Star City places $760m bet on its future

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The gambling hub is turning itself inside out.

Star City came to Sydney Harbour last night in a low-key arrival. A modest gathering of invited guests, mostly gamblers treasured for their loyalty and persistence, celebrated the official opening of the first segment of the massive reshaping of the city's monopoly casino.

It is just the first piece, but its splendour is a taste of what is to come over the next year and more as Star City turns itself inside out. The gaming floor, characterised for 13 years by the gloom of walled timelessness and the kitsch of faux rock and fabricated palm (one critic damned it as an RSL club on steroids), has been pushed northward to the sunlight, where glass panels open to the harbour breezes like giant vertical louvres.

Last night's fuss was minimal, particularly given nothing is minimalist about the $760 million rebuild of the development that did as much as any to kickstart the rejuvenation of old industrial Pyrmont.

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This must surely rank as one of the more expensive redevelopments of an existing property. The complexity of design and engineering is exacerbated by having to manage the build around a business that never closes.

There will be 12 floors of a luxury second hotel - Sydney's first five-star since the Olympics - with the top two floors dedicated to the biggest of the big spenders, who will fly to Sydney aboard private jets the casino plans to buy. They will include performers at the $100 million entertainment centre awaiting additional planning approval, VIPs and those who can afford the nightly tariff of several thousands of dollars. The suites, bigger than most city apartments, will have their own butler and other specialist services.

The old ballroom is being levelled so that a new entertainment centre, with seating ranging from 1500 for banquets to 3000 for concerts, and 4000 with some standing, can sit atop the complex. It will weigh the equivalent of a 15-storey office tower, requiring strengthening of the old casino foundations.

Seven top chefs from Australia and overseas, including the celebrated David Chang, who is making his first foray outside New York, have been lured to open signature restaurants; most of them along the glassed facade along Pirrama Road, where visitors previously were confronted by a fortress-like edifice underlined by the stairway to hell.

Nick Sissons is with Fitzpatrick and Partners, the award-winning architects leading the design. He describes it thus: "The common approach for casinos, particularly in north America [where Star City took early inspiration] is to build a themed, air-conditioned box whereby you build a shed and fill it with activity and then theme the outside with those branding concepts.

"We took the almost directly opposite approach - turn the casino inside out. Sydney has a degree of sophistication about outdoor dining, people seeing each other and being seen. Our influences were more to do with exteriors, water, light, technology." The overall design retains the original building's reliance on geometric circles and arcs.

Sid Vaikunta learnt the casino trade in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and was headhunted to oversee the redevelopment as Star City's managing director. He had the rather enviable task of "eating my way through the country" in search of restaurateurs willing and able to bring new attraction to Star City dining and entertainment.

He is careful to avoid criticising past administrators, preferring to emphasise the future. "This property deserves to offer more back to Sydney in terms of entertainment. The fact that we're investing nearly $1 billion is an indication of our belief that there is a lot of work to be done. We see nothing but opportunity in this area. What somebody might have perceived 15 years ago is irrelevant to us." But he acknowledges "existing customers have for some time been screaming for a better product", one that offers much more than the chance to bet. And he acknowledges too that many Sydneysiders turned their backs on the casino every bit as much as it turned its back on them.

"The real growth is in taking what I call the Star City prospects - the rejectors, if you will - and really build a place where people go," Mr Vaikunta says. "I can pull up here on the harbourside, have dinner, cocktails, watch a show, use the spa, check into the hotel, have a business meeting or a social function, go to the casino, the nightclub - creating a variety of reasons for people to come. It's speaking to a wider Sydney than we've spoken to before."

Of course, if it simply was a case of build it and they will come, there would be no risk in casinos. But this is a business built on risk. The multimillion-dollar bet is placed. We will see how the cards fall.

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赌博中心正在转向内而外的本身。

来到星城昨晚在悉尼港低调的到来。以特邀嘉宾，主要是赌徒的忠诚与执着珍惜，谦虚聚会庆祝了大规模的城市改造的第一部分垄断赌场正式开幕。

这仅仅是第一件，但它的辉煌是一个什么样的是今后在未来一年多的星城自动打开内而外的味道。该游戏地板，13年的特点是寨永恒黑暗和人造岩石媚俗，编造掌（一评论家该死作为对类固醇的RSL俱乐部的话），一直向北推进到阳光下，在开放的玻璃板就像巨大的垂直百叶海港的微风。

昨晚的大惊小怪是微乎其微的，特别是考虑什么是最低限度的对7.6亿美元的重建发展，并尽可能任何kickstart的老工业皮尔蒙特复兴。

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这一点必须肯定列为对原有财产的更昂贵的重建项目之一。对设计和工程的复杂性，加剧了因管理业务，围绕一个永远不会关闭。

将有12层楼的第二间酒店的豪华 - 悉尼的第一个五年以来的奥运之星 - 与前两个专门的挥金如土，谁飞搭乘赌场计划购买私人飞机前往悉尼最大的地板。他们将包括1亿美元的额外娱乐等待规划审批，贵宾和那些谁可以负担的几千美元每晚的收费中心表演。大于大多数城市的公寓套房，都会有自己的管家和其他专业服务。

旧的宴会厅正在变平坦，这样一个新的娱乐中心设有座位，从1500到3000宴会音乐会，并与一些站在4000，可以坐在头顶上的复杂。这将衡量一个15层的办公大楼当量，要求老赌场基础的加强。

七个顶级厨师来自澳大利亚和海外，包括著名的张大卫，是谁在做他的第一次尝试在纽约以外，已经吸引开特色餐厅;沿沿Pirrama路，让游客以前被一个别致的外观，他们面临的最堡垒般的建筑强调了通往地狱的楼梯。

尼克锡松斯与Fitzpatrick和合作伙伴，获奖建筑师领先的设计。他这样描述它：“特别是在北美[在星城早了灵感]为赌场常用的方法，是建立一个主题，空调箱，让你建立一个棚，并填写，然后与活动主题的外面这些品牌的概念。

“我们采取了相反的做法几乎是直接 - 。赌场里面翻到外面悉尼有大约户外用餐的复杂程度，人们看到对方与被看我们的影响是更多地与车身，水，光，科技。。”整体设计保留了原建筑的几何圆和圆弧的依赖。

希德Vaikunta学会了在拉斯维加斯和大西洋城赌场的贸易，并headhunted监督作为星城的总经理重建。他有“吃的是我的国家的道路”的餐馆老板愿意和搜索，而令人羡慕的工作能够带来新的吸引力星城餐饮和娱乐。

他小心地避免批评过去的管理员，宁愿强调未来。 “这个属性值得在娱乐方面提供更多的返回悉尼。事实上，我们还投资近10亿美元，是我们的信念是有迹象表明，大量的工作要做。我们在这方面没有看到，但机遇。哪些人可能认为是15年前我们无关。“但他承认：“现有客户在一段时间内有一个更好的产品一直尖叫”，一个提供远高于投注更多的机会。他也承认，许多悉尼打开了赌场背上每一点，也同样把他们的背部。

“真正的增长是在考虑我所说的星城展望 - rejectors，如果你愿意 - ，真正建立一个人去的地方，”他Vaikunta说。 “我可以在港口边拉在这里，吃饭，鸡尾酒，看表演，使用到酒店的温泉浴场，检查，有一个商务会议或社交活动，去赌场，夜总会 - 创造各种各样的原因人来。这是一个更广泛的悉尼说话比我们交谈过。“

当然，如果仅仅是一个建立它，他们会来的情况下，就没有在赌场的风险。但这是建立了业务风险。在数百万美元的赌注放在。我们将看到如何卡下降。