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This week, the downstate New York casino licence chase officially entered its next phase, the community advisory committee process.
First up were two Manhattan bids, the Avenir and Freedom Plaza from Silverstein Properties and Soloviev Group, respectively. The Avenir CAC convened on Wednesday, followed by Freedom Plaza on Thursday.
In some ways, the meetings were a curious sight. It’s not often that CEOs and high-ranking officials from some of the world’s preeminent developers and hospitality companies are hunched shoulder to shoulder in obscure meeting rooms in the annals of New York City, giving pitches on multibillion-dollar projects to committees comprised mostly of middle-ranking government employees and legislative assistants.
And these ad-hoc committees now hold the fate of this high-stakes process in their hands. In order to advance for further consideration, a prospective bid must secure a two-thirds majority approval from its respective CAC. Notably, this vote is not supposed to reflect the members’ personal opinions; it is supposed to reflect “whether there is adequate support for the proposed project” in its immediate area, per the state gaming commission.
There are three types of meetings that CACs may hold: an initial organisational meeting, subsequent public hearings, and ultimately a final hearing to hold a vote and submit it to the state. This week’s meetings were organisational, in which each committee elected a chair and heard presentations from stakeholders.
Ins and outs
To kick off each meeting, committee members were briefed on the parameters of the process and their expectations. Their tenure on the CACs runs from now through 30 September at the latest, which is the deadline to hold binding votes.
Following the organisational meetings, each CAC must host at least two public hearings to solicit local feedback. A proposed schedule from the state suggested to host the first hearing between 21 July- 1 August and the second from 11-22 August. This would allow for a few weeks’ space to host any other hearings if necessary before the final vote is held. However, this was simply a suggestion, and committees are free to set their own schedules as availability permits.
During the CAC process, bidders may make changes to their applications based on committee feedback. This includes future promises or commitments, so long as they are submitted in writing. CACs may also request a modification to a bid, but any changes that would impact the environmental review process may not be considered.
Committees were also briefed on ethics, and reminded that they may not have contact with any bidders outside of their official capacities.
Avenir first up
At the Avenir hearing Wednesday, Matthew Tighe, chief of staff for Assembly member Tony Simone, was elected chair. Tighe was not present for the meeting but participated virtually.
Silverstein COO Dino Fusco and CMO Dara McQuillan each gave presentations on their company’s background and prowess for developing large-scale projects in the city. Silverstein is best known for redeveloping the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which has been a focal point of its materials.
McQuillan said that Silverstein is “an expert at complicated, neighbourhood-changing, public-private partnerships,” with the chief example being the WTC. “We have a lot of experience working with elected officials, community board members and neighborhood groups,” he added.
During Fusco’s time, he highlighted a topic that has risen to the top of discussion: the importance of allotting a licence to a Manhattan bid. As the dominant borough in the city from an economic and tourism perspective, stakeholders from all three Manahattan bids are adamant that any projects in the other areas, namely Queens and Brooklyn, will underperform comparatively.
Fusco said that in Silverstein’s view, “there’s no doubt” that one of the licence winners “should absolutely be in Manhattan”.
Rush Street Gaming CEO Tim Drekhoff was also on hand, as his company was added to the bid in mid-May. Original partners Greenwood Gaming are still involved, but did not make a presentation. Drekhoff boasted of his company’s ability to bring casinos to new communities, such as it has done with its Rivers casinos in Chicagoland and upstate New York. The Avenir, however, would be a much bigger undertaking than any of its regional properties.
“We’ve never acquired a casino,” he explained. “We developed each one of these properties from scratch, and each one of these properties was the first casino to ever exist in that city or county.”
Freedom Plaza gets philosophical
On Thursday, the Freedom Plaza CAC elected Sandra McKee as chair. McKee is an architect at the firm Yoshihara McKee and serves as chair of Manhattan Community Board 6.
The presentation for Freedom Plaza was noteworthy, in that it has been among the quieter projects thus far. It has largely avoided public consternation and political maneuvering, both of which have plagued most of the other bids.
Soloviev CEO Michael Hershman gave a passionate presentation, covering everything from commercial development to the core tenants of American democracy. The project draws its name from the connection to the United Nations headquarters nearby, and will build a dedicated Museum of Freedom and Democracy if selected.
“We have to come together as a society to make sure we understand that we have to work hard to secure the underlying principles — life, liberty, pursuit of happiness — where better to do that than here in New York City, where the first capital of this country was located?” Hershman said.
Mohegan Gaming is the casino partner with Soloviev, and CEO Ray Pineault was also present. Pineault spoke about the tribal-owned company and its multi-generational mode of future planning. While Mohegan’s flagship Mohegan Sun property in Uncasville, Connecticut has been very successful, its expansion efforts have been mixed. Earlier this year, its Inspire resort in South Korea was seized by lender Bain Capital, and the company no longer operates the casino inside of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Mohegan’s Chief Strategy Officer Nelson Parker told the committee Thursday that Freedom Plaza “would compete at the very highest levels around the world”.
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