The respective multibillion-dollar Manhattan casino dreams of SL Green Realty and Silverstein Properties were dealt fatal blows as the high-stakes competition for a coveted New York gaming license heads into the final stretch.
Two separate six-person community advisory committees appointed by elected officials each voted 4-2 Wednesday against SL Green’s $5.4 billion casino bid in Times Square and Silverstein’s $7 billion mixed-use complex just north of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the far west side of Manhattan.
The State Gaming Commission has said securing a two-thirds majority vote from a community advisory committee is required before any bid can advance to the next round and be considered by the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board. The final decision is slated to come by Dec. 1.
The community advisory committee decisions are “binding,” Brad Maione, the spokesperson for the commission, told CoStar News, adding that votes for the remaining contenders will take place by Sept. 30.
“We are disappointed by today’s decision and process,” SL Green and its partners Caesars Entertainment and rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation said in a statement to CoStar News, adding that the bid “was a visionary proposal that aimed to address longstanding challenges through meaningful private investment.”
The partners said the "project would have enhanced public safety, reduced congestion, and supported the economic vitality of hundreds of local businesses — from hotels and restaurants to theaters and retail establishments.” They added that it also included various community commitments and would have created thousands of stable union jobs.
SL Green CEO Marc Holliday was reportedly more critical Wednesday in his rebuke of the decision.
The outcome for the bid at 1515 Broadway was “a despicable display of cowardice” that disregarded the community benefits that SL Green and its partners including Caesars Entertainment had offered, Crain’s New York quoted Holliday as saying on the scene after the committee vote, adding that the only ones “with the courage to stand up [are] the governor’s and the mayor’s appointees, and everybody else runs and hides. Go run and hide.”
Silverstein’s Avenir bid, meanwhile, was killed despite a last-minute request to have its vote postponed because Silverstein said it received, at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night, “a very significant additional request” from the community advisory committee that it said it needed “to review and analyze” with its partners in Chicago and Philadelphia.
“Obviously, we are disappointed that our West Side elected officials didn’t see a path forward for The Avenir project,” Silverstein Chief Operating Officer Dino Fusco told CoStar News in an email.
The end of the bids from SL Green and Silverstein leaves Soloviev Group’s $11 billion-plus Freedom Plaza proposal just south of the United Nations headquarters as the final Manhattan contender.
There are five others outside Manhattan, including Bally’s bid at Bally's Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx.
Steve Cohen, the New York Mets owner and billionaire hedge fund investor, and his partner, Hard Rock International, are proposing an $8 billion bid to transform some 50 acres of parking lots around the Citi Field baseball stadium in Queens.
Developer Thor Equities, along with its partners, has proposed an approximately $3 billion entertainment and gaming development at Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Resorts World New York City, billed as the city’s first and only casino-hotel at Aqueduct Racetrack in southeast Queens, near John F. Kennedy International Airport, has promised a $5 billion expansion plan to turn the longtime racetrack into a full, Las Vegas-style gaming destination.
Just north of the city, in Yonkers, Empire City Casino by MGM Resorts is pitching a $2 billion-plus casino project.