Sensational-Adelaide.com

I thought the Government had already agreed to a concessional tax deal and lease extension with Skycity on the proviso of them participating in the riverbank overhaul with an expansion/redevelopment of Adelaide Casino? If so, and said agreement is active, Skycity seems to be having a laugh... I think we were all expecting this to have begun years ago.

SRW wrote:I thought the Government had already agreed to a concessional tax deal and lease extension with Skycity on the proviso of them participating in the riverbank overhaul with an expansion/redevelopment of Adelaide Casino? If so, and said agreement is active, Skycity seems to be having a laugh... I think we were all expecting this to have begun years ago.

Sounds like another Olympic Dam type of deal. I'm sure Mike Rann is still crying into his cornflakes over that one

Jaymz wrote:

SRW wrote:I thought the Government had already agreed to a concessional tax deal and lease extension with Skycity on the proviso of them participating in the riverbank overhaul with an expansion/redevelopment of Adelaide Casino? If so, and said agreement is active, Skycity seems to be having a laugh... I think we were all expecting this to have begun years ago.

Sounds like another Olympic Dam type of deal. I'm sure Mike Rann is still crying into his cornflakes over that one

I suspect that if the Festival Plaza, car park and Festival Theatre redevelopments had already begun construction and something was already happening, Skycity would be more keen to kick off their own redevelopment

ml69 wrote:

Jaymz wrote:

SRW wrote:I thought the Government had already agreed to a concessional tax deal and lease extension with Skycity on the proviso of them participating in the riverbank overhaul with an expansion/redevelopment of Adelaide Casino? If so, and said agreement is active, Skycity seems to be having a laugh... I think we were all expecting this to have begun years ago.

Sounds like another Olympic Dam type of deal. I'm sure Mike Rann is still crying into his cornflakes over that one

I suspect that if the Festival Plaza, car park and Festival Theatre redevelopments had already begun construction and something was already happening, Skycity would be more keen to kick off their own redevelopment

I very much doubt that. That might be the excuse they'll eventually come up with when nothing is happening in another year or two, but with 40,000+ every weekend since the 2014 AFL season, there's 40,000 reasons why they should begin their redevelopment.

HOWEVER, they wont because earnings are down and the casino isn't performing as well as they may have liked.
Same story with BHP, commodity prices have crashed, so expansion is on hold. These are the factors beyond our control that I was talking about in another post in another thread.
In both cases there is nothing the government can do. SkyCity and BHP are private businesses who answer to their holders, if it isn't economically feasible to undertake expansions and redevelopments, then they wont do it. They'd also be stupid to sign any agreement with any government that ties them into having to do something regardless of their financial situation. That would be a bad business practice and very short sighted.

The government should have come up with an agreement that said if SkyCity do not begin redevelopment of the proposed/approved plan by X date, then the lease extension will be null and void and another operator of the casino will be sought and SkyCity can pack their bags.
Our politicians love to travel overseas as long as the tax payer is paying, so I'm sure someone could fly over to Macau or Vegas and entice one of the big operators over there to invest here. It's a casino after all, people gamble, a lot, going to the casino when you turn 18 is like a right of passage in this state. There will be no shortage of profits. When's the last time you heard of a casino going broke?(Without googling it)..exactly, you haven't.

Seriously, we would be better off if an American operator came over and took control, and a purpose built casino resort was built and the railway station building used for something else, rather then waiting for SkyCity to do something with the place.

Oh well

Patrick_27 wrote: our casino is not necessary in the most conveniently located area of our city and until there is more happening on the festival plaza I don't see thing anything picking up around there.

Really?. It's above a major railway station and close proximity to Adelaide Oval, Rundle Mall and Hindley Street.

As for Crown, they're overrated. If Crown were really interested in the Adelaide they'd have done something about that years ago. If they were here, things wouldn't be different there ideas for Adelaide wouldn't necessarily differ to what they already have in Melbourne and Perth. They'd probably demand the entire riverbank precinct for their use and build a casino that's bigger than what this city needs.

Adelaide Casino is overrated. It's nothing more than an expensive flashy RSL club inside a beautiful elegant building.

It would be a massive boon if Crown or Echo took over the casino licence and built a new entertainment complex. It would create thousands of jobs, boast the state image and lure more tourists to Adelaide. When you compare the billions of dollars being injected into casino developments across the country, SkyCity's $350 million expansion is pretty underwhelming. So, hopefully this potential delay is a blessing and SkyCity propose something far more impressive or a new operator takes over the SA licence.

Despite the area becoming a major medical precinct, I still think a new purpose built entertainment complex and hotels along the western edge of the River Torrens would look really good. It could feature a dining promenade, luxury five-star hotel, apartments and a nightly water show. The Railway Station could be transformed into a museum or a new retail plaza / boutique hotel. Or the Railway Station casino could be retained, but the Intercontinental Hotel demolished and replaced with an expansion of the existing casino, including one or two major hotels.

Either way Adelaide needs to truly lift it's game quick smart, or we may start seeing alot more cashed up Adelaidians travelling to interstate casinos to spend their hard-earned cash. I saw another article today highlighting our future Riverbank Precinct will rival Southbank, Adelaide has no hope in hell of achieving this until some one with bold thinking comes in and not afraid to tip over the apple cart.

Kinda could tell this was gonna happen... not surprised.

Surely it is time to scrap the legislation protecting the casino monopoly and put a tender out for a second casino to a competitor. This operator seems unable to develop the business or provide a contemporary facility.

crawf wrote:It would be a massive boon if Crown or Echo took over the casino licence and built a new entertainment complex. It would create thousands of jobs, boast the state image and lure more tourists to Adelaide. When you compare the billions of dollars being injected into casino developments across the country, SkyCity's $350 million expansion is pretty underwhelming. So, hopefully this potential delay is a blessing and SkyCity propose something far more impressive or a new operator takes over the SA licence.

Despite the area becoming a major medical precinct, I still think a new purpose built entertainment complex and hotels along the western edge of the River Torrens would look really good. It could feature a dining promenade, luxury five-star hotel, apartments and a nightly water show. The Railway Station could be transformed into a museum or a new retail plaza / boutique hotel. Or the Railway Station casino could be retained, but the Intercontinental Hotel demolished and replaced with an expansion of the existing casino, including one or two major hotels.

Either way Adelaide needs to truly lift it's game quick smart, or we may start seeing alot more cashed up Adelaidians travelling to interstate casinos to spend their hard-earned cash. I saw another article today highlighting our future Riverbank Precinct will rival Southbank, Adelaide has no hope in hell of achieving this until some one with bold thinking comes in and not afraid to tip over the apple cart.

Haha that's exactly what I was saying a while ago about what possibly could have been with our riverbank precinct.
The riverbank precinct should have all been treated as a huge development opportunity to change the face of Adelaide. I've said it all before, so I'll stop before I go on another massive rant.
Our motto on our number plates should be changed to South Australia - State of Missed Opportunities.

Maybe we should all chip in and form our own political party called Sensational Adelaide(SA)
The visions and ideas we come up with in this forum, are often hands down 1000000x better then what the current politicians come up with.
Give us the staffers and back room assistants to cost our visions, put us in power, and I'm positive the community on this forum would transform South Australia and Adelaide into a far better, more prosperous place. We certainly coudln't do any worse of a job then any past politicians have done.

I agree rev with your vision for the riverbank. They couldn't of done a better job with Adelaide Oval and the footbridge will be a shame to see the riverbank redevelopment turn to shit

rev wrote:

crawf wrote:It would be a massive boon if Crown or Echo took over the casino licence and built a new entertainment complex. It would create thousands of jobs, boast the state image and lure more tourists to Adelaide. When you compare the billions of dollars being injected into casino developments across the country, SkyCity's $350 million expansion is pretty underwhelming. So, hopefully this potential delay is a blessing and SkyCity propose something far more impressive or a new operator takes over the SA licence.

Despite the area becoming a major medical precinct, I still think a new purpose built entertainment complex and hotels along the western edge of the River Torrens would look really good. It could feature a dining promenade, luxury five-star hotel, apartments and a nightly water show. The Railway Station could be transformed into a museum or a new retail plaza / boutique hotel. Or the Railway Station casino could be retained, but the Intercontinental Hotel demolished and replaced with an expansion of the existing casino, including one or two major hotels.

Either way Adelaide needs to truly lift it's game quick smart, or we may start seeing alot more cashed up Adelaidians travelling to interstate casinos to spend their hard-earned cash. I saw another article today highlighting our future Riverbank Precinct will rival Southbank, Adelaide has no hope in hell of achieving this until some one with bold thinking comes in and not afraid to tip over the apple cart.

Haha that's exactly what I was saying a while ago about what possibly could have been with our riverbank precinct.
The riverbank precinct should have all been treated as a huge development opportunity to change the face of Adelaide. I've said it all before, so I'll stop before I go on another massive rant.
Our motto on our number plates should be changed to South Australia - State of Missed Opportunities.

Maybe we should all chip in and form our own political party called Sensational Adelaide(SA)
The visions and ideas we come up with in this forum, are often hands down 1000000x better then what the current politicians come up with.
Give us the staffers and back room assistants to cost our visions, put us in power, and I'm positive the community on this forum would transform South Australia and Adelaide into a far better, more prosperous place. We certainly coudln't do any worse of a job then any past politicians have done.

I strongly agree regarding the InterContinental site. I have always felt the InterContinental as well as the Riverside Centre and the Plenary Building would have provided a far better location for the casino and allowed it to exist as more of an entertainment precinct rather than just a casino. Building one large facility on the site of these three buildings would piece the architectural design of the area together better (at the moment we have a splash of 2000's, 2010's, 1980's, 1920's throughout the area, why not scale that down).

I feel as though the works for this area have been rushed, which isn’t delivering the best outcome for the area. If I were somehow in-charge of this whole project (one can dream? ), this is how I’d go about it…

- State Government buys InterContinental Hotel, sells hotel, Riverside Building, Plenary Building to Walker Corporation.

- Government fund and build a temporary (or permanent?) train-station at the rear of the new RAH. Once this has been done, close the Adelaide railway station for one/two year/s.

- Relocate the government departments from the Riverside Centre to another CBD location (will be relocated back into the area once all other works are complete)

- Bulldoze the entire area (Riverside Centre, InterContinental, Plenary Building, North Terrace façade of Convention Centre – demolition would works exclude the Convention Centre upgrade that was completed in 2000),

- Remove all rail-tracks between the Morphett Bride and the Railway Station, excavate the entire area and build three/four levels of car parking below, which can service all the facilities in that block. Allocate the area of car park closest to the Railway Station for a new Adelaide Bus Terminal, which will be connected, to the Railway Station.

- Rebuild the rail-tracks over the new parking area (to avoid having to rebuild ventilation shafts for trains perhaps all of this could coincide with a complete electrification of remaining rail lines)

- Commence construction of the new facilities on top (Convention Centre would span from the Morphett Bridge to where the retained 2000 building addition is)

- (by removing the car parking either side of the railway tracks under the Convention Centre, it would allow for a more welcoming entry to the centre from North Terrace and a better flow between the centre and Torrens riverbank)

- Walker’s facilities would include a hotel, (which would by agreement be leased back to InterContinental) a casino (leased back to SkyCity or other entities that may put forward expression of interest), and commercial opportunities (cinemas, cafes, restaurants, etc)

- Once the area is complete, repurpose the old Adelaide Casino above the Railway Station into government department offices (replacing those in the Riverside Centre), would help retain the daytime rush of the area)

- Because Walker would be invested elsewhere, the Festival Plaza could then include an expanded Festival Theatre, car-parking (underneath the plaza) with it’s capacity suitable for the centre’s needs, cafes and restaurants and amongst all of this a new hub for the State Theatre Company to allow them to relocate from the basement of the Adelaide Railway Station which would open this space up for potential food-court for the railway station, etc.

- The only thing I haven’t included is the possibility of reintroducing interstate rail to the Adelaide Railway Station; it would be worthwhile but a logistical nightmare.

I realise the cost of such a project would be in the billions, but with Walker’s contribution the government wouldn’t necessarily need to hand over that much money to kick off the proposal. I also realise that my ideas perhaps reflect those of the Crown in Melbourne, but I'd like to think that the casino component in this facility whilst it would be big it wouldn't dominate the area.

This should probably be on the visions thread, but it seems like the perfect time to share my thoughts on the matter with you all. I'm interested to hear what you think...

Agree with the bulk of your ideas Patrick.

Once the area is complete, repurpose the old Adelaide Casino above the Railway Station into government department offices (replacing those in the Riverside Centre), would help retain the daytime rush of the area)

It would be better if those department officers were shifted to a new office building in the CBD. While the Railway Station would make a beautiful museum or a new retail plaza and boutique hotel.

I must admit the new RAH exterior and emerging medical precinct along North Terrace does look pretty impressive. Though I still think the Convention Centre should have shifted here which would of allowed for the existing centre to be demolished and replaced with a new casino and entertainment precinct.

Does anyone remember the casino high rise resort plan proposed for the western riverbank in the 90s?. I looked everywhere on the net, but couldn't find it.

The render for this is stunning. They better stick to it and use it.

Methinks this has Dangerfield chances of coming to fruition.

We'll either get a scaled down version or it won't proceed at all.

They should be more ruthless about it, then. Adelaide needs a development like this to pull it out of the sub-ordinary (at least as far as tourism goes).

stronic wrote:They should be more ruthless about it, then. Adelaide needs a development like this to pull it out of the sub-ordinary (at least as far as tourism goes).

How many people do you know that travel somewhere to visit the casino? Las Vegas even Melbourne, fair enough. But Adelaide we have more to offer than that. That being said, I'm all for this casino expansion but for the people of this city.