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The Star Sydney: Hotel development proposal too small for Ritz-Carlton

A $1 billion investment in a world class six-star hotel in Pyrmont could be all for nothing unless the plan for it is changed. FIND OUT WHY

Sydney is on the brink of losing a $1 billion investment and a world-class, six-star hotel unless a draft development strategy for Pyrmont is ­altered.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes is about to receive the final Place Strategy for Pyrmont with a proposal for two new towers at The Star Sydney.

Emails seen by The Daily Telegraph reveal that if the draft strategy is not amended, the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel chain would be limited to just 64 rooms in a 60m tower closest to the harbour — a scenario that would torpedo the project.

The Star’s proposed towers book-ending its complex. A draft Pyrmont strategy would further restrict the height of the smaller building on the left.
The Star’s proposed towers book-ending its complex. A draft Pyrmont strategy would further restrict the height of the smaller building on the left.

“In a stand-alone hotel scenario, we would be seeking to achieve our target of 250 hotel rooms and we estimate that a building height in the vicinity of 100m plus would be necessary,” the hotel chain told The Star.

A second tower of 180m has been proposed south of the casino complex away from the foreshore, but the email said: “The near-­harbourfront location on ­Pirrama Road is the only site we would be interested in pursuing … we believe this location is central to the hotel’s prospects of success as Sydney’s pre-eminent luxury hotel offering.”

The Star has been under attack from NIMBYs for its plans to develop a site that once housed four chimney stacks 106m above the old Pyrmont power station.

The Star’s original proposal for a 237m tower was knocked back.

The new pitch from The Star is for a hotel-only development at 110m — less than half the height of the proposal rejected by the Independent Planning Commission last November. The department, in the draft strategy, proposes only 60m as part of a new step-down approach to the harbour.

That is at odds with current or planned developments at nearby Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, Jackson’s Landing or the revamped Sydney Fish Markets site.

“We welcome a 180m height limit for the southern site,” a spokesman for The Star said.

“But the northern site with a 60m limit as suggested in the draft would not be commercially viable.”

Mr Stokes’s office said the strategy was being finalised.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-star-sydney-hotel-development-proposal-too-small-for-ritzcarlton/news-story/fe942f66f8b99fb349401c7c387cec3c