With one more vote coming up Tuesday, so far New York's competition for as many as three casino licenses has narrowed to three gaming proposals in the Bronx, Queens and suburban Yonkers.
Brooklyn, like Manhattan, lost its chance Monday at opening a casino in the foreseeable future, hours after a Bronx bid advanced to the next round. One more local panel vote is set for Tuesday for another proposal in Queens, and a final decision on granting licenses is expected in December.
A six-person committee appointed by elected officials voted 4-2 Monday afternoon against developer Thor Equities’ $3.4 billion bid to create a casino resort in Brooklyn’s Coney Island with its partners including a gaming business entity of the Chickasaw Nation, Saratoga Casino Holdings and Legends hospitality company. The 1.4 million-square-foot entertainment complex would have contained a new 500-room hotel; 20 distinctive restaurants totaling more than 50,000 square feet; a 2,400-seat, 25,000-square-foot entertainment venue; and 92,000 square feet of convention center meeting space.
The development team had billed the project as “economically transformative,” saying it would bring business and foot traffic to the beachfront neighborhood beyond the summer months.
Brooklyn’s loss followed a similar defeat for each of the three Manhattan casino contenders, which were dealt losing hands by 4-2 voting results. Panel appointees from Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have been the only ones casting yes votes so far for all of the projects.
These losses stood in contrast to the unanimous approvals given to the area’s two existing casinos: Resorts World New York City’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 suburb of Yonkers into a larger gambling destination.
Just hours earlier, Bally's proposed Bronx casino resort, billed as the largest single private development in the New York borough, also made to the next round after its local committee voted 5-1 in favor of the $4 billion hotel and casino resort at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx.
The Coney Island bid rejection came despite a slew of concessions and sweetened offers at the last minute from the development team.
“There’s a lot of disruption and uncomfortable moments” throughout the process, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who appointed himself as a committee member, said as he cast the vote against. “I hope we didn’t make irreparable harm to the community.”
If the development team had “put forward a lot earlier the amendments for the community” instead of “the last-minute effort,” the outcome and conversation could have been different, Reynoso said.
“Coney Island is both a home to thousands who live here” and a recreation area for others who come and visit, Marissa Solomon, another committee member who voted against the project, said at the meeting. Coney Island represents “a part of the soul for New York City” and an “irreplaceable treasure,” she said, adding that the neighborhood known for its amusement park should “remain people’s playground.”
Queens vote up next
On Tuesday, a separate committee will vote on the $8 billion bid by Steve Cohen, the New York Mets owner and billionaire hedge fund investor, and his partner, Hard Rock International, to transform some 50 acres of parking lots around the Citi Field baseball stadium in Queens.
That’s the last bid pending a community committee decision. If its committee gives the project a nod, that will make Queens the only borough looking at possibly winning two casino licenses after Resorts World secured full committee support.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. told CoStar News last week that Queens can support two casino resorts because the borough has the benefit of having both the LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports.
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.