The New York City area’s two existing casinos, which got their starts more than a century ago as horse racing tracks, are closer to becoming full-fledged gaming and entertainment resort complexes.
A six-person committee, appointed by elected officials, voted 6-0 Thursday in favor of Resorts World New York City’s $5.5 billion expansion plan at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. The support came just hours after MGM Resorts International’s $2.3 billion bid to transform the historic Empire City Casino in the suburb of Yonkers into a larger gambling destination also won approval from its local committee.
The 5.6 million-square-foot Resorts World New York City proposal, undertaken by Malaysia’s Genting Group, includes an integrated resort with a 500,000-square-foot gaming floor, 6,000 slots and 800 table games; 2,000 hotel rooms; a 7,000-seat entertainment venue; more than 7,000 car spaces; and over 30 food and beverage outlets. Queens native and hip-hop star Nas is a pitchman. Genting first opened the site — the only casino now operating in New York City — in 2011.
The approvals made both MGM and Resorts World the first casino contenders to reach the crucial milestone for one of as many as three licenses New York state is expected to issue by the end of the year. In sharp contrast, similar committees recently shot down three rival bids in Manhattan, including the Times Square casino bid from SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and rapper Jay-Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation.
“Sorry Jay-Z, we win again,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., who appointed himself as a committee member, said Thursday in casting a yes vote. “Resorts World has already been a good neighbor. They’ll be even better neighbors to southern Queens … [and provide] economic and community development benefits. … My job is to eradicate unemployment.”
Richards also said Queens can support two casino resorts, pointing to another bid involving the borough from Steve Cohen, the New York Mets owner and billionaire hedge fund investor, and his partner, Hard Rock International. Those partners are proposing an $8 billion bid to transform some 50 acres of parking lots around the Citi Field baseball stadium. It will be one of three remaining bids to face community advisory commission votes early next week.
“Both of these licenses make the most sense,” Richards said of the bids involving Queens in a media gaggle after the vote, adding the borough has the benefit of having both the LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports nearby. “All of the money … billions of dollars ... [is going to be] pumped back into the economy of Queens. It’s a win for the residents here. [Resorts World] is going to be a destination.”
Public support
Resorts World said its resort would be the largest U.S. commercial casino by square footage after completion.
“We had 108 speakers over two public hearings of which every single speaker was in favor of the project,” Robert DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, said in an interview with CoStar News. “In the public realm, this is almost unheard of. That speaks to the 15 years of hard work that we’ve really done to try to make sure that we are good neighbors and good citizens for the community.”
DeSalvio said he anticipates a quick process should Resorts World win a license because it already has the required environmental and building permits.
Besides the bid from Cohen, two other New York City casino project proposals remain: Bally’s bid at Bally's Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx and one from developer Thor Equities, along with its partners, for an approximately $3 billion entertainment and gaming development at Coney Island in Brooklyn.
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 decisions on the proposals are slated to come by Dec. 1.