How Crown won approval for Melbourne's tallest tower
The Victorian government opted to approve casino mogul James Packer’s ambition to develop a $1.7 billion hotel and apartment complex without modifying the proposal for Melbourne’s tallest tower.
The enormous 90-storey project, with a tower rising to 323 metres on Southbank, has been made exempt from normal planning rules after it was deemed to be of state significance.
On Tuesday, the government released documents outlining the final stages of planning minister Richard Wynne’s decision to approve the joint venture between Crown and private developer Schiavello on a Southbank site opposite the casino.
An artist’s impression of the footbridge linking the new Crown hotel and the casino. Image: Floodslicer
The documents reveal the minister could either refuse the massive project “due to the significant departure from the applicable planning controls” or approve it in one of three development forms.
“The department considers that the closer any approval adheres to the underlying provision of the Melbourne Planning Scheme, the lesser the risk of undermining the recent built form review,” one document said.
Mr Wynne choose “Option C”, to approve the project “without changes”, as it had been submitted and amended in August last year. The government documents are partly redacted and do not include any earlier briefings and appraisals of the project by the planning department.
With a plot ratio of 56 to one, the Crown project with 388 rooms and 708 apartments is more than three times the development density allowed under normal planning rules.
But Mr Wynne, in reasons set out last week, designated the Crown project to be of state significance because its potential contribution to tourism and taxation revenue, as well as the jobs it creates. It will also provide a $100 million public benefits package.
The connection between the new Crown hotel and the casino is critical for the government and is underlined in the ministerial briefing. It notes that a new pedestrian bridge over Queensbridge Street leads directly from the hotel foyer to the casino’s high-roller Mahogany Room.
“The bridge link partly justifies the consideration of the building as an integrated part of the Casino complex,” it said.
