This overgrown block of land will soon be an indoor snow resort. The price keeps going up

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The long-promised Winter Sports World in western Sydney has hit a major milestone – but not without a soaring price tag and a growing delay to construction.

Developer Peter Magnisalis and NSW Trade Minister Anoulack Chanthivong were in China on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding with Bonski Group, the leading global operator of indoor snow resorts, to deliver Australia’s “next major tourism icon”.

An artist’s impression of the inside of Winter Sports World.

The new partnership marks the latest announcement of a project that has faced a decade of delays and a significant price increase.

In 2024, Winter Sports World was priced at $400 million. One year later, the cost has risen to at least $700 million. Magnisalis said the increase was due to the project covering a larger area than originally anticipated.

“What we have been able to get approved is actually larger than what we initially thought, in terms of our skiable area and things like that. So it’s a little bit of escalation but it’s also predominantly to do with … we’ve got more snow area,” he said.

When asked how the project will be funded, Magnisalis said the money will come from “both domestic and international” sources but did not identify them.

Winter Sports World managing director Peter Magnisalis.

“So at the moment we’re sort of working through the structures. There’s some funds that are going to come from within Australia and the like but this is capturing international attention in the investment community,” he said.

“We’ve got interest – a large part of the interest is from outside Australia,” he said.

Construction work was originally set to begin before the end of this year but the start date has now been pushed back, with Magnisalis saying the aim is to get shovels in the ground in the first half of 2026. It spells further delays for a project that was originally planned to open to the public in 2025.

Magnisalis said despite the start of construction now slated for next year, it’s still on track to open in 2028.

The project has already won the support of the state government, with NSW Premier Chris Minns visiting the site for the first time at the end of last year, where he said he couldn’t imagine a “better place for Australia’s first indoor snow resort than in Penrith”.

Located in Penrith, Winter Sports World would sit opposite the Nepean River.

Once built, the Sydney Winter Sports World – dubbed the “giant Esky” – will operate 365 days a year and feature a ski run, snow play and climbing facilities, as well as 4.5-star hotel accommodation, dining and retail.

Years of waiting

The Winter Sports World vision has been years in the making, with Magnisalis buying the 2.35 hectares of land opposite the Nepean River in Penrith in 2009. Back then it was zoned rural but the developer said he “had a bit of a gut feeling” it would be rezoned to allow for tourism and recreation.

And in 2015 he was proven correct, with the land being rezoned by the council and envisioned as part of the Riverlink Tourism Precinct.

“When you look at where it’s located within the vibrant Riverlink Tourism Precinct, it was an anomaly that it was zoned rural and wasn’t really sort of reflective of what was going on in the area,” Magnisalis said.

But with an 8.5-metre height restriction, Magnisalis said he then had to wait several more years to get approval to increase it to 54 metres. In December 2022 the state significant development application for the indoor snow resort was lodged, and in January 2024 the plans to transform what is currently an overgrown paddock was approved.

Attractions company Hammons Holdings, which also operates Scenic World and BridgeClimb Sydney, has been selected as the preferred operator to run and manage the snow attractions at Sydney Winter Sports World, with Trippas White Group to run the food and beverage offerings.

Despite being the visionary behind the Sydney Winter Sports World, Penrith local Magnisalis said he himself is unable to ski. He believes his lack of snow skills is something that’s shared among many western Sydney residents.

“We’ve had independent research, market research done, and what we found was close to half of Aussies haven’t seen snow. It’s probably closer to 70 per cent in western Sydney,” he said.

“There’s a massive gap but over time … you’re going to get so many more people introduced to snow. We’re going to increase the amount of skiers and snowboarders in Australia.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.