Australia’s Crown Resorts has moved a step closer to realizing its dream of developing a fourth hotel tower at flagship casino Crown Melbourne after completing the purchase of property developer Schiavello Group’s 50% stake in the adjacent One Queensbridge site.

The AU$80 million acquisition means that Crown now wholly owns the One Queensbridge development site, located opposite Crown Melbourne. The company had originally planned to build Australia’s tallest tower – comprising both hotel and residential apartments – at a cost of AU$1.75 billion but the future of the project has been in doubt ever since the former partners failed to secure financing for the project early this year.

Now Crown, whose purchase includes all pre-development assets, intellectual property and designs for the project, hopes to develop a fourth hotel tower for Crown Melbourne.

“The purchase represents Crown’s continued investment in Victoria and the Southbank arts and entertainment precinct,” Crown said in an August statement when it first proposed the buyout.

“The One Queensbridge site could accommodate a fourth Crown hotel which would deliver significant economic and tourism benefits to Victoria, including additional employment and training opportunities.”

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