Jerry Schwartz takes another stab at Sydney CBD helipad
Hotel tycoon Jerry Schwartz said he was confident of gaining approval for a helipad atop his Sofitel hotel in Darling Harbour, despite many unsuccessful attempts in the past by others to get such a project off the ground in the Sydney CBD.
“I obviously think that I have a very good chance to get this over the line,” Dr Schwartz said after officially launching a proposal he first floated six years ago when he bought the luxury hotel.
“Sydney obviously needs a CBD helipad, and right next to the International Convention Centre.
“Who would be critical of a helipad 38 storeys up in the sky?”
Dr Schwartz, the country’s biggest private owner of hotels, has pitched the idea as a way to revive Sydney’s economy and elevate the city’s business and tourism profile at a time when COVID-19 has hurt both sectors.
However, gaining approval would take at least 18 months, according to the website he has set up to sell the idea to Sydneysiders, meaning a helipad would not be operational until 2022 at the earliest.
“The world’s great cities – such as London, Paris and New York – have CBD helipads, and even Melbourne offers city helicopter transfers to the River Yarra helipad,” Dr Schwartz said.
The idea is not unprecedented. A heliport had been in operation at Darling Harbour in the 1980s but was removed to make way for the redevelopment of the former rail yards.
The push for a helipad at Barangaroo by tourism bodies almost a decade ago was unsuccessful.
A bid by fellow Financial Review Rich Lister Larry Kestelman to operate a helipad at his Melbourne Capitol Grand penthouse failed to fly after it was met by more than 200 local objections.
Dr Schwartz said that as the proposed rooftop helipad would be classified as an “aircraft facility”, an environmental impact statement would be prepared and lodged with the City of Sydney council for consideration.
“The City of Sydney provided initial feedback to the Department of Planning and Environment in August 2018 on the proposed installation of a heliport on the rooftop of the Sofitel hotel at Darling Harbour,” said a City of Sydney spokesperson.
“The City has not received any further correspondence on this issue.”
Dr Schwartz said investigations were under way to assess the noise impact from the operations of the helipad, including approach and landing, idling and take off.
“Helicopter flights around the Sydney CBD are frequent and many already use the flight path proposed for this helipad,” said Dr Schwartz.
He told the Financial Review he had spent about $250,000 in consultancy fees on the helipad proposal and another $750,000 was to be spent on construction, including a lift through the top three levels.
When Dr Schwartz first floated the idea in August 2014 after buying the hotel for $368 million from Lendlease, architect Richard Francis-Jones said it was the first he had heard of it.
“It hasn’t been designed for a heliport, it’s got a chiselled roof on it,” Mr Francis-Jones had said.
