SL Green Realty CEO Marc Holliday says not to count out the possibility of a casino rising in New York’s entertainment and tourist hub of Times Square, despite his company's bid being eliminated from the competition for a state gaming license.
After SL Green’s $5.4 billion bid to open a casino and hotel resort with its partners at 1515 Broadway failed to secure enough support from a community advisory committee, Holliday said the real estate investment trust's shot at a casino is not “by any means …. completely dead.”
“The whole process and the outcome is still unknown,” Holliday said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday. “How many bidders will there be? How many licenses will be awarded? And whether, if any are held back, there’ll be another shot … for casinos in Manhattan or otherwise to come into play. … This is still a process playing out.”
SL Green’s casino proposal is one of the four casino contenders dealt seemingly fatal blows when their respective local panels didn’t give a thumbs-up to their plans. Of the four bids that got community committee buy-in and advanced in the competition, only three contenders remain after MGM Resorts abandoned its $2.3 billion bid for a coveted state casino license in the New York suburb of Yonkers. In the surprising move, MGM said it pulled out because its projected return on investment had changed.
SL Green is evaluating all options for its 1515 Broadway office tower, including keeping its current use or transforming it for entertainment and hospitality use, Holliday said. The lease for anchor tenant Paramount Global, now part of Skydance Media, doesn’t expire until mid-2031, he said.
“As it relates to immersive and destination entertainment uses combined with hotel and hospitality offerings in the tower, the building converts perfectly, keeping alive a hope for the future of a possible casino if a license remains available,” Holliday said.
The state’s Gaming Facility Location Board is preparing to make final decisions and award up to three downstate licenses, or possibly none, by Dec. 1.
“It’s premature and speculative” regarding what happens if there are unissued licenses left, Lee Park, deputy executive director at the New York State Gaming Commission, told CoStar News in an email. “Presumably the process to award any unissued licenses would be a matter for the Legislature to consider, as they established both the upstate and the current siting processes.”