Details of James Packer’s Crown, Lendlease and Barangaroo Delivery Authority’s court dispute revealed
THE harbour view is priceless — and it’s why James Packer’s Crown casino group is willing to take their legal fight over 18.5m of Sydney building height to court.
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THE multibillion-dollar Sydney harbour views dispute between James Packer’s Crown casino group, Lendlease and the NSW Government boils down to just 18.5 metres of building height at Barangaroo.
Court documents obtained by News Corp Australia reveal the Government’s Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) reduced the maximum height of proposed buildings at Central Barangaroo from a “reduced level” of as much as 248.5 metres to as little as 128.5m between March 2016 and June 2018.
Crown and Lendlease are now taking legal action to protect what they say are their contractual rights to unobstructed views from their sites at Barangaroo South looking northeast to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House across Central Barangaroo.
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The court documents say Crown and Lendlease increased the Central Barangaroo building heights they would accept from an initial reduced level of 33.7m to 110m, leaving a difference of only 18.5m separating the parties from reaching an agreement.
But that is close as the parties have been able to get.
According to court documents, on July 17 this year, the BDA wrote to Crown and Lendlease saying the positions of the parties were “so stark and so significant that the Authority does not believe there would be any merit in any further meetings in relation to those proposals”.
Crown and Lendlease filed their legal action in the NSW Supreme Court on August 9.
The two companies want a permanent injunction restraining the BDA from approving an application from a consortium led by Grocon to develop the Central Barangaroo site until and agreement has been reached that retains their clear views to the landmark structures.
The BDA says in its defence document that it has negotiated in good faith with Crown and Lendlease, which is all it is obliged to do under the sight lines clause in their contracts.
The BDA also says “the sight lines clause does not provide for the retention of the sight lines referred to in that clause”.
Crown and Lendlease say the clause also requires the BDA “to agree any changes” required to an application to develop Central Barangaroo “so as to retain sight lines”.
News Corp Australia has previously revealed Crown claims it stands to lose as much as $2 billion in hotel room revenue if harbour views from its casino resort are obscured.
A two-day hearing has been scheduled for October 29 and 30.
john.rolfe@news.com.au