Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, one of the companies behind the project for the construction of a $3-billion integrated resort at Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane, said that although the anti-corruption campaign in Mainland China damaged an important economic momentum, there is still a chance for the developers to draw high rollers to the gambling venue.
Chow Tai Fook has partnered with Australian gambling operator Echo Entertainment and Hong Kong-based real estate developer Far East Consortium to build the expensive complex. It is expected to open doors in 2022.
Patrick Tsang, Chief Executive Officer of Chow Tai Fook, told media that the corruption crackdown launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the general economic slowdown in Mainland China has imminently affected his company’s operations. Apart from its involvement in the real estate development business, the Hong Kong conglomerate is also a renown jewelry manufacturer, manager of retail facilities across the Asia-Pasific region, etc.
Both Chow Tai Fook and Far East will hold a 25% stake in the Queen’s Wharf luxury hotel and casino complex. What is more, the two companies will be in charge of the development of retail spaces, hotels, and residential properties.
Echo Entertainment has formerly said that both its partners will receive certain fees for each VIP customer they have brought to the complex. Investment banking company UBS estimated that the Queen’s Wharf casino could see up to $22 billion being annually wagered in VIP rooms by 2023.
Mr. Tsang said that due to the wide variety of activities it is involved in, Chow Tai Fook is in touch with “a very diverse group” of Chinese customers, a segment that is likely to find the new integrated resort and its casino particularly attractive. The executive also pointed out that an international hotel and casino complex of this class would most definitely lure them.
The Brisbane integrated resort is expected to include around 2,000 apartments. Interested parties raised questions whether the inner city’s housing sector may eventually get overbuilt in the years to come. A multi-million-dollar investment in inner-city sites is expected to generate more than 5,300 new apartments within the next 10 years.
When asked about his opinion, Mr. Tsang explained that his company has a long-term vision for the Queen’s Wharf development and is not going after the fast money. This is why he and his colleagues are not concerned about volatility in the city’s hosing market as well as that of Queensland as a whole.
