No cube!
A state board on Wednesday rejected the Instances Sq. on line casino bid from rapper Jay-Z's Roc Nation and different firms.
The gaming facility proposal for 1515 Broadway, additionally involving Caesars' Leisure and SL Inexperienced Realty, was struck down by the six-member state group advisory committee in a 4-2 vote.
“Go run and conceal,” SL Inexperienced CEO Marc Holliday railed afterward on the 4 members who voted towards the bid. “You need to reside with that historical past endlessly.”
The nay votes got here from representatives for Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, state Sen. Liz Krueger, Assemblyman Tony Simone and Councilman Erik Bottcher.
Appointees of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams voted aye.
The rejection marked a victory for the Broadway League of theater homeowners, which spearheaded opposition with Manhattan West Facet residents through The No Instances Sq. On line casino Coalition.
“Most residents of the world we heard from are opposed. The Broadway theater business is adamantly opposed, and so they make a powerful case a on line casino on this space would do main harm to that gem,” stated Richard Gottfried, Krueger's appointee on the state native siting board.
“There's numerous different locations within the metropolis the place a on line casino may thrive,” stated Gottfried, a former Manhattan assemblyman.
The on line casino bid was backed by the Rev. Al Sharpton's Nationwide Motion Community, entertainers resembling rapper Fats Joe and varied building commerce and different unions, who touted the gaming hub as creating jobs and possession stake for minorities.
Sharpton, who was seen on the assembly, instructed The Publish he was disenchanted with the result, saying he had supported the proposal as a method to deliver extra minority possession into the leisure business.
“I used to be right here for Jay-Z,” he stated. “We haven't seen black possession within the leisure business in Instances Sq.. I used to be disenchanted that they didn't break the colour line.”
Jason Laks, president of the Broadway League and member of the No Instances Sq. On line casino Coalition, hailed the rejection of the proposal in an announcement, calling it “a vote to guard the magic of Broadway for the 100 thousand New Yorkers who rely on it for his or her livelihoods, and for the tens of hundreds of thousands who come from world wide to expertise it.”
“A on line casino can go anyplace, however Broadway solely lives right here,” Laks stated.
A second on line casino bid, World Commerce Middle developer Larry Silverstein's Avenir's Manhattan gaming facility proposed for eleventh Avenue and West forty first Avenue, was additionally rejected by its native siting board Wednesday– in a 4-2 vote.
Solely the mayor and governors' reps voted aye.
Bottcher, whose reps had votes on each proposals, stated a on line casino was not welcome on the West Facet.
“This isn't a choice I took calmly. All financial growth alternatives deserve robust consideration. I imagine casinos should clear a very excessive bar, requiring a uniquely robust diploma of group buy-in earlier than being sited in a neighborhood,” Bottcher stated in an announcement.
“Regardless of intensive outreach by the candidates,” Bottcher stated, “that stage of assist has not materialized.”
If the group advisory teams had accredited the Instances Sq. Caesars' and Silverstein-Avenir bids, the proposals would have been forwarded to the statewide gaming facility location board for additional evaluation.
“Clearly, we're disenchanted that our West Facet elected officers didn't see a path ahead for The Avenir undertaking. We're grateful to everybody who has supported this undertaking and partnered with our staff all through this course of and respect their confidence in our imaginative and prescient for the Far West Facet,” stated Dino Fusco, COO of Silverstein Properties.
The state Gaming Fee will situation as much as three on line casino licenses by 12 months's finish upon suggestions from the gaming facility location board.
Different on line casino proposals nonetheless in play embody: the Genting Resorts World slot parlor's bid to supply reside desk video games at its present Aqueduct facility in Queens; Mets proprietor Steve Cohen/Exhausting Rock's bid to open a on line casino close to the baseball staff's ballpark, additionally in Queens; Bally's bid for President Trump's former golf property in Ferry Level, The Bronx; The Coney consortium's playing bid in Coney Island; developer Stefan Soloviev and Mohegan Solar's “Freedom Plaza” bid in Manhattan Midtown close to the East East River; and MGM Resorts Worldwide's bid to supply reside desk video games at its Empire Metropolis slots parlor at Yonkers raceway.
