Room without a view? Hotel mogul Jerry Schwartz crosses swords with Mirvac over harbourside tower

The battle between the tycoon and the developer is over a priceless Sydney icon: a water view.

Developer Mirvac has unveiled plans for a $1.5 billion revamp of the 8000 square metre Harbourside Shopping Centre at Darling Harbour that will include a widened waterfront boulevard and pedestrian bridge connecting it to Pyrmont.

The wealthy owner of Sydney’s Sofitel Hotel is threatening to appeal a NSW government decision to allow Mirvac to develop hundreds of residential apartments at Darling Harbour, alleging the project will block views.

Hotelier Jerry Schwartz, who purchased the luxury hotel for $348m in 2017, said he would not have invested in the 35-level tower if he had known Mirvac would be allowed to block the hotel’s expansive views across Darling Harbour.

Mirvac’s recently approved $708m redevelopment will see the existing 1980s-era Harbourside shopping centre demolished and replaced with a new residential, retail, dining and entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour.

The project, including 42 levels of apartments, attracted objections from the City of Sydney as well as 50 surrounding residents as well as building owners including Dr Schwartz.

Dr Schwartz says the residents of One Darling Harbour as well as guests at the nearby Ibis and Novotel hotels will also have their views impeded following the state government’s decision to allow Mirvac to proceed which was quietly announced on Friday night.

“It’s almost like a repetition of the Barangaroo story, having a development sneak through without the knowledge of the public, there was a planning commission about a month ago, these submissions (about 50 objections) were not listened to,” said Dr Schwartz.

“All of a sudden in the peak of the worst Covid-19 emergence the development has been approved. I absolutely question the timing of the announcement.’’

“I keep restating that I invested in Darling Harbour with the knowledge it would always remain a public area and all of a sudden they approved a private development. This is exactly the same story that has emerged with Barangaroo.”

Dr Schwartz claims the Mirvac project will devalue his 590-room hotel as well as almost the entire area.

“I think we will have to appeal this, not only on behalf of the hotel but on behalf of tourism for Darling Harbour,” said Dr Schwartz, adding that Mirvac’s tower will block views from level four where the hotel has a swimming pool, the whole way up.

Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, NSW

“In the end, the decision is all about approving a residential development that is completely contrary to the Darling Harbour Development Plan,” said Dr Schwartz.

“That plan states clearly that developments should ‘encourage the development of a variety of tourist, educational, recreational, entertainment, cultural and commercial facilities within that area’, and then it says expressly that all other kinds of development should be prohibited.

“Previous NSW planning bodies have rejected proposals for the Harbourside redevelopment to include residential, so we cannot understand why approval should be given for something that is totally incompatible with the precinct’s vision.

“Mirvac has continually stated that the residential component was necessary to make the project viable, but then it should be argued they shouldn’t have got involved with the project from the outset.

“The whole point of the original proposal was to ‘redevelop’ the Harbourside shopping centre, not develop a massive residential tower under the guise of redeveloping the existing shopping component.”

“The rest of Mirvac’s proposal – the commercial and retail – was just a smokescreen for what was always the ultimate end game: a disproportionate residential development which goes completely against the ethos of the original Darling Harbour design concept.”

Dr Schwartz claims the NSW government has an obligation to uphold the objections of City of Sydney and Darling Harbour’s major tenants, who invested heavily into the precinct based on the provisions of the long-established and fully documented development plan.

In a statement, Mirvac said it was pleased that the Independent Planning Commission has granted concept approval, adding it would “continue to work through the details around the final conditions”.