Queens is emerging as a front-runner in the high-stakes race for a coveted New York casino license.
Steve Cohen, the New York Mets owner and billionaire hedge fund investor, has won full community committee support for his $8 billion casino bid to transform 50 acres of asphalt parking lots around Citi Field in Queens into a sports and entertainment park complex. That means Queens has two contenders in the final round of four bids for downstate casino licenses; the state is expected to award as many as three, with a final decision expected no later than Dec. 1.
A six-person committee, appointed by elected officials, gave its unanimous support Tuesday in Queens Borough Hall in favor of Cohen’s Metropolitan Park proposal with his partner, Hard Rock International.
Besides the Citi Field bid approved Tuesday, Bally’s Bronx casino bid in the Bronx on Monday also secured crucial community support with a 5-1 decision from its local board. Last week, two other bids also won full support from their local panels: Resorts World’s $5.5 billion expansion plan at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens and MGM Resorts International’s $2.3 billion bid to transform the historic Empire City Casino in the New York City suburb of Yonkers into a larger gambling destination.
Cohen and Hard Rock’s proposal approved Tuesday in the Willets Point neighborhood would be anchored by 25 acres of new public park space, athletic fields and playgrounds. It would feature a Hard Rock Metropolitan Park hotel and casino and a 5,650-capacity Hard Rock Live Metropolitan Park theater-style venue to host entertainment events. Cohen and Hard Rock in April added an affordable housing component to boost its odds.
Separate from the proposal, a public-private partnership is set to build New York’s first professional soccer-specific stadium as part of a megadevelopment set to transform the traditionally industrial Willets Point.
“Queens hit the jackpot with the Metropolitan Park project,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., who appointed himself as a committee member, said at the meeting in casting a yes vote. “It’s a home run. … We are talking about a massive entertainment complex as Queens becomes the … real heartbeat of the city. … This is truly a historic moment."
Different from some other casino proposals or economic development projects that have failed to secure local support, the Metropolitan Park team gathered input from “every corner” of the community from the start, Richards said after the vote.
“They listened first,” he said. “They didn’t come into Queens and just shoved a plan down our throat.”
‘Two different worlds’
With a proposal from Resorts World New York City also in play, the stage is set for Queens to potentially house two casino projects. Richards told CoStar News he’s not worried about Metropolitan Park possibly drawing visits away from Resorts World if both should win licenses.
“It’s two different worlds,” he said, adding that Resorts World is “so far east.” He has said the borough can accommodate both casinos as it has the benefit of having both the LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports — one airport adjacent to each of the proposed casino sites.
At the Queens Borough Hall, where more than 150 people assembled Tuesday, including many residents, the committee’s unanimous support drew loud cheers and applause from the attendees. Many of those who showed up wore pins in support of the project, and some carried handwritten signs with the message that the tax revenue from the complex would help fund essential community services like schools and infrastructure without raising taxes on residents.
“It’s going to bring a lot of activity and development jobs to the area,” Marie Gayle, a 50-year resident of East Elmhurst in Queens, said in an interview. “It would be really nice to have a park and entertainment. When my kids were growing up, you had to go either in other areas or in Manhattan to find that. … I strongly believe that it will be good for the community.”
Karl Rickett, a Metropolitan Park spokesperson, told CoStar News that “the Community Advisory Committee’s unanimous approval underscores the deep and broad community support behind Metropolitan Park,” adding that the project involves a “community-first vision.”
In contrast, four separate proposals in Brooklyn and Manhattan were dealt losing hands, including a defeat suffered Monday by Thor Equities’ $3.4 billion bid to create a casino resort in Brooklyn’s Coney Island with its partners.
Similar committees also shot down three rival bids in Manhattan: the $5.4 billion Times Square casino bid from SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and rapper Jay-Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation; developer Soloviev Group and casino operator Mohegan’s $11 billion-plus Freedom Plaza proposal just south of United Nations headquarters; and Silverstein Properties’ $7 billion mixed-use complex near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
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. Final decisions on the proposals are set to come by Dec. 1.