Crown Resorts sues Australian government agency

The operator filed a lawsuit against an agency of the New South Wales government over a building that would impact on its casino at Sydney’s Barangaroo.

Australia.- Crown Resorts announced that it has started proceedings against the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA), a New South Wales government agency, over construction plans that would impact on its six-star casino at Sydney’s Barangaroo. The building in question, a food and entertainment hub, would block the US$2.2 billion venue’s sight lines as it would be built taller than expected.

BDA and Crown had come to a “good faith” agreement, the Crown Development Agreement (CDA), which had BDA committing to consult Crown on construction that would obstruct hotel visitors from seeing the harbour.

“The proceedings seek injunctive relief and declarations against the BDA that, in substance, require the BDA to comply with a number of its contractual obligations under the CDA,” Crown’s said in a letter to shareholders and added: “These obligations include consulting with Crown about any application for the proposed development of Central Barangaroo that differs from that provided for in the relevant Concept Plan for Central Barangaroo in existence at the time the Crown Development Agreement was entered into, and negotiating in good faith and agreeing with Crown and Lendlease any required changes to that application to ensure that sight lines from the Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Opera House are retained for the Crown Sydney Hotel Resort.”

However, a BDA spokesperson said that… “acting on behalf of the NSW Government, the BDA has been negotiating with Crown and Lendlease about their sightlines over Central Barangaroo for 28 months” and added: “At all times the Authority has acted in good faith and in accordance with its contractual obligations (…) The Authority will defend its position in court.”