Property giant Lend Lease has won A$2.5 billion (US$2.6 billion) in contracts to develop an entertainment and convention complex, as well as 900-room hotel at Sydney’s Darling Harbour.
About A$1 billion (US$1.05 billion) will be spent on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) to create the convention and entertainment complex. Separately, more than A$1.5 (US$1.55 billion) billion will be spent to develop the hotel, 1,400 apartments and student accommodation on an adjacent parcel of land.
The Lend Lease-led Destination Sydney consortium – including AEG Ogden, Spotless, Hostplus and Capella Capital – will design, construct, finance, maintain and operate a new convention, exhibition and entertainment facilities to be called Convention Centre Sydney.
“The PPP capital commitments are fully underwritten and Lend Lease will invest 50% of the equity along with the national industry super fund for tourism and hospitality, Hostplus, with debt being provided by a syndicate of local and overseas banks,” Lend Lease stated.
The group would not divulge the identity of the lending banks but said it was a mix of “Aussie majors” with Japanese and European banks.
Infrastructure analysts welcomed the decision to transform Darling Harbour. “It’s a very good step for the O’Farrell government . . . it will give the rest of the market confidence in the O’Farrell government policy of increasing infrastructure development in NSW,” Bill Banks, global infrastructure leader at Ernst & Young, told The Australian. “This shows after many years of malaise (in NSW) the O’Farrell government is moving on infrastructure.”