Queen’s Wharf Casino Project Breaks Ground In Brisbane
On 8 March, the controversial Queen’s Wharf casino resort broke ground in Brisbane, Queensland. For months, lawmakers in the state opposed casino project proposals, with some going so far as to publicly reject them. However, one bid finally got the go-ahead. The Destination Brisbane Consortium, a partnership featuring the Star Entertainment Group, won their bid after promising to develop the public space before starting on the casino. It will cost roughly AU$3 billion to complete. As part of this new development, Echo Entertainment won the bid for this casino and will be installing 868 poker machines and 2500 pokie machines before opening.
Destination Brisbane Consortium is a collective of the Star Entertainment Group and two overseas property developers. The two foreign firms are the Far East Consortium International Limited and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited. These developers have a large interest in Australia, along with Star Entertainment. So, their partnership could mean big things for Queensland.
Queensland Opposition to Queen’s Wharf
The final casino resort planned for the state included proposals for Gold Coast City and the Sunshine Coast. Other bids for Queensland cities did not include plans for improving public spaces, and actually proposed to replace public facilities. Their plan is to create a ‘global tourism hub’ in Brisbane that will benefit tourists and residents.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk attended the ground-breaking ceremony held last Thursday in Brisbane. Palaszczuk had nixed every proposal made for a new casino in her state except for this one. According to reports, the Destination Brisbane project received the go-ahead to start clearing the property in late 2016.
Queen’s Wharf Benefits Community
As mentioned above, the Brisbane proposal would add a lot of public space for residents. This includes twelve acres of space for public use. What’s more, the project will create roughly 2000 construction jobs during developments. They are also expected to create 8000 other permanent jobs for residents by 2022, when the project is expected to be finished.
If that weren’t enough, Star Entertainment has partnered with Technical and Further Education Queensland to establish the Queensland Hotel and Hospitality School. This is where they plan to train hospitality staff for the six hotels planned.
