Neighborhood teams in Queens, NY, lately revealed a plan to show land presently used as a car parking zone for Citi Discipline right into a park. That’s doubtlessly posing a problem to New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen’s efforts to carry a on line casino resort to the identical house.
New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen. Queens neighborhood teams need to construct a park on land he desires to make use of for a on line casino. (Picture: CNBC)
At a rally final weekend in downtown Flushing, varied local weather and neighborhood teams pitched a park plan referred to as Phoenix Meadows. That’s an alternative choice to the on line casino concept, the latter drawing the ire of some locals within the space.
Phoenix Meadows was designed by a coalition of advocates aligned underneath the group FED UP — or Flushing for Equitable Improvement and City Planning,” reported Ryan Schwach for the Queens Each day Eagle.
It’s well-known that Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire, desires to show the Willets Level space close to the Mets’ dwelling stadium right into a on line casino resort. He unveiled an $8 billion plan to that impact final November, pitching an leisure zone that includes 20 acres of park house, eating choices, a dwell music venue, and a on line casino resort operated by Onerous Rock Worldwide.
Park Designation Issues
The land that Cohen and FED UP need presently serves no operate past parking for Citi Discipline.
It’s, nonetheless, designated as parkland. That’s significant as a result of it implies turning the land right into a park could be a simple raise. Relating to the on line casino effort, the property’s parkland designation is related as a result of for the land for use for one more function, its classification have to be modified. That have to be achieved by way of laws, and New York State Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Democrat representing the communities closest to Citi Discipline, stated she gained’t again such a invoice.
Meeting Member Jeffrion Aubry launched associated laws final March. However there must be a companion invoice within the State Senate, and it doubtless must be launched by Ramos.
Ramos is holding her third city corridor on the on line casino plan on Wednesday night time, and representatives from teams backing the Phoenix Meadows proposal will attend the assembly. The assembly she carried out on the Queen’s on line casino proposal final November reportedly drew a number of hundred attendees.
The parkland designation can be a possible subject for Bally’s in its quest to show a Bronx golf course previously operated by the Trump Group right into a on line casino.
Assessing Odds for Queens On line casino
New York regulators will award three downstate on line casino permits, however the winners won’t be revealed till subsequent yr.
A doubtlessly prolonged timeline makes forecasting the winners troublesome. Typical knowledge has held that MGM’s Empire Metropolis On line casino and Resorts World New York — two slots-only venues — will garner two of three permits.
As for operators seen as being in favorable spots to seize one of many licenses, hypothesis has centered largely on, in no explicit order, Caesars Leisure, Las Vegas Sands, and Wynn Resorts.
Along with the parkland designation subject, Cohen and Onerous Rock may face one other headwind at Willets Level. Resorts World New York is positioned in Queens, and state regulators, neighborhood advocates, and policymakers could also be loath to see one other gaming venue within the borough.
