James Packer’s Crown Limited secures $568 million Crown Perth hotel and entertainment complex approval
James Packer’s Crown Limited has secured approval for a $568 million hotel and entertainment complex in Perth.
The 500 room new luxury hotel will add to the suite of hotel accommodation already at Burswood Entertainment Complex.
Crown Limited says it's committed to making Crown Perth a world class entertainment precinct to compete not only in the region, with the mega resorts in Singapore and Macau, but also globally, where large integrated resorts are increasingly being developed in an endeavour to capture a share of the expanding tourism market, particularly out of China.
The development of the new hotel will take Crown Limited’s investment in the Burswood complex to over $1.3 billion dollars since acquisition in 2004.
Crown Towers Perth will be the largest hotel in Perth and will take hotel room capacity at Burswood to nearly 1,200 rooms. Construction is expected to commence in early 2013 and take three years to complete.
The deal involves land to be acquired from the State Government at a $60 million cost.
The hotel will be located on land currently owned by Burswood as well as land to be acquired from the State, adjacent to the existing complex and currently part of the golf course, and provisions will be made for the future development of serviced apartments and, potentially, mixed and retail facilities.
Since 2004, the number of people employed at the resort has grown from 2,400 to over 5,200 with a total annual wages bill of over $310 million making the resort the State’s largest single-site private sector employer.
Upon completion, the hotel and accompanying facilities are expected to provide employment for over 500 people and create an additional 700 construction and construction related jobs over the three year build.
The Government has agreed not to oppose an application for 500 additional gaming machines and 130 additional gaming tables, including a new private gaming salons. This increase in gaming product will be rolled out over the next five years and is subject to the approval of the Gaming and Wagering Commission of Western Australia, Crown said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Packer, who had been in negotiations with West Australian premier Colin Barnett for eight months, said the deal would help Australia compete with the Asian gaming haven of Macau.
“I am doing this because I want to create a global luxury brand,” Packer told The Australian Financial Review.
Crown is also trying to buy a quarter of Echo Entertainment, which owns Sydney’s The Star casino. Crown and Echo, which holds an exclusive casino licence in New South Wales until 2019, have also canvassed the option of a joint venture over high-roller gamblers.
