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
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
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.
“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.