Australian gambling operator Crown Resorts is planning to add a 90-story hotel and apartment tower at its existing Melbourne casino. The construction of the building is expected to cost A$1.5 billion and it would feature a total of 680 apartments and 388 hotel rooms.
Crown Resorts would work together with Melbourne-based real estate developer Schiavello Group, which owns the land where the new facility is to be built. British architecture firm Wilkinson Eyre, which worked on the gambling operator’s Barangaroo casino, would design the Queensbridge tower in Melbourne.
Including its newly introduced project, Crown Resorts’ pipeline of different plans is likely to exceed A$10 billion over the next decade. Earlier this year, the company announced new casino undertakings in Perth, Sydney, and Las Vegas.
Commenting on the Melbourne tower, James Packer, who resigned as Chairman of the operator in August to take a different executive role, said that they need to keep on investing in Melbourne as the three operational hotels in the city’s Southbank could boast of 90% occupancy. Mr. Packer further noted that they could not “take this success for granted” and should build on it, in order for Crown Melbourne to remain “at the forefront of Australian tourism.”
The gambling operator also revealed plans to add a glass skybridge over Queens Bridge Street. Thus, guests at the tower would be able to walk from the hotel lobby to the nearby Crown casino.
The Queensbridge tower is yet to receive planning approval and the necessary financing. In addition, Crown Resorts is yet to conclude talks on the joint venture with partner Schiavello. The original plan for the tower was submitted to Richard Wynne, Planning Minister of Victoria. However, the new project adds six more stories to that first plan. A spokesperson for the minister revealed that he is yet to receive an application for the new 90-story tower.
Crown Resorts is to hold its annual general meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday, October 21. Rob Rankin, who has recently been appointed as the gambling operator’s new Chairman, is to host the meeting.
As a result from its new projects, Crown Resorts’ net debt increased 47% to A$2.5 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. In comparison, last year, the company reported net debt of A$1.5 billion.
