. The community group argues that the NSW Planning Assessment Commission did not apply the law properly when approving the casino’s location.
The application also challenges the decision of the NSW Planning Assessment Commission to approve modifications to the approved concept plan for redevelopment of Barangaroo, an inner-city harborside district in Sydney where Crown Sydney will be located. The casino resort itself was referred to in Crown Resorts’ own filing as “Crown Sydney Hotel Resort.”
The filing declared that Crown would “defend these proceedings vigorously.”
The NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s assessment report on the scheme confirms the project as having a 350-room hotel and 66 residential apartments, as well as a 71-story tower and a 65,498-square-foot gaming facility.