Crown Perth redevelopment: Plans revealed for ‘upmarket’ food precinct and new bars

Crown Resorts has finally committed to a construction start next year on a redevelopment of its riverside Perth entertainment complex that will include a new food precinct and bars. The group’s US private equity owner Blackstone has been mulling multimillion-dollar upgrades at Crown Perth since buying the casino and hotels company in mid-2022, but it has still to detail its plans. However, Crown has confirmed that the redevelopment will include an “upmarket” food precinct expected to open in 2026. Crown Perth, WA’s biggest single-site employer, has made no secret of its pursuit of more restaurants for the Burswood complex to help meet visitor demand for both family and top-end dining. It has also looked at new attractions, including other upmarket restaurant franchises alongside Nobu and Rockpool, to expand the local offering and help fill the largely vacant first floor in the luxury Crown Towers hotel. Other proposals given consideration have included a redevelopment of its main open-air carpark, and revamps elsewhere to spruce up the sprawling property, including enlarging the Crown Towers pool, Queried on its plans, Crown conceded on Friday it had approved development of “an upmarket fast dining urban food district.” “The precinct will offer restaurant quality food in a quick service environment, catering to a wide variety of guests,” it said. “Construction is due to begin next year, with completion expected in 2026.” It is understood that precinct will make use of Crown Perth’s existing property footprint and feature seven quick-service style food outlets, three bars and a beer garden. There had been suggestions Blackstone had wound back its refurbishment plans for Perth and Crown’s flagship casino complex in Melbourne because of the weaker trading in the latter and the hefty fines imposed on Crown for its regulatory failures. However, Ciaran Carruthers, who is set to depart Crown by the end of the year after stepping down as chief executive in August, revealed last week that the group’s margins “had greater than doubled ... across the business”, despite cost-of-living pressures weighing on discretionary spending. He told an Asian gaming website that trading at Crown Melbourne had picked up after disruptions linked to implementing responsible gaming reforms in December and the group was finally free to focus on running its integrated resorts, having overhauled its culture and its compliance systems and cut back job numbers. “People are starting to see the numbers come through. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we can see the pathway, we’re making progress, and we can see the direction ahead,” Mr Carruthers said. Crown has yet to disclose its 2024 financial year results after recording a $166m loss last year that was heavily influenced by $700m of fines and its $200m remediation program. Inquiries in NSW, Victoria and WA found Crown breached anti-money laundering and counterterrorism laws, citing “disgraceful” conduct that was deemed “variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”. The group was forced to accept the supervision of outside monitors to survive. “We’re seeing improvement with the restructure of our cost base that’s been rolled out over the last six to nine months ... and there’s still room for (more),” Mr Carruthers said last week. He also expects an uplift from the improving economy in eastern Australia that will “flow into the business”. Crown is being run by its former Perth boss, chief operating officer David Tsai, on an interim basis while Blackstone looks for a new boss.