Casino operator Crown Resorts Limited (ASX: CWN) this afternoon announced that a legal challenge to the NSW Planning Commission's approval of modifications to Crown's Hotel and Resort at Sydney's Barangaroo South has been launched.
The applicant is named as the Millers Point Fund Incorporated which is likely an association of local residents and traditionalists upset at the ostentatious nature of Crown's proposed Barangaroo Tower and its impact on the Sydney Harbour skyline.
The Millers Point Fund will need some deep pockets as Crown intends to defend the legal proceedings and it's hard to believe that the planning approval could be reversed unless some clever lawyers believe they have discovered an administrative error or some other misinterpreted point of law in a quasi judicial review type scenario.
Legal eagles will be taking the popcorn for the first hearing of the case due on August 26 at the Land and Environment Court of NSW, while Crown's boss James Packer is likely to be fuming at what could be another potential delay to the project's development.
Investors shrugged off the news with the stock closing flat at $13.28 and Crown still plans to press ahead with a substantial corporate restructure that will see it split into several operating entities.
