It’s a high-stakes Friday on the West Side. By 4pm today, June 27, developers hoping to win one of three downstate New York casino licenses must submit their final applications to the State Gaming Commission.
Each bid, running up to 10,000 pages, marks the culmination of years of lobbying, deal-making and community courting. The developers behind the two West Side bids — Silverstein Properties’ Avenir and SL Green’s Caesars Palace Times Square — shared the executive summaries of those voluminous submissions with W42ST, offering a window into their final play for one of New York’s most sought-after development prizes.
Each bidder will be required to submit a nonrefundable $1 million application fee to the New York State Gaming Commission. Eight known contenders are expected to file by today’s deadline, down from 11 earlier this year. Some high-profile proposals have already folded, including Related and Wynn Resorts’ Hudson Yards West, which faced fierce local opposition; Sands New York, which eyed a site in Nassau County; and Saks Fifth Avenue’s Midtown pitch. Remaining applicants include Steve Cohen and Hard Rock’s ambitious Metropolitan Park next to Citi Field; Bally’s Bronx project at Ferry Point; Thor Equities’ proposal for Coney Island; the Soloviev Group’s Freedom Plaza near the UN; and the two racetrack casinos — Empire City in Yonkers and Resorts World NYC in Queens — which seek to expand their existing operations into full-scale gaming resorts…