In Australia, a community group has lost its last-ditch legal challenge against Crown Resorts Limited and the firm’s plan to build the $2 billion Crown Sydney casino resort in the Barangaroo inner-city neighborhood of Sydney.

According to a report from The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, the New South Wales Land And Environment Court dismissed the appeal brought by Millers Point Fund Incorporated, which had argued that the proposed 902-foot structure just west of downtown had received invalid planning approvals.

The newspaper reported that Melbourne-based Crown Resorts Limited has faced opposition to the project ever since it was first proposed in 2012 but the Friday decision means that construction on the harbor-side casino, hotel and apartment tower can now begin.

“We went in feeling very confident,” John Dunn from the Friends Of Millers Point community group told The Sydney Morning Herald. “We thought it was an important issue we strongly believed in, not just for our local community, but more widely. It is a building that will dominate Sydney in a way that will surprise people when it goes up, we think.”

In dismissing the appeal, judge John Robson reportedly declared that Millers Point Fund Incorporated had “not made out any of the grounds of challenge” and that his ruling did not involve a consideration of the “merits of the development”.

The newspaper reported that the plaintiff had fought against the coming casino on technical grounds, namely as to whether the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission had acted within its legislative powers when approving the development.

Chris Hinkey, from the Millers Point community working party, told The Sydney Morning Herald that the outcome was “sad for the Sydney community” and that the group was “determined” to keep fighting against the development. He reportedly explained that the group would be seeking the advice of its barrister as to whether to file another appeal.