The Stage

Plans for Dome casino and entertainment arena

Published Tuesday 2 March 2004 at 10:15 by Ruth Gillespie

Proposals to build a 20,000-seat entertainment arena and a $350 million Las Vegas-style casino and hotel resort within the Millennium Dome site have been agreed by Greenwich council.

English Partnerships, the national regeneration agency that owns most of the land on the Greenwich peninsula, will officially hand over the site to US-based developers Anschutz Entertainment Group and partners Meridian Delta Limited within the next few months. Work on the Dome is expected to start in early 2005, with Sol Kerzner, the billionaire responsible for creating South Africa’s Sun City casino resort, creating the gaming facilities.

Managing director of AEG Detlef Kornett said: “We remain wholly committed to the project and to the creation of a premier entertainment and sports destination at the Dome. We look forward to completing our contractual arrangements with English Partnerships, finalising the detailed construction plans and placing contracts in time to start on site in spring 2005.”

AEG, which owns the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are hosted, will run the concert venue and hopes to attract big name performers such as U2 and Britney Spears.

Kerzner signed an agreement in principle last year with Anschutz to oversee the development of the casino complex, despite the fact that the Docklands site cannot be developed until the new gaming legislation comes into force, probably in 2006.

Under current law, a proposed casino can only be granted a licence if it is located within one of 53 permitted sites throughout the UK. These were defined in the 1968 Gaming Act, when the Docklands area was still operating as a port and therefore not considered as a viable location for a casino.

However, Bahamas-based company Kerzner International Limited is already taking steps to prepare for gaming deregulation so that when the new bill becomes law it will be in a position to set up almost immediately.

Redevelopment of the Dome, which has fallen into disrepair since it was closed to the public in 2001, is part of a larger regeneration plan for Greenwich peninsula supported by the mayor of London Ken Livingstone. The scheme will provide 10,000 new homes, retail units, schools and improvements to local transport and will lead to an estimated 24,000 new jobs.

Councillor Chris Roberts, leader of Greenwich council, said: “We have long held that the Dome has a longer-term legacy, for without it we could not have realised so much of our vision for the area in such a short time. It’s potential can be seen in its designation as a key site in the London bid for the 2012 Olympics.”