Opulent, elevated, expensive. There are plenty of descriptive terms for the $90 million home perched high in Crown Resorts’ twisting skyscraper in Sydney. “Sold” is not one of them.
One stumbling block is the flashy nature of the home, located on the 81st floor of a tower that also houses a casino and a six-star hotel.The complex was a pet project of billionaire James Packer before the uncovering of wrongdoing at Crown’s casinos in Melbourne and Perth prompted him to sell his stake in the company two years ago. At $112,500 per square metre, the penthouse would be one of the country’s priciest homes ever sold, based on publicly available records.
“We’re still dealing with Chinese-origin buyers, but they already have residency here,” Tu said. “They are not necessarily holding a Chinese passport anymore.” The regulatory outlook for Crown is improving. Last month, the company was allowed to keep its license to operate its casino in Sydney. That came weeks after the company retained the licence to run its casino in Melbourne, where the state regulator said Crown had rectified misdeeds, including underpaying taxes and facilitating money laundering.Last year, the company closed one of its two VIP gambling floors at One Barangaroo in Sydney and laid off 275 people.
The property’s extravagant features, prominence in Sydney’s tallest building and central location are among its selling points.