Grocon working to secure Infrastructure NSW records on Barangaroo deal in bid to secure $270m

Property developer Grocon, led by Daniel Grollo, wants access to documents held by Infrastructure NSW over its failed Barangaroo project, in a bid to secure $270m from the government.

Grocon, led by Daniel Grollo, is seeking $270m from the NSW government for its failed Barangaroo project. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

A court has heard senior managers at Infrastructure NSW exchanged confidential messages to delay disclosing decisions to stymie Grocon’s proposed tower in Sydney’s Barangaroo.
In an affidavit read to the court, INSW executive director Tim Robertson was alleged to have messaged Canadian multinational property group managing directors David Matheson and Gawain Smart, to suggest not disclosing decisions about sight lines to Grocon boss Daniel Grollo.
Grocon presented the evidence as part of its bid to gain access to a trove of internal INSW documents it said would support its claim the developer was dudded in a deal to sell its stake in Barangaroo.
Grocon is making a $270m claim against INSW for its role in a deal that saw Crown Resorts secure “sight lines” of Sydney Harbour from its Barangaroo tower.
Grocon alleges INSW failed to issue sight lines for its Barangaroo tower until the day after the company sold its stake in the project to Chinese developer Aqualand.
“Re government stakeholders, we have had a green light to proceed with engaging with Crown and Lendlease, a very important step,” INSW’s Mr Robertson is alleged to have told Mr Matheson.
“We‘ve had a green light to proceed with engaging with Crown and Lendlease, I’m not keen to disclose to Daniel yet because I’m not keen to hand him more leverage.”
Grocon senior counsel Michael Hodge QC said the messages showed INSW was seeking to delay issuing sight lines rulings on the company’s Barangaroo tower in the period “by which Grocon is being forced out and Aqualand is going to take over as the developer”.
Grocon sold its stake to Aqualand for $73m.
The $270m court fight on Thursday saw Grocon take aim at INSW, alleging the Barangaroo Delivery Authority misled the developer over the potential size of the building it planned for Sydney’s harbour foreshore.
The Barangaroo Delivery Authority was a government agency responsible for delivering the redevelopment of Barangaroo, on Sydney’s CBD’s western flank, before it was folded into INSW.
Grocon had planned a massive building in Sydney’s Barangaroo, but alleges INSW had made a secret deal with Crown and Lendlease that limited the potential size of its building.
The developer alleges that INSW withheld a notice of sightlines from the developer for years, stringing Grocon along with assurances the company’s Barangaroo development’s lofty heights would not be lopped.
In the Supreme Court on Thursday, orders were made for the parties to agree on orders to open up INSW’s records to discovery.
But Justice Michael Ball warned Grocon that he wouldn’t allow access to everything it sought, cautioning discovery was “not a fishing expedition”.

Justice Ball said if Grocon and Infrastructure NSW could not agree on orders the matter would return to court for a further hearing.

Grocon is seeking $270m in recompense from the government, money company scion Daniel Grollo has assured his many creditors will be coming to repay the significant debts owed by his family’s construction business.

Mr Grollo was involved in a tortuous insolvency process that ultimately was decided in his favour, after tipping in $13m of his own money to pay out small creditors first.

Larger creditors would be left waiting for the outcome of the Barangaroo case, with Mr Grollo securing $7m in funding to run the case against Infrastructure NSW.

The Australian has previously reported Barangaroo Delivery Authority head Craig van der Laan had assured Grocon that sightlines would not be interrupted by the height limits of the development.

“Don’t worry because we are not far. It will be issued soon,” van der Laan is reported to have told Mr Grollo.

But the Crown Barangaroo Tower, which kicked off construction in October 2016, ended up looming 271 metres over the Harbour foreshore.

The plan was reportedly amended in late March 2015, boosting the height from the proposed original 170m to 275m.