‘We’ve got to be ahead of the game’: City sites ideal for casinos but Darwin shouldn’t be afraid to demolish
Darwin has plenty of empty sites to turn the CBD into a casino destination, but Top Enders also shouldn’t be afraid to tear old buildings down and start anew, according to the man proposing the idea.
Northern Territory
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DARWIN has plenty of empty sites to turn the CBD into a casino destination, but Top Enders also shouldn’t be afraid to tear old buildings down and start anew, according to the businessman proposing the idea.
Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory chief executive Quentin Kilian, whose independent idea for Darwin to become ‘Trop-Vegas‘, a city full of casinos, earmarked the old Ducks Nuts and adjacent sites as potential locations for new casinos.
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Mr Kilian however said Darwin should turn to Hong Kong where developers show no fear in demolishing old buildings for new structures.
“Hong Kong is about redevelopment, about continual redevelopment,” he said.
“Developers look at it and go, ‘there is a need for something I can see a need, more so I’ll create a need’, and old buildings are continually being knocked down and big new glass towers are continually going up.
“People create this environment that is inviting for people to want to come and work in, for businesses to relocate to.
“Sometimes we’ve got to be ahead of the game and that’s going to be driven by us doing things like looking at casinos in the city, stadiums in the city, at the inner city campus … We have to start somewhere. We have to pull that trigger and say … I’m just going to do this. I’m going to build it, and they will come.”
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Chamber of Commerce NT chief executive Greg Ireland said Darwin could benefit from new assets such as casinos, but would require an overhaul of general amenities. Property Council of Australia NT division executive director Ruth Palmer said while it did not advocate on behalf of specific private projects, it supported any private investment that “would stimulate the economy and attract both visitors and permanent residents”.
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