An Open Letter to Mayor-elect Mamdani on Implementing Rent Freezes<\/a><\/p>\nAssuming the three are approved, Resorts World New York City will use the $500 million license to redevelop its current southeast Queens gaming hub into a full-fledged casino, as will Steve Cohen and Hard Rock\u2019s Metropolitan Park in northeast Queens and Bally\u2018s\u00a0in the Bronx.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the moment that three downstate casino licenses were authorized in the 2022 State Budget, I have been clear: any approved project must provide real benefits to its community and have sustainable economic plans,\u201d Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. \u201cThe three projects approved today promise to unlock billions in funding for the MTA and create tens of thousands of jobs. It is critical that they keep those promises.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the exception of MGM Empire City\u2019s application in Yonkers, which was withdrawn, the three remaining proposals were the only ones to pass the gauntlet of the Community Advisory Committees in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter years of community engagement and support, Metropolitan Park is one step closer to becoming a reality,\u201d Karl Rickett, spokesperson for Metropolitan Park, said in a statement. \u201cFollowing a fair, transparent and rigorous process, the Gaming Facility Location Board has validated the positive economic impact this project will have with billions of dollars in tax revenue, 23,000 union jobs, and over $1 billion in community benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the support for the proposals, the applicants weren\u2019t without detractors, who made their presence known during the board\u2019s Monday meeting.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the board announced its selection of all three proposals, the crowd at the CUNY Graduate Center auditorium at 365 Fifth Avenue erupted in chants of \u201cshame on you, shame on you, shame on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing conservative assumptions, the board\u2019s consultants projected incremental annual gaming tax revenue of nearly $1 billion in 2036, totaling approximately $7 billion between 2027 and 2036 plus $1.5 billion in licensing fees, additional state and local taxes, hotel occupancy and others are projected to generate approximately $5.9 billion,\u201d Greg Reimers, one of the board members, explained.\u2029\u201dNo alternative scenarios produce comparable revenue or fiscal benefits. Each project proposes to deliver substantial community benefits, including infrastructure and transit improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two casino proposals in Queens came with immense support from their communities, as well as elected officials and appointees on their respective Community Advisory Committees when they cast unanimous votes in September.<\/p>\n
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Gaming Facility Location Board made the obvious choices on Monday, awarding the only three available…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[5433,9,24,30686,1467,63,1413,122,124,123,1664,30972,9516],"class_list":["post-57295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-metropolitan-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-gaming-facility-location-board","tag-new-york-state-gaming-commission","tag-nyc","tag-policy","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-resorts-world-new-york-city","tag-steve-cohen-channel","tag-urban-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}