Grocon Barangaroo tower ‘has no height limit’
Private developer Grocon was told that a Sydney office skyscraper it is developing in its $5 billion Central Barangaroo project, which could block views from James Packer’s Crown Resorts project and Lendlease’s luxury apartments, did not have any height restrictions, a court heard this week.
A barrister for Lendlease, which has joined with Crown to seek an injunction against the NSW government’s Barangaroo Development Authority, said that an email from Grocon to Crown executive vice-president Todd Nisbet made it “quite clear” that the Melbourne-based developer was not restricted by height limits.
The Grocon representative wrote that the company’s priority was height and the BDA had told it there were no limits and the developer had been encouraged to “go higher” in building the tower that would partially block views from Crown’s $2.2 billion harbourside complex and two luxury unit towers proposed by Lendlease.
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The email noted that BDA had subsequently inferred to Grocon that its building had gone “too high”.
However, Lendlease’s barrister, Noel Hutley, SC, told the court that plans made by Grocon had gone above height limits in the area’s original masterplan and concept plan, when it was envisaged as a cultural precinct, ahead of a metro station being announced in 2015.
The height of the proposed Grocon tower is still under wraps, with the court being told this was confidential.
But there have been some signs of a compromise as Crown and Lendlease held talks in September with the BDA about the Grocon building’s height, even after they went public in August with the legal action.
It is not known whether the negotiations have continued as the court case yesterday began its first full day of hearings.
The case, which turns on the interpretation of a contract between Crown and Lendlease and the BDA that it would consult with them about projects that impinge on their views from the Harbour Bridge to the Opera House, has the potential to affect billions of dollars worth of development.
Crown is well advanced on its tower that will also include a hotel, whose views could be impeded, and apartments, which are not affected.
Barrister Neil Young QC, for Crown, said the casino group had a different agreement with the BDA, reflecting the iconic status of the planned resort.
Young told the court that a “reasonable businessman” would have drawn from the long history of consultation and collaboration with the authority that it would be told in good faith of any new development applications.
He said both Crown and Lendlease had relied on Central Barangaroo being a low-rise project but that had been rapidly reversed in the bidding process won by Grocon this year.
The company has proposed a $1.4 billion office tower, which is to be backed by Canada’s Oxford Property Group, as well as apartments, to be undertaken by Chinese-backed Aqualand, and a shopping centre, by local Westfield owner the Scentre Group.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
