The NYC Casino Race Comes Down To Who Can Clear The Local Political Hurdles

Titans of the real estate industry hoping to build a grand casino in New York City are battling for the prize expected to be worth billions, but their most important fight might not be against each other.

Instead, the winning bidders must win over the hearts and minds of their neighbors' local politicians — a task that looks increasingly daunting for some of the highest-profile bidders.  

This week, a state lawmaker representing the area covering Related’s Hudson Yards proposal has come out in opposition to the developer’s plan. Meanwhile, Mets owner Steve Cohen’s bid in Queens is squaring off with the area’s state senator, who has blocked development of the land at the heart of his bid.

Eleven developers, including SL Green, Silverstein Properties and Thor Equities, have been preparing proposals for casinos. Now, as the deadlines are slowly approaching, negotiations to get local buy-in have never been more important or precarious.

Each casino proposal must go before a six-member Community Advisory Committee, with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, the local Senate and Assembly members, the local city council members and the borough president each appointing one individual to represent the local area. Two-thirds of the CAC have to agree that the casino proposal would be in the best interest of the community.

“We need that four out of six votes,” said Michael Hershman, CEO of The Soloviev Group.

The investment firm is preparing to submit a proposal for a $10B casino-anchored development on the more-than-6-acre site on the east side of Midtown Manhattan that has been in founder Stefan Soloviev's family for more than 20 years.

The group's vision, dubbed The Freedom Plaza, includes a 250K SF casino that is mostly underground, two residential towers with hundreds of units of affordable housing, a museum dedicated to democracy and nearly 5 acres of parkland for local residents. 

“We've spoken to all of our local representatives. None of them have committed. None of them have said that they're going to vote for or against it,” Hershman told Bisnow. “All of them, essentially, have said to us they're going to wait until they have the Community Advisory [Committee] hearings before they make a decision.”

The state, which passed changes to its legislation a little over a decade ago allowing for a total of seven casinos statewide, has three licenses left to hand out to bids in downstate New York. Proposals must meet labor and environmental requirements as well as offer live entertainment and tourist attractions in addition to economic benefits. 

While developers can control the programming and site plans of their bids to maximize their appeal to the governor and mayor's ambitions, they must convince their local representatives, many of whose constituents have loudly voiced their opposition. 

Soloviev's proposal has changed since getting public input from local business groups, homeowners associations, labor unions and others, Hershman said. The original plans had included building a Ferris wheel on the site. But when community groups, including the Murray Hill Association, told the developer they wanted more park space and that the Ferris wheel’s base would take up too much space, the developer reconsidered.

But public support may be hard won. At a January town hall, members of the public shouted “blood money” at the dais and talked over the developers. In March 2023, Manhattan Community Board 6 voted 33-4 against the casino, concluding that the “site is a prime location for affordable housing” that had been planned there for some time following a 2008 rezoning that approved developments yielding several thousand housing units across the two sites.

Although the Soloviev Group’s plan includes 513 units of affordable housing, Manhattan CB6 Chair Sandra McKee told Bisnow she doesn't think it is nearly enough.

Then there are the other concerns listed in CB6’s resolution: public safety, noise, sanitation, transportation issues, congestion and how close it would be to schools, green spaces and hospitals.

“I think the feeling is that [providing affordable housing] doesn't counteract the negative impacts of the casino,” McKee said.

Sen. Kristin Gonzalez, whose district includes the site for Soloviev’s proposed Freedom Plaza, declined to comment to Bisnow.

But Sen. Liz Krueger, whose district neighbors the area and would have a say on SL Green and Caesars Entertainment's Times Square casino, has spent years advocating against building a large gambling venue in the heart of the nation's biggest city.

“Very clearly in Manhattan, I do not think there is any appropriate place for a casino,” Krueger said in an interview. “It's a lose-lose for your local economy. Everybody's spending their money there, which means they're not spending it anywhere else for anything else.”

While the negotiations are underway, an actual new casino is still years away as the process to award a license has dragged on. 

The application period for developers to submit their bids opens in early 2025, with bids due by late June and the deadline for CAC votes due at the end of September. The process is overseen by the Gaming Facility Location Board, a five-person governmental body appointed by Hochul.

But complicating that, there’s also a piece of legislature that could change the timeline. A bill sponsored by Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., chair of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, to accelerate the timeline has passed both houses of the state legislature and is awaiting Hochul’s signature.

She hasn't indicated whether she plans to sign it.

“Governor Hochul will review this legislation,” John Lindsay, deputy communications director for the governor, told Bisnow in an email, declining further comment.

Despite the amorphous timeline for a final decision, the leading bidders are working to shore up local support now, and their opponents are digging their heels in.

SL Green, which teamed up with Caesars and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation for its bid, is proposing to redevelop the heart of the Times Square bow tie into a casino-anchored entertainment complex. The plans would replace the existing building at ​​1515 Broadway, home to Viacom's world headquarters and the Minskoff Theater, with a 54-story building including a 250K SF casino, 950 hotel rooms and space for restaurants and entertainment.

“Our view is, why not make all of Times Square the project? We're just a jewel in the crown of Times Square,” said Brett Herschenfeld, SL Green’s executive vice president for retail and opportunistic investments.

SL Green’s proposal has around 150 endorsements from local retailers, restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues including the Actors Equity Association, Herschenfeld said. Their casino also plans to promote Broadway by buying tickets to shows for casino visitors.

But offers to buy seats are not what theaters actually want, said Jason Laks, interim director of The Broadway League. Casino-purchased tickets could lead to more empty seats, which would take away from the atmosphere, he said.

The trade association is one of two dozen local groups that are part of the No Times Square Casino Coalition and is concerned that a casino would convince tourists to swap shows for slot machines.

The International Alliance of Theatrical State Employees’ New York Theater Locals trade unions, including unions for stagehands, wardrobe, hair, and makeup artists, ushers and press agents, announced Thursday it is joining the No Times Square Casino Coalition, a powerful backer considering the importance of labor agreements to the winning formula. 

“Broadway is in, and only exists in, one place," Laks said. “And that neighborhood of Broadway itself, besides the people that live in and around Time Square, is really vital to the city both as an economic driver and as a cultural driver.”

Plenty of people do also live in Times Square, Laks added, and they’re not keen on the proposal either. The group ran a survey of registered voters in the vicinity, and 71% said they were opposed to a Times Square casino. 

“It is absolutely a working, living neighborhood that needs to be respected, and I think the people that live there have the right to have a voice in how their neighborhood is impacted,” he said.

Several blocks west, Silverstein Properties told Bisnow that it is continuing to seek feedback from local groups regarding its proposed casino north of the Javits Center. Chairman Larry Silverstein told The New York Times last year that its shovel-ready site is on the outskirts of neighborhoods, not in the heart of one, which could give it a leg up against its competitors. 

Joe Sitt's Thor Equities is working with Saratoga Casino Holdings and the Chickasaw Nation in its proposal for a Coney Island casino. The team is creating workforce development initiatives based on feedback it has received from the community, Paul Pippin, chief operating officer of Global Gaming Solutions, a business entity of the Chickasaw Nation, told Bisnow.

Locals to the waterfront Brooklyn neighborhood have had a more mixed reception: Brooklyn's Community Board 11 voted in favor of the casino, while Community Board 13 voted against the proposal last year.

How receptive local residents are is a key concern for other elected officials, some of whom have voiced opposition to proposals in their districts.

In Queens, state Sen. Jessica Ramos has temporarily blocked Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plans — which include transforming parking lots near Citi Field into a casino and hotel with public space, a live music venue and more — by not introducing legislation that is needed to allow commercial development on the designated parkland. 

While some people showed up at a town hall meeting to support the proposal, reporting from news outlet Queens Chronicle found that a large number of the supporters were carrying signs paid for by Cohen’s lobbying firm.

Cohen has not signaled intent to drop his pursuit of a license. Just this week, Ramos said she is planning to commit $27K from her own campaign coffers, which have $37K of cash on hand, to public polling to determine how local residents actually feel about the proposal.

Ramos’ office did not respond to Bisnow’s request for comment. 

Another proposal that finds itself needing to overcome staunch political opposition is Related’s bid for the uncompleted second phase of the $25B Hudson Yards megaproject, on which the developer is partnering with Wynn Resorts.

The site would complete the decking over of the city’s Western Rail Yards, which were rezoned in 2009 to allow Related to build between 3,454 and 5,700 housing units.

The proposal has been talked about as a favorite to win, Crain’s New York Business reported. But elected officials, including Assemblyman Tony Simone, whose district includes the site, have voiced significant skepticism.

Influential nonprofit Friends of the High Line, which operates the park under license from the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, has also come out in opposition to Related's bid.

Related has built just a fraction of those units so far and is now applying for a rezoning for two new development scenarios: one with a casino and one without, but in both cases delivering 2,000 fewer housing units than promised, per Friends of the High Line. 

“We aren’t against development and support the development of the Western Rail Yards in a way that improves upon the 2009 agreement,” Alan van Capelle, executive director of Friends of the High Line, said in a statement. “However, the proposed changes are significantly more impactful than what was agreed to and were developed without any community input.”

Manhattan Community Board 4 declined to comment to Bisnow but rejected the proposal more than two years ago. Now, Friends of the High Line’s view may add to pressure on local elected officials.

“Their opinion is going to count,” State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal told The New York Times. Hoylman-Sigal declined to comment to Bisnow. Related and Wynn Resorts didn't respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.