NEW YORK | Casino Development| FT| FLOORS

[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2022/12/04/jay-z-...ed-nyc-casino/

Star power! Jay-Z joins Times Square team bidding for prized NYC casino




By Steve Cuozzo
December 4, 2022

SL Green and Caesars Entertainment have a glam new partner in their hoped-for Times Square casino — Brooklyn-born billionaire rapper and entertainment impresario Jay-Z and his Roc Nation, Realty Check has learned.

The three-way partnership, to be announced at SL Green’s annual investor conference on Monday, marks a dramatic twist in the developer’s and Caesars’ quest to launch a casino at SL Green’s 1515 Broadway office tower. (They’re among a half-dozen teams that are also expected to submit proposals to the state for a first full-scale casino in the Big Apple.)

Although details have yet to be spelled out, Jay-Z and his team are expected to oversee entertainment programming at 1515 Broadway and at other SL Green properties at the “Crossroads of the World.” The city’s largest commercial landlord, SLG has interests in six Times Square properties with a total of more than four million square feet.

In a statement, Jay-Z said, “New York is the epicenter of culture. We have the opportunity to create a destination at the heart of the true crossroads of the word. My partnership with SL Green and Caesars has all the promise and commitment to economic opportunity, growth and enrichment for the community and everyone that visits the Empire State.”

SLG chief executive officer Marc Holliday also shared more specifics about his company’s casino proposal than have ever been disclosed.

Contrary to claims that Caesars Palace Times Square, as it’s to be called, would be a mammoth gaming mecca that might overwhelm everything around it, the casino would occupy only eight floors in the 54-story tower between West 43d and 44th streets.

None would be the ground floor, which is earmarked for non-gaming uses including an entrance to the Minskoff Theater, home of “The Lion King.”

“We are putting theater at ground level,” Holliday emphasized.

The casino floors would also house restaurants and entertainment uses. Holliday estimated that the “boutique”-size casino might occupy as little as 250,000 square feet of floor space, a postage stamp compared with typical, sprawling gaming floors in Atlantic City or Las Vegas.

A new, approximately 800-room, five-star hotel would be created in the building above them. Holliday said he was “not yet prepared” to address how the tower’s office tenants, including Paramount Global’s headquarters, would be affected.

He rebutted claims by the Broadway League, which represents theater owners and producers, that a casino would be “dangerous” to Broadway theaters. On the contrary, he said, SL Green’s proposal is designed to bolster all the businesses around it. Although the League is adamantly opposed to having a casino in its midst, the plan is enthusiastically backed by owners of restaurants such as Carmine’s, Bond 45 and Junior’s and by Actors Equity and hotel and construction unions.

According to Holliday, consulting firm AKRF projects that casino visitors will buy 400,000 net new Broadway tickets annually. Additionally, SLG/Caesars/Roc Nation will purchase thousands of tickets directly that will be provided both to casino patrons and to underserved communities.

The casino company’s loyalty program known as Caesars Rewards, which boasts 60 million members worldwide, provides so-called bankable rewards that can be used at hotels, restaurants, theaters and stores beyond 1515 Broadway.

As part of a “halo effect,” Holliday expects the casino will generate seven million more annual visitors to Times Square, generate seven million restaurant meals outside the casino and $166 million in retail purchases outside the casino building.

In SL Green’s view, the 1515 Broadway project is needed to help arrest a slow, gradual decline in the district’s fortunes.

The slide, Holliday said, doesn’t yet mark a return to the lawless days of the 1970s-early 1990s — although crime is noticeably up — but rather a slow-but-steady unraveling of the commercial energy and sense of security that Times Square had only 10 years ago.

[NYguy]

Holliday estimated that the “boutique”-size casino might occupy as little as 250,000 square feet of floor space, a postage stamp compared with typical, sprawling gaming floors in Atlantic City or Las Vegas.

A comparison to some of the largest in the country…


https://www.gambling.com/us/news/lar...the-us-2237800

[streetscaper]

looks like a great redevelopment of 1515 Broadway!


...and judging by your ranking of casino floor area space, this won't really be boutique-size at all. Which is totally fine imo.

[NYguy]

Apparently, SL Green wants to make 1515 the tallest tower in Times Square…


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-square-casino

SL Green Pursues Tallest Tower, 3D Ads at Times Square Casino
Landlord teams up with Caesar’s and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in bid for one of three downstate New York gaming licenses.


ByNatalie Wong
December 5, 2022

SL Green Realty Corp. aims to redevelop a Times Square office building into the tallest tower in the area as it competes for one of New York State’s casino licenses.

The Manhattan-based landlord on Monday revealed further details of its casino bid, which includes partnerships with Caesars Entertainment Inc. and Roc Nation, the entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z.

SL Green has proposed a theater to anchor the main floor of the building, at 1515 Broadway, and a boutique gaming venue above. The tower will have the world’s largest combination of three-dimensional advertising signs and include a five-star hotel, SL Green’s managing director Brett Herschenfeld said at the company’s yearly investor conference. The project also will make the building the tallest in the Times Square “bow tie” — the blocks surrounding the point where Broadway and Seventh Avenue cross, he said.

[NYguy]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-in-casino-bid

NYC Hudson Yards Developer Pitches 1,500-Room Resort in Casino Bid
Complex would kick off the second phase of Related Cos.’ massive project on Manhattan’s far west side.





ByNatalie Wong and David Westin
December 7, 2022

Hudson Yards developer Related Cos. is proposing a resort with about 1,500 guest rooms as part of its bid for one of New York’s gaming licenses.

Plans also call for about 20 restaurants, a nightclub, theater and casino at the second phase of the project on Manhattan’s far west side. The company also aims to increase affordable housing in the area and add a school, Related Chief Executive Officer Jeff Blau said on Bloomberg Television Wednesday.

Related is teaming up with Wynn Resorts Ltd. to pursue one of three gaming licenses for New York’s downstate area. Competitors include SL Green Realty Corp., which has proposed a casino project in Times Square in partnership with Caesars Entertainment Inc. and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

If Related is selected, construction of the complex would kick off the second phase of the company’s $25 billion Hudson Yards project, on a site between 11th Avenue and the Hudson River. The first phase, east of 11th Avenue, includes office skyscrapers, residential towers and a shopping mall.

A resort-casino on the western yards also would draw more visitors to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which recently underwent a $1.5 billion expansion, Related said.

“We think it’s the opportune place to put something like this, and I think it will generate the highest economic development returns for the state,” Blau said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s David Westin. The project “will kick-start over $10 billion of development in New York City at a time when we need it. We need the economic development, we need the jobs.”

Related expects a request for proposals from the state to be announced early next year, with a selection of the winners by the end of 2023.

[TonyNYC]

“We think it’s the opportune place to put something like this, and I think it will generate the highest economic development returns for the state,” Blau said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s David Westin. The project “will kick-start over $10 billion of development in New York City at a time when we need it. We need the economic development, we need the jobs.”


By far the best possible location for a casino in the City... it's not even close!

The Hudson Yards and the Highline are a major destination for tourist and residents alike, throw in the Javits Center and now a world class Casino.. it would be a World Series winning walk off grand slam!

[NYguy]

I don’t think MSG needs to mix with a casino, it’s a world unto itself. As is, it’s in the best location. Manhattan could support casinos in both Hudson Yards and Times Square. They are proposing two different types of casinos. Related’s sounds more Vegas style. Coney Island is definitely another place with great transit that could support a casino, and is in fact already zoned for such a development.

The problem is in the limitations placed on the amount of licenses. Did upstate New York really need 4 casinos? It should have been the other way around. You want the casinos where they will have the greatest reach and impact. (They are really just a way to raise money for the state). So you want places where you can get the highest amount of human traffic. That’s one reason I don’t think Empire City in Yonkers needs to get a license. You’re not gonna get the most from the tourists base, and Connecticut has casinos. Aqueduct is a little better, and currently generates a lot of money for the state. I don’t think it would have a dramatic falloff if they weren’t given a license. Let them continue to operate as is. The reason those two are favorites though, is because they’re already up and running. The state has it’s eyes on the money. But using that loophole, you could get 5 casinos up and running in the NYC area. The 3 new licences, plus the two existing racinos.

I would put two in Manhattan (Times Sq. & Hudson Yards) and a third in Coney Island. Manhattan is where the bulk of the tourists are, and Coney is its own thing, drawing from wherever.

I would pass on Willets Point, Long Island, Staten Island, and the Con Ed site on the east river. None of those places would have the reach and impact of the three that get my vote. But they won’t ask me.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by NYguy

I would put two in Manhattan (Times Sq. & Hudson Yards) and a third in Coney Island. Manhattan is where the bulk of the tourists are, and Coney is its own thing, drawing from wherever.

I would pass on Willets Point, Long Island, Staten Island, and the Con Ed site on the east river. None of those places would have the reach and impact of the three that get my vote. But they won’t ask me.

Couldn't have said it better.

[NYguy]

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...cense/4000530/

Caesar's Palace in Times Square? A Casino Near Citi Field? The Fight for Final NY Casino License


By Andrew Siff
December 16, 2022

Place your bets on where New York City's first casinos will end up being located, as a group of Times Square business owners are going all in to land the city's final license.

But they're going up against a heavy hitter: Mets Owner Steve Cohen, and he's not their only opponent.

Just two weeks before the ball drops in midtown Manhattan to ring in the new year, developers are hoping for a mic drop from the New York Gaming Commission that will allow them to transform the view at 1515 Broadway into Caesar’s Palace Times Square.

"When you’re in the construction industry, you can reimagine anything. I can see it happening," said Michael McGuire of the Laborers Union. He's hoping that when the Gaming Commission decides next year, thousands of jobs are part of the winnings.

Upstate New York already has casinos. Downstate New York will get three licenses, with many expecting Queens racetrack Aqueduct and Yonkers Raceway to each get one because they already have slot machines.

The last remaining bid will likely go to developers in Coney Island, Hudson Yards, Times Square or across from Citi Field. Applications open January 6th.

"As a native New Yorker, a lot of people avoid Times Square. This is the type of thing that would bring me back to Times Square," said McGuire.

Ken Sturm, the owner of Bacalls Restaurant on 44th Street, likes the idea of a Caesar's Palace across the street. That's because despite the holiday cheer, his business still hasn’t fully recovered from COVID.

"New York City always needs some new vitality" Strum said. "There’s gotta be a reason to come to Times Square besides getting a hug from Elmo and getting a picture taken."

The $3 billion proposal from realtor SL Green for Times Square would turn the 53 story office tower into a hotel atop the casino. But there’s major competition: Related Companies wants a casino on the West Side of Hudson Yards, and Mets Owner Steve Cohen has lobbied the mayor for space next to a new soccer stadium planned across the street from Citi Field.

”We are not locked into a particular location and we don’t have power over that to be honest," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The decision will come down to the state-controlled Gaming Commission. When it became an issue in the race for governor in the fall, Gov. Kathy Hochul stayed focused on the economics of a casino.

"We have an opportunity to create thousands of jobs for people in hospitality for people who haven’t come back because of the pandemic," she said.

Applications open in three weeks, and a final decision is possible in summer 2023.

[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2022/12/17/jay-z-...asino-license/

Steve Cohen, Jay-Z chase NYC casino license





By Michael Kaplan and Emily Smith
December 17, 2022

Five of New York City’s billionaires are rolling the dice on gambling in the Big Apple.

Each is vying for what is predicted to be a single license to open a legal casino in New York City. Technically, three licenses are on offer for downstate, but it is expected that two of the licenses will go to Ghenting Resorts World at Aqueduct and MGM-Empire City Yonkers (established, successful “racinos” which will further benefit from having table games such as blackjack and paigow poker).

Mets owner Steve Cohen, real-estate scion Stefan Soloviev, Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis, Hudson Yards developer Stephen Ross and music mogul Jay-Z are all gunning for that license to win money.

As a source in the casino business told The Post, “Every billionaire wants a casino. The epitome of success in the US is to own your own casino.”

Here are the five would-be bosses and their plans to ace out the competition:

Player: Stephen Ross

Net worth: $8.39 billion

Location: Hudson Yards, which was developed by Ross through his company Related

Ross is no stranger to betting big — or losing big. In 2008, he acquired 95 percent of the Miami Dolphins for $1 billion. Last year, he divorced jewelry designer Kara Ross after 18 years. A legal source told The Post that the split could have cost him as much as $300 million.

Ross, 82, has partnered with Wynn Resorts, a top casino company with outposts in Las Vegas, Macau and Boston. “They’ll drive the most revenue for the city,” a source familiar with the project told The Post. “They’re not worried about their competitors. It’s all about what they can do versus what the competition can’t do.”

Odds: 4–1 “If I had to have a Manhattan casino, Hudson Yards is where I would want it to be,” Alan Woinski, president of the casino consultant Gaming USA, told The Post. “And it helps that they have Wynn Resorts, one of the most successful casino companies, as a partner.”

Player: Stefan Soloviev

Net worth: $4.4 billion

Location: Just south of the UN — First Avenue between 38th and 40th Streets

Soloviev, the son of late power-player developer Sheldon Solow, is known for being tough in his business deals — and, allegedly, on the homefront.

Earlier this year, the 47-year-old made headlines when nannies who had looked over some of his brood of 20 children — yes, 20 — described Soloviev as a “time bomb,” with another telling Business Insier the gig was “eight days in hell.”

Soloviev declined to talk about the allegations, telling The Post: “This is a business interview.”

Soloviev told The Post that he is in talks with, among others, Las Vegas Sands Corp. as a potential partner. Sands owns the Venetian in Las Vegas and Macau.

He hopes to situate a casino on six blank-slate acres, just south of the United Nations campus and overlooking the East River, that he called “shovel ready.” He anticipates a deluxe Ferris wheel — similar to the London Eye — as well as green spaces, below-ground gaming (“Casinos don’t have windows because they don’t want people to know if it is night or day”) and a museum dedicated to democracy. “With authoritarianism growing, we thought it would be important,” Hershman said of the museum.

“We’re not looking at a Las Vegas-type building,” he added, although the gambling den will include a hotel.

But one source sniped to The Post that traveling to and from the proposed casino, near the UN will be nightmarish: “It will be like having the UN General Assembly 52 weeks a year.”

Odds: 1,000–1 without a casino partner; 3–1 if Soloviev partners with Las Vegas Sands Corp.

“This guy has no knowledge of casinos. But if Sands gets involved, I take a much closer look,” said Woinski. “[Sands’] Marina Bay Sands in Singapore is the most successful casino in the world.”

Player: Steve Cohen

Net worth: $12.8 billion

Location: Citi Field, home to the Mets — which Cohen bought in 2020

Hedge-fund billionaire and NY Mets owner Steve Cohen splurges. According to the book “From Scratch,” Cohen once “paid Guy Fieri $100,000 to be his friend for a day.” It entailed the spiky-haired chef enacting a fantasy episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with Cohen riding shotgun. He’s amassed a $1 billion art collection and, along with his wife, Alexandra, has made some $1.7 million in political contributions.

And then, of course, there is his $2.4 billion purchase of the New York Mets and the spending sprees ($102 million for closer Edwin Díaz, $162 for outfielder Brandon Nimmo) that are part of Cohen’s quest to nab a World Series title by 2027.

Now teamed up with Hard Rock International — which has 14 casinos in the US, Canada and Dominican Republic — Cohen hopes to strategically situate a casino in the parking lot of his team’s Citi Field, near a planned $780 million NYCFC soccer stadium.

Odds: 3–1 “Steve Cohen will spend more money than anyone,” said Woinski. “He likes to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.”

Player: John Catsimatidis

Net worth: $4.1 billion

A consummate New Yorker, Gristedes CEO and WABC owner/talk-show host John Catsimatidis already faces competition on his turf. Also staking out Coney Island for a casino/hotel project: Thor Equities, joined by Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and Legends.

Unlike Thor and company, Catsimatidis approaches the billionaire casino brawl with trepidation. “We are not an official bidder at this point,” Catsimatidis told The Post. “We have some interest and we are proceeding with caution.”

As for a casino’s prospects in the land of Nathan’s hot dogs, a source brought up one major wrinkle: “How do you get 40,000 people a day to Coney Island? Traffic is already crazy … and the planned ferry service from downtown and Midtown has been halted” for reasons that include shifting sand. “It would be hard for a casino to operate.”

Odds: 90–1 “[Catsimatidis] hasn’t named a casino partner and he’s running out of people,” said Woinski. “I don’t think Coney Island is completely out of the question, but it would not be my first choice.”

Player: Jay-Z

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Location: Times Square

Considering all that Jay-Z has going on — including his own music career, the Roc-A-Fella Records label, Rocawear clothing, Armand di Brignac champagne and Monogram cannabis — you’ve gotta wonder why the 53-year-old would get involved in the gambling business.

“You can have as many yachts and private jets as you like, but a casino is a great inducement to do business deals over and over again,” a source told The Post. “You can impress your business partners … by giving them free chips, throwing private parties and putting them up in your best rooms.”

The rap mogul has partnered with real-estate firm SL Green — which claims to be NYC’s largest commercial landlord — and Caesars Entertainment, which already owns or is partnered with more than 50 casinos in the US, Canada and UAE.

“ It is hoped that Jay … could handle residencies like the one that Adele has in Las Vegas,” a source close to the project told The Post. “It would make the casino a full-on entertainment destination with a lot of New York swagger.”

Odds: 10–1 “They have a lot of opposition,” said Woinski of Jay-Z and SL Green. “They have to get past the Broadway League [the trade group, which includes theater owners and producers, has warned a casino will be “disruptive to theater goers”]. A casino may be the last thing that Times Square needs. You want a spot where the casino is the main draw.”

[NYguy]

https://ballparkdigest.com/2022/12/1...t-for-january/

More info on Citi Field casino, development set for January


by Kevin Reichard
December 19, 2022

In his quest for a Citi Field casino and associated development, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen will hold a “visioning session” on Jan. 7 at the ballpark to pitch a plan and receive feedback from Queens residents.

It’s no secret that Cohen sees additional development as inevitable for the home of the Mets, and a new Citi Field casino would is part of that vision, something we reported on earlier this summer. Interestingly, Cohen didn’t really publicly discuss Citi Field development when bidding for the Mets in 2020; at the time it was the Alex Rodriguez/Jennifer Lopez group that raised the prospect of some sort of development to unlock hidden value with the team and Citi Field. But since buying the team, Cohen has put money into lobbying city and state officials in an effort to land one of expected three casino licenses in New York City.

Even by New York City standards development in the Citi Field parking lot and Willets Point will be complicated, thanks to its designation as parkland–a status invoked in other efforts to develop in the area, as the original Shea Stadium site was carved out of Flushing Meadow-Corona Park.

So with the state Gaming Commission expected to issue New York City licenses in 2023, Cohen wants to be in line to take advantage of the situation. We’re already seeing development in the Citi Field area, as Mayor Eric Adams announced a new privately financed NYCFC MLS stadium and affordable housing project near the stadium. Besides the NYCFC MLS stadium, the Willets Point development plan calls for 2,500 new affordable homes, the largest affordable, new construction housing project in New York City in 40 years, which will be constructed on an accelerated timeline.

https://www.queensfuture.com/

The Future is Ours

In Queens, we never settle for the status quo. We are the borough with millions of voices, and when we see an opportunity, we come together and create change. And, when we can connect communities and build something great for all, there will be nothing to stop us from making it happen.

For too long the area around Citi Field has been nothing more than vacant asphalt and wasted opportunity, 50 acres that currently aren’t serving our communities. Our plan is to re-imagine this space and transform our future.

Why does Citi Field sit in a sea of parking lots with our most vibrant communities, parks, and waterfront at a distance? Ballparks are meant to live in communities, and we believe it’s time we invest in the relationship that our borough has with our beloved club.

Our community deserves more than these 50 acres of asphalt. We will create a shared space that people not only want to come to and enjoy, but can be proud of. But, the story of this site can’t be told without the voices who are as vital as the city has seen in generations. We invite all our neighbors to dream along with us, and share their vision for the next great New York destination.

Steve Cohen invites all New Yorkers to a community visioning session at Citi Field to share our hopes and dreams for a historic opportunity to chart a path forward for this site. Together, we can build a better future in our borough.

Join Us On January 7, 2pm
Citi Field, 41 Seaver Way, Queens, NY 11368

[NYguy]

https://www.usbets.com/deeper-look-n...ocation-board/

A Deeper Look At New York’s Powerful Casino Location Board

By Mark Saxon

Investor and restaurateur Ken Sturm has been doing business in Times Square for more than three decades. The owner of Bacall’s Steakhouse on West 44th Street and the world-famous Ellen’s Stardust Diner (named after his mother) on Broadway and 52nd Street, Sturm has seen what the pandemic has done to the heart of Manhattan.

He thinks it’s time the neighborhood got a shot in the arm, and he’s joined a group of neighborhood business people backing a proposal by SL Green Realty, Jay-Z’s Roc Entertainment, and Caesars Entertainment to build a Las Vegas-style casino in a high rise in Times Square. The group is trying to counter the arguments put forth by two neighborhood groups — the Broadway League and Community Board 5 — battling both it and a competing Midtown Manhattan plan for a casino in nearby Hudson Yards.

“In its heyday, New York City would have 62 million visitors a year, and 80 percent of them would visit Times Square. That’s 48 million people,” Sturm said. “In this proposal, you’ve got a 65,000-foot floor plan, 900 hotel rooms in an area with 11,000 hotel rooms, and the best public transportation in the world. It doesn’t even make a dent. It’s just a new piece of excitement that New York City needs.”

Sturm isn’t overly moved by the Broadway League’s argument that the gambling parlor would overwhelm the area’s infrastructure and alter its character.

“It’s complete and utter nonsense,” Sturm said. “They’ve had their nice run of 120 years glomming onto the tourism industry in the Times Square area. They don’t seem to understand New York needs another shot of excitement right now.”

Board soon will issue RFA

For now, the parties bidding to land one of three downstate casino licenses from the New York State Gaming Commission are pleading their cases in the court of public opinion. Soon, they’ll have to make their ideas more formal.

Two of the most prominent proposals are one involving a partnership of Legends Entertainment (owned in part by the New York Yankees and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones) with Saratoga Casino holdings and the Chickasaw Nation to build in Coney Island, and an idea by New York Mets owner Steven Cohen to build near Citi Field in Queens.

Public hearings could be just around the corner after the holidays. The Gaming Facility Location Board, which now has a quorum of three of five appointed members seated with two more candidates being evaluated, will issue a Request for Application by Jan. 2, according to gaming commission spokesman Brad Maione. By law, the RFA must be issued by Jan. 6.

Existing racinos in Yonkers and at Aqueduct in Queens are considered likely recipients of two of the three licenses being dangled, effectively leaving one at large. The casino location board will have wide-ranging powers to issue the RFA, develop the criteria to evaluate the plans, determine the license fee (which, by law, will be at least $1 billion), and make other crucial decisions about the multi-billion-dollar proposals.

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the Times Square coalition comes together…

https://www.abettertimessq.com/

[NYguy]

As we gear up for the competition, a look at the state language, so we can judge properly....


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[Busy Bee]

There's something revolting about a casino/theme park located in the foreground of the United Nations. It's like deficating all over the place.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

There's something revolting about a casino/theme park located in the foreground of the United Nations. It's like deficating all over the place.

But, but, but, there’s a Museum of Democracy. (Probably the last thing on gamblers minds)

[rgarri4]

Hopefully the hotel tower would block the view of the wheel from the UN. But still this is pretty gross.

[MAC123]

What exactly is gross or revolting again? It looks perfectly fine.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by MAC123

What exactly is gross or revolting again? It looks perfectly fine.

Do you seriously not see the bizarre, distasteful and honestly shameful message of juxtapositioning a vulgar and often destructive human indulgence like gambling next to the citadel of global altruistic diplomacy and pursuit of peace?

[Busy Bee]

Makes a lot more sense than Willets Point. Nathan's Famous in the left hand, slots lever in the right...a marriage made in heaven.