L’AVENIR WILL BE DESIGNED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STEELMAN PARTNERS, PREVIOUS DESIGN PARTNER IN WYNN-RESORT’S THE MIRAGE, AND CETRARUDDY, DESIGN PARTNER IN 55 BROAD ST., WHICH IS SET TO BECOME ONE OF THE LARGEST OFFICE TO RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION DEVELOPMENTS IN NYC. RENDERING FROM SILVERSTEIN PROPERTIES.
Reprinted from DOWNTOWN Fall 2024
The starting pistols are off, and the race is on for a casino license in New York City. While the casino licenses aren’t expected to be awarded until late 2025, the titans of the gaming industry are courting the city for one of the three licenses that have been authorized for the downstate.
A New York casino location will be determined by the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board. Once they review the applications, GFLB will make their recommendations to the state’s Gaming Commission, who will make the final decision on who gets the license.
Of the 11 running, 2 quasi gaming facilities connected to horse racetracks are presumed favorites for two of the three licenses, leaving one up for grabs. Although industry insiders are skeptical that the two ‘racinos’ are guaranteed a win with some speculating that Manhattan might be home to one or even two casinos (Mayor Eric Adams wants to see two in NYC). ‘It’s anyone’s race,’ one insider close to the process told DOWNTOWN. Let’s take a look at the crowded playing field in Manhattan.
SILVERSTEIN PROPERTIES/GREENWOOD GAMING
Smack in the middle of 11th Avenue and 41st Street, a stone’s throw from Times Square, there is a 92,000- square-foot site that is ‘shovel ready upon approval,’ in the words of Larry Silverstein that is ‘free of complex logistical infrastructure hurdles” for a 1.8 million square foot gaming, entertainment, hospitality and residential complex. L’Avenir, the French word for “future,” is a partnership between Silverstein Properties and Greenwood Gaming, who owns Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. L’Avenir ‘will comprise two 46-story towers linked by a public sky bridge and include 1,000 luxury hotel rooms; an eight- story, 600,000 square foot gaming, entertainment, and restaurant complex at its base; more than 100 units of 100 percent, permanently affordable housing; and a 1,000-seat performance hall on its top floor.’
The Avenir Crown Night (Credit Silverstein Properties)
The Avenir 40th Street Base Night (Credit Silverstein Properties)
The Avenir 41st Entrance (Credit Silverstein Properties)
In addition it will net billions in economic development with 4,000 union construction jobs, and 5,500 permanent union jobs. While there has yet to be any vocal community support for L’Avenir, there has also not been any significant pushback against the proposal. Although the affordable housing effort of L’Avenir comes, in part, to address a report calling for more opportunities for affordable housing in the area from Manhattan Community Board 4, Jesse Bodine from MCB4 told DOWNTOWN recently that “the board has not taken a position on this particular proposal.”
WYNN RESORTS/RELATED COMPANIES/OXFORD PROPERTIES
Hudson Green_Summer_Rendering Courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts
Perched on the far West End of Midtown in Hudson Yards, Wynn Resorts in partnership with real estate investment juggernauts Related Companies, and Oxford Properties Group, are offering a 12 billion dollar total project investment in NYC on top of the underdeveloped Western Rail Yards along the Hudson River. If granted, the license, Wynn, Related, Oxford developers pledge that their project will create 35,000 union construction jobs, 6,000 permanent union hospitality careers, plus 1,500 units of new housing, including 324 affordable housing units, a new public school (for grades K-8), a robust traffic, safety, and sanitation improvement fund, with Hudson Green, a 5.6 acre public park, as the centerpiece for the new development.
The project has received endorsements from former city council speaker Christine Quinn, Marc H. Morial, President of the National Urban League, and NAACP NY President Hazel N. Dukes with all three championing the potential job prospects for city residents. Wynn Hudson Yards’ proposal has recently faced one of its fiercest critical pushes from its nonprofit neighbor: The Highline. The recently launched protect.thehighline.org, has become a hub for the resistance toward the plan. Their stated goal is to ‘engage New Yorkers and elected officials to ensure the development protects the iconic nature and experience of the Highline.’ Most critics cite the 2009 agreement as the impetus for the opposition, which was the original plan to redevelop the Western Rail Yards that included a commitment to 3,454 units of housing (and the possibility of up to 5,700 units), and 4.3 acres of open space with multiple public access points.
ROC NATION/SL GREEN REALTY/ CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT
“WE ARE NEW YORKERS. SUPPORTING AND PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITY ISN’T JUST A PART OF ROC NATION’S ETHOS; IT’S OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY.” – SHAWN “JAY-Z” CARTER.
What do Jay Z, New York’s biggest commercial landlord, and the company behind Caesars Palace have in common? They want a casino in Times Square. The partnership between SL Green Realty, Roc Nation, and Caesars Entertainment will house a 250,000-square-foot casino within eight floors of 1515 Broadway (home of Broad- way’s Lion King production) with a 950 key hotel planned above it. The Broadway production’s theater space would be refurbished.
So far, the Time Square Casino has received the blessing from a number of different commercial landlords: Soho Properties, Wharton Properties, and Ian Schrager Company. The proposed project even garnered support from Actors Equity, a prominent labor union representing theater performers and stage managers. SL Green Realty has pledged that the ‘Partnership will make significant investments in security, traffic, and mass transit improvements, accelerate economic recovery for surrounding businesses and create good-paying union jobs for New Yorkers.’
However, the casino proposal has received significant push- back. A recent poll conducted by Tulchin Research cited by the No Times Square Casino Advocacy Group, reports that 71% of midtown residents oppose a casino in their neighborhood citing congestion, economic disruption and social harm, undermining local theaters and restaurants in the neighborhood, and weakening New York City’s tax base.’
In September, The development garnered further scrutiny for offering a Manhattan Plaza Tenant leader, who has been vocal against the proposed casino, a $20,000 a month contract through Jay Z’s Roc Nation company (per The City). Roc Nation has since released a statement pledging “$15 million dollars to the surrounding community upon approval of its bid” as part of a “$250 million community benefits commitment.
SOLOVIEV GROUP/MOHEGAN GAMING
FREEDOM PLAZA rendering.
On an unassuming patch of ground near the U.N. that boasts as one of New York City’s largest tract of undeveloped real estate, Soloviev Group, in partnership with Mohegan Gaming, have announced plans for Freedom Plaza; an 18 billion dollar, 4.1 million square foot development consisting of two 51 story hotels, two residential buildings that consist of 1325 apartments with 40% designated as permanent affordable housing, a museum of democracy, nearly five acres of waterfront green space, and an underground casino at the heart of the development. The proposal also includes an ambitious community fund pledging 2% of net profits generated from the casino to be directly reinvested into the neighborhood through a contribution to a 501(c)3 (a tax exempt non profit entity typically used for community funds). The control and administration fund will be overseen by a community appointed advisory board, without any representation from Soloviev or Mohegan, and all decisions will be made at the community advisory board’s discretion. It is unclear how the community advisory board will be nominated or organized, or whether it will involve leadership from Manhattan Community Board 6, who opposed a bypass for the planned development to be exempt from standard city zoning approval in January (per The City).
Despite Soloviev Group and Mohegan offering the most affordable housing units of any casino proposal development in Manhattan, they have faced backlash at a town hall hosted by New York Senator Kristen Gonzales where residents decried, ‘the ties between the gaming facility and the potential for hundreds of affordable housing units’ with one attendee going as far to call casino profits ‘blood money.’ (Per The Real Deal).
This is an ongoing investigative piece. DTM