NEW YORK | Resorts World New York (Casino)

[NYguy]

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...eading-pollste

Cuomo says a poll on opposition to the convention center was misleading; the pollster disagrees

By Dana Rubinstein
Jan. 17, 2012

The poll in question, conducted by Siena College, asked 805 New York voters the following question, in the following way:

"During his State of the State speech to begin the 2012 legislative session in Albany, Governor Cuomo proposed a number of initiatives. I'm going to mention several of them and I'd like you to tell me whether you support or oppose that."

Then the pollster described each of the governor's proposals. The convention center proposal was described as follows: "Building a new convention center - which would be the nation's largest convention center - adjacent to the Aqueduct racetrack and racino near JFK Airport in Queens."

In response to that question, 38 percent of voters questions supported the convention-center plan, 57 percent opposed it, and 5 weren't sure how they felt about the matter.

Cuomo's contention seemed to be that the inclusion of the convention-center item on a list of the governor's "initiatives" implied to the listener that said initiatives would entail public spending.

In his speech, Cuomo said:

"Most people are against government building a convention center in Queens. That was the question, should government build a convention center in Queens, and most people said no."

"If you asked me, 'Am I in favor of government building a convention center?' I would say no," he continued. "Convention centers are tricky economic propositions...That is not what this is. This is one of the premier companies on the globe that does gaming, that does development, that has rights at Aqueduct previously granted, that has a racino license currently, that wants to expand on the land that they currently control."

When asked about the governor's remarks, Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said, "That is not correct. You know, we also in fairness did not include in there that it was privately paid for. We did not talk about the funding at all in the question."

[KVNBKLYN]

When Cuomo first announced this convention center in Queens plan, the first thing I thought was that he was trying to find a way to get the state out of the large-scale convention business by trading the right to operate a casino for the responsibility of building a privately financed convention center. Instead of the convention-center-as-economic-generator position he outwardly touted in his speech, he actually understands that the Javits Center will never live up to its economic promise and instead is a drag on the redevelopment of the far west side.

And then he says stuff like this which confirms my hunch:

"If you asked me, 'Am I in favor of government building a convention center?' I would say no," he continued. "Convention centers are tricky economic propositions...That is not what this is. This is one of the premier companies on the globe that does gaming, that does development, that has rights at Aqueduct previously granted, that has a racino license currently, that wants to expand on the land that they currently control."

The real economic benefit to the Aqueduct convention center would be the the development potential it would unlock in Manhattan.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by KVNBKLYN

The real economic benefit to the Aqueduct convention center would be the the development potential it would unlock in Manhattan.

And the fact that the state is not paying for it. In fact, that's the only reason this is happening at all. New York has wanted and struggled for years to get an "adequate" convention center. The land at Aqueduct has always been there. Genting came to the state with the idea, and you simply do not turn away $4 billion in private investment, especially when the added bonus of prime real estate is thrown into the mix. Seems everybody wins, except maybe the people who don't want Aqueduct to close, which may happen.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/r...-rss&FEEDNAME=

Racino warning

By CARL CAMPANILE
January 25, 2012

A casino in Coney Island? Fuhgeddaboutit!

Aqueduct racino operator Genting yesterday said that opening a rival gaming hall threatens its plans for a $4billion Queens convention center.

“If we have no protection whatsoever,” the plans aren’t viable, Genting’s Christian Goode told The Post editorial board.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz calls Coney Island a “perfect” gambling site.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

Queens needs two convention centers, says Helen Marshall
Borough President paints optimistic picture of Queens in annual speech

By Lisa L. Colangelo
January 24, 2012

Queens is the perfect place for not one but two convention centers, Borough President Helen Marshall said Tuesday.

At her annual State of the Borough speech, Marshall backed Gov. Cuomo’s proposal to build the nation’s largest convention center near the Aqueduct racino.

But she said the city should also continue an earlier plan to create a convention center as part of the Willets Point redevelopment.

“Let me be clear about the convention center at Willets Point,” said Marshall, to a crowd of more than 450 elected officials and community leaders at Queens College. “It is meant to complement the Javitz Convention Center. And now it can complement the convention center at Aqueduct.”

[John Waters]

I am new to this thread. It's a lot of information and amazing things going on.

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...120139993/1033

Genting spells out its needs for convention center
To build a $4 billion convention center next to Aqueduct Racetrack, the Malaysian company
says it must get a bigger slice of the take at its racino and guarantees against competition.

By Jeremy Smerd
January 30, 2012

Genting executives say that to build its proposed 3.8 million-square-foot convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the company would need to retain a bigger slice of the revenue that it currently splits with the State of New York. It would also need to remain the exclusive holder of video lottery machine licenses in the area. These are among several details that would have to be resolved before a deal with the state could advance on building the huge convention center.

Christian Goode, Genting's senior vice president for development, said the company would have difficulty raising capital to finance the $4 billion project if its business model could be upended “with the stroke of a pen,” by a rival winning permission to open a gambling establishment in the immediate vicinity

Like convention centers across the country, the privately financed Queens exhibit hall won't be profitable in and of itself. It would, however, greatly increase traffic to Genting's casino and entertainment complex next door, which would cover the loss. Nonetheless, the Malaysia-based company said it would like to rework its present revenue-sharing deal, which sends roughly 70% of winnings to state education and racing coffers—totaling $400 million annually. Mr. Goode said the company would seek to retain a greater share of incremental revenue generated by the addition traffic from the convention center.

Genting will pay for upgrades to the Aqueduct subway station and for direct A-train service to take passengers from Fulton Street in Manhattan to the site—with a stop in downtown Brooklyn—in half the 35 minutes it takes now. The company won't fund a new AirTrain spur from John F. Kennedy International Airport. It also will not pay for street upgrades.

Genting officials said the company will pay fair-market value to lease 22 additional acres it needs to complete the convention center's 1.2 million-square-foot second phase. That land is owned by the city and leased to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey for airport parking.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...120139993/1033

Genting spells out its needs for convention center
To build a $4 billion convention center next to Aqueduct Racetrack, the Malaysian company
says it must get a bigger slice of the take at its racino and guarantees against competition.

By Jeremy Smerd
January 30, 2012

Well, that was disappointing. A train service? No thanks. That would only be decent from FiDi. They need direct access from midtown via the LIRR IMO to make it work.

[10023]

I haven't been following this, but it would be great if this thing is built in the city instead of Southampton. Anywhere further east than Islip is just not the place for a casino complex.

Is the idea of building it on the South Fork pretty much dead at this point?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Well, that was disappointing. A train service? No thanks. That would only be decent from FiDi. They need direct access from midtown via the LIRR IMO to make it work.

I agree that the direct Midtown service should also be in play. However, if they can get that direct subway service to the Fulton St transit center in 20 minutes, that will be a start. Depending on how service goes, demand has a way of creating things.

Originally Posted by 10023

I haven't been following this, but it would be great if this thing is built in the city instead of Southampton. Anywhere further east than Islip is just not the place for a casino complex.

Is the idea of building it on the South Fork pretty much dead at this point?

Huh?

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

Long Island Rail Road should reactivate the northern section
of its old Rockaway branch: advocates
Transit advocates say LIRR Rockaway line would give commuters better access to Aqueduct, Long Island, Manhattan




A Long Island Rail Road train in the Jamaica station. Queens-based transit advocates say the borough's commuters would be better served
if the railroad would reactivate the northern portion of its old Rockaway branch.



By Carl Perrera, David Krulewitch AND John Rozankowski
February 1, 2012

For many years, the residents of the outer boroughs have been shortchanged in mass transit. While billions are being spent for subway expansion in Manhattan, Queens has been neglected. South Queens, in particular, has suffered from inefficient mass transit to Midtown. Both the A and J subway lines have long circuitous routes through Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Thanks to the proposed convention center at Aqueduct, this picture can be improved dramatically.

Some have suggested the revival of the JFK-Super Express service. Since there are more A trains running today than in the 1980s, a service conflict would be created and the needs of the convention center would not be met. Fortunately, there is a better alternative: the revival of the northern section of the old Long Island Rail Road Rockaway branch. The Regional Rail Working Group Rockaway Subcommittee and other transit advocates have studied this line and offer the following options:

The Railroad Option would have the LIRR resume operations between Penn Station and Aqueduct. Two stations would be built — at Rego Park and at Aqueduct. The latter would allow transfers to the A train and to the Air Train (if it were extended from Howard Beach). If rail cars are developed with the ability to operate on both lines, a one-seat ride from Midtown to JFK would be created.

...With Genting, the developer behind the project, willing to put up some money and with Governor Cuomo’s strong backing of the convention center, discussing these options is realistic. Since New York City owns the right-of-way, it can build the line itself — as with the #7 extension — if the MTA is not interested.

Claims from Queensway proponents that this train line would pollute local neighborhoods and lead to overdevelopment are false. An electric rail line would reduce pollution by attracting people to mass transit, and there is very little vacant space available for development along the right-of-way. In addition, speedier service to Manhattan’s central business district would cause property values to soar.

In the summer of 2011, Queens Community Board 9 proposed that the northern section of the Rockaway line be turned into a greenway called “Queensway.” At that time, there was no hope for reactivating the Rockaway line and a bicycle path was better than an abandoned railway overgrown with weeds. With the proposed convention center, CB9 may want to reconsider its position. The choice is very clear: Does CB9 want to be the spoiler conducive to the inundation of Ozone Park with traffic, thus continuing transit misery for Rockaway riders and to block a chance to link Queens in an effective crosstown service? Or does CB9 prefer to be a good neighbor and support a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve mass transit for everyone’s benefit?

This is an historic opportunity to reduce traffic, to create an effective Queens crosstown service, to enhance the commute to Manhattan and to improve access to both airports while meeting the demands of the convention center. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall should appoint a Rockaway Line Reactivation Task Force to assess the north Rockaway line options, and the people of Queens should unite behind this effort to decisively promote the borough’s future.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false
Queens needs two convention centers, says Helen Marshall
Borough President paints optimistic picture of Queens in annual speech

By Lisa L. Colangelo
January 24, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/ny...er=rss&emc=rss
Queens Questions Need for 2 Convention Halls



By JOSEPH BERGER
February 8, 2012

The 250 muffler shops, tire installers and other grease-stained businesses that make up the tumbledown quarter of Queens known as Willets Point have long known that they could be wiped out to make way for a gleaming new convention center, New York City’s first outside Manhattan. But a month ago, the businesses learned to their surprise and bewilderment that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was proposing another, far grander convention center — at more than three million square feet, it would be the nation’s largest — as part of a mammoth gambling hall that would rise at the Aqueduct racetrack, six miles to the south. Does Queens, they wondered, need two convention centers?

The city has always spoken of a convention center as part of a retail, hotel, office and apartment complex that would be close to two highways, an airport, a bay and train and subway connections. But Mr. Bono said he believed the convention center had always been the city’s “main selling point.” Queens officials have also regarded the city’s redevelopment plan as intimately intertwined with a convention center. Helen M. Marshall, the borough president, was reportedly taken aback when she heard of the governor’s Aqueduct proposal. “What happened to Willets Point?” was the way Dan Andrews, her spokesman, described her reaction. “Oh my God, there’s going to be two!”

He said Ms. Marshall had since embraced the idea that there could indeed be two convention centers, the one at Aqueduct and a smaller space of fewer than 400,000 square feet at Willets Point for smaller trade shows and for local and regional conferences of, say, the Queens medical and dental societies. Events at such a center may be too big to fit into a hotel ballroom but not big enough for the proposed Aqueduct center. And the Queens Chamber of Commerce emphasizes that “an exhibition hall or conference center” was only a single feature in the overall plan. “Willets Point right now looks like something in a third-world nation, and if we’re going to be able to maximize economic opportunities it’s going to require full redevelopment,” said Jack Friedman, the chamber’s executive director.

[aquablue]

So is there going to be some kind of vote to legalize gambling, and like in Miami, the project hinges upon that vote?

Sounds dicey, Florida shot down gambling recently.

[NYguy]

^ No, no. The vote is to allow full legalized gambling, which Genting would like to have here. As is now, they are simply going to expand the "Racino" when they build the convention center.


http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/302129973

Aqueduct hits jackpot in Ozone Park
Genting strikes gold with Queens casino. Just wait for that convention center.



By Lisa Fickenscher
February 12, 2012

Resorts World Casino in southeastern Queens was buzzing with activity on a recent Friday—and it was only 11 a.m. With another 17 hours to go before closing time, an energetic Motown band was setting up to perform for the afternoon while a steady stream of charter buses delivered throngs of people from Chinatown, downtown Brooklyn and Long Island. Resorts World Casino tapped into a gold mine when it opened three months ago, attracting an average of 20,000 locals every day. It has been profitable from day one. But Genting Americas, the Malaysian firm that owns the casino, has its eye on an even bigger prize, and is proposing to transform this drab parcel of land, located 14 miles outside Manhattan, into a destination like no other in the city.

From November through January, it generated nearly $140 million in gambling revenues and was allowed to keep more than $32 million, according to the New York State Lottery, which owns Resorts World's 5,000 electronic video lottery terminals. Genting would like to increase the number of slot machines, but it is capped at the moment by the lottery.

Locals, from hard-core gamblers to those simply looking for entertainment, have embraced the racino. “I come here now one to three times a week,” said Regina Recchio, who lives in nearby Valley Stream, L.I. “On New Year's Eve, my husband and I were here for 12 hours.”

Its closest rival, Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway, knows only too well about people like Ms. Recchio. Since the racino opened in South Ozone Park, Empire City has watched its growth disappear. “Our numbers are flat,” said Tim Rooney Jr., whose family owns the racino in Yonkers. “I'm envious of how quickly they built up a customer base.”

__________________________________________


http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article.../SUB/302199979

Unhappy convention exhibitors grill Genting
Trade show industry feels left out of discussions over a new Queens center.

By Lisa Fickenscher
February 19, 2012

Genting Americas is off to a rocky start with the trade show industry—the potential clients of the gigantic $4 billion convention center the company hopes to build in Ozone Park, Queens. More than 100 executives came to hear what Genting had to say at a meeting last week at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel, sponsored by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. “This is my first approach to you folks,” said Christian Goode, senior vice president of development for Genting. “This project got fast-tracked by New York state, and I apologize we are reaching out at this forum for the first time.”

These closed-door negotiations, however, have not endeared Genting—or the governor, for that matter—to the trade show industry, which feels left out of discussions that directly affect its future. “I hope that things are done the right way and not for the sake of gambling or for politics,” Ken McAvoy, senior vice president of Reed Exhibitions, said to Mr. Goode. Reed produced 500 events last year in 39 countries, including the annual New York Comic Con and International Restaurant & Foodservice Show at the Javits Center.

Mr. McAvoy was more pointed in his comments on the Aqueduct project: “I'm not sure the location is correct or the size is correct.” Others expressed concern about Genting's motives for building the convention center. “Where is [your] priority?” asked Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which produces the annual New York International Auto Show at Javits. Everyone talks about how no public money is being used to build the convention center, he added, but “this industry is at risk if it doesn't work out.”

[NYguy]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...ting-says.html

New York City Convention Center May Need Public Improvements, Genting Says

By Henry Goldman
Mar 1, 2012

New York state taxpayers might end up paying for infrastructure and transportation improvements to support a proposed privately financed convention center and casino in Queens, a representative of the developer said.

Christian Goode, senior vice president of Genting Americas (GENM), a division of Kuala Lumpur-based Genting Bhd., said his company’s development of a $4 billion, 3.8 million square-foot convention center and casino near John F. Kennedy International Airport would be “one more reason” to invest in improved roads and mass transit to serve the area. Goode didn’t say how much the improvements might cost. “How the finances work out, it’s too early to tell,” Goode said today during a breakfast forum sponsored by Crain’s New York magazine

Genting, which operates Asia’s second-biggest gaming company by market value, would finance some of the cost of express rail service to shorten what is now about a one-hour subway ride linking Manhattan with the site adjacent to Aqueduct racetrack, Goode said.

Cuomo’s plan won support from Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, which for decades has conducted research on land use and transportation policies. Of the potential infrastructure costs, Yaro said there are “much-needed improvements in Queens that would serve Aqueduct and residents of Queens and provide access to the airport. They shouldn’t be paid for by Genting.”

__________________________________________________________


http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-...i-have-my-job/

Genting wants the convention center to be part of a larger complex including hotels, restaurants and a casino. New York would have to legalize casino gaming to make that a reality.

Christian Goode, senior vice president for Genting Americas, said the company is prepared to build the convention center either way. But if gambling is made legal, Genting would ask the state for some kind of "exclusivity" in recognition of its huge capital investment to build the convention center.

"We're going to invest $3 billion in a facility that can't stand alone, as evidenced by the number of facilities across the US, whether it be Chicago, Orlando, they're all subsidized, they all break even or at a loss," Goode said. That statement seemed to acknowledge what some studies have shown: convention business has been declining for several years.

So does New York need another convention center? Goode said it does, and the space must be much bigger than Javits' 760,000 square feet.

"New York city is actually being forced to turn down potential events due to the lack of available space," Goode said. Genting's proposed hall would be 3.8 million square feet.

[aquablue]

Wasn't that obvious from the start?

Genting should have to chip in to the rail cost. There is no way some A train express will work anyway so find some other alternative.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by aquablue

Genting should have to chip in to the rail cost. There is no way some A train express will work anyway so find some other alternative.

Saying Genting should have to chip in to rail cost is like saying Larry Silverstein should have to chip in to rebuild the PATH station. Genting is doing more than it has to by spending what it will for improvements. As far as the public improvements go, that's something that's going to be done anyway, and it's something the public sector does.



http://transportationnation.org/2012...ention-center/
Will Developer Pay for Transit to a New Queens Convention Center?]

By Andrea Bernstein
03/02/2012

Here’s an exchange between Genting Sr. VP Christian Goode and moderator Greg David:
Q: Do you expect the organization would have to spend money on transportation infrastructures to improve access to the site?

A: What we warranted — what we represented up front if there’s infrastructure that’s needed we would work collectively. I think the infrastructure needs have been identified for a long time for the area. Our project would be just one more reason to do it. I think from the city perspective, the state perspective, highways and stuff – I think there’s already a plan by the DOT, and so on and so forth, that there’s a need for infrastructure upgrades.

What we represented is that, if we have express service from the MTA coming out we would fund the capital costs of that. Now other things I think are in discussion – Some local elected officials brought up the Rockaway spur, the Rockaway express line that could be reconstituted — probably most likely necessary to provide adequate mass transit to the residents of Queens in general.

When you compare Queens to Brooklyn to the Bronx, and certainly to Manhattan their access to mass transit is significantly less than the other boroughs whether there be express bus or train service.

I think there is a need our project would add to the need. We look forward working cooperatively and collaboratively to go through that process. How the finances work out its way to early to tell. I don’t know all the research and analysis has been done to see what could become and what that would cost .

[aquablue]

Well good luck to them, but they are in for one hell of a fight with residents if they are serious about that rail line though, etc. This thing could go on for years with legal battles with NIMBY's, etc. Oh well, let's hope they pull it off by some miracle.

[manchester united]

Why it isn't opened 24 hours ?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by manchester united

Why it isn't opened 24 hours ?

I don't know if its allowed to stay open 24 hours now, but with the expansion - and if there is an actual casino built - it most likely will be.


http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TICS/120309961

Poll: Strong voter support for Cuomo

By Jeremy Smerd
March 5, 2012

Support is strong—about 66%—for creating a new pension tier for state workers. And 60% of voters from every region and party support the plan by racino operator Genting to build a 3 million-square-foot convention center at Aqueduct racetrack in Queens. Both items are priorities of the governor.