Related, Wynn Team Up To Roll The Dice On Casino At Hudson Yards
Related is publicly declaring its intentions of making a play for a state gaming license that would allow it to build a casino at Hudson Yards.
In the first concrete bid for a license that has been made public, Related has joined with Wynn Resorts with a plan to build a casino on the undeveloped western half of Hudson Yards, The New York Times reports. The long-planned second phase of the megaproject would involve the construction of a 10-acre platform above active rail lines that would connect the first phase almost with the Hudson River.
The first phase of the $25B, 18M SF Hudson Yards, which Related co-developed with Oxford Properties, opened in 2019, and this next phase originally set to have residential properties — including below-market units — and a school. Related has tried to renegotiate its arrangement with the Metropolitan Transport Authority, the Times reported.
“The Western Yards provides the ideal site for a resort that will reinvigorate our tourism economy and provide billions in tax revenues for the city and state,” Related CEO Jeff Blau said in a statement, adding that Related and Wynn is a “perfect pair," Bloomberg reported.
Downstate New York, including New York City, is due to get three new casino licenses handed out by the state. Rumors have been circulating for some time about Related’s plans to push for a casino, with founder Stephen Ross said to have raised the proximity to the Javits Center and Penn Station as reasons why his site should be chosen.
Thor Equities is reportedly looking at Coney Island for a potential site — as is billionaire developer John Catsimatidis. Steven Cohen, owner of the New York Mets, has reportedly had conversations with casino and resort company Las Vegas Sands about putting up a gaming center near Citi Field.
L&L Holding Co. and Vornado have also expressed interest in submitting bids for properties near Times Square and Penn Station. Right now, the only casino in the city is the Resorts World facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, which doesn't offer table games and is expected to win one of the licenses.
For Related and Wynn to be able to move forward, a six-person community advisory committee — which will have representatives from the mayor, the governor, the city council, the borough president and the legislature — will need to sign off on the bid.
“The gaming commission will decide on where these casinos will be located, but we are hoping two of the three downstate casinos will be placed in New York City,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the mayor, told the Times.
