See that weird-looking collection of high-rises above? Yeah, it’s not happening. Freedom Plaza, the something-for-everybody, New York City megaresort proposal of Soloviev Group and Mohegan Sun, got canned today. The relevant Community Advisory Committee voted it down, 4-2. Quality-of-life concerns were cited. Not even the transparent, last-minute offer to add a thousand more affordable-housing units to Freedom Plaza swayed votes. The CAC clearly saw it for the desperation (and stalling) tactic that it was. As usual, surrogates for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Mayor Eric Adams (I) flouted public sentiment, pimping for an unpopular development. They’d vote for anything spelled c-a-s-i-n-o. Will anyone remember at the next election?
The expedient Adams took time out from his heavy schedule of being a bagman for the Trump Organization to lobby New York’s CACs to forward all six (make that five) remaining casino bids to Albany. In Adams’ eyes, a crappy casino is better than none … and never mind that the committees were formed precisely to separate the wheat from the chaff. So far, the chaff includes Caesars Entertainment, Greenwood Gaming and now Mohegan Sun. (Wheat has yet to be located.) Given the fact that Genting Group and MGM Resorts International are now prohibitive frontrunners for a Gotham casino, it’s highly ironic that the Adams administration should highlight money laundering as one of its top concerns, were casinos to become reality in the Big Apple.
Hochul and Adams may sputter with dismay at democracy in action, but the CACs are where the rubber meets the road. The Gaming Facility Location Board‘s remit is limited to “economic activity and revenue impacts; local siting impacts; workforce enhancement; and diversity framework.” Nor do have three finalists have to be selected. Only as many as three. However, Adams continued to insist that the CACs should take a dive, dumping all the proposals on the New York State Gaming Commission for final disposition. That’s leadership for you. No wonder he’s losing the election.
Despite its official imprimatur, the city “report” on the remaining candidates is basically Big Gaming puffery dressed up with official verbiage. For instance, Bally’s Corp. is described as a “national casino builder,” which almost sent us into gales of laughter, were it not so sadly untrue. The Coney and Bally’s alike may be hurting their chances by lowballing the hotel-room commitment, at 500 keys apiece. Bally’s also lands at the bottom of all job-creation indices (direct construction, indirect, permanent employment), which could work against it. Then again, Freedom Plaza had the highest job-creation estimates and look what happened to it.
The fate of The Coney is now a formality, by the way. Four votes have been publicly committed against it, presaging a lopsided defeat for deadbeat landlord Thor Equities. That gives Bally’s a 50/50 chance of making it to Albany, along with the Hard Rock International-branded Metropolitan Park proposal. This just gets more and more interesting. It would be the shock of a lifetime if either Resorts World New York City or MGM Empire City got zapped by their respective CACs, but we’ll find out on Thursday. Steve Cohen and Soo Kim have to wait until Sept. 30 to learn their fates.
Our favorite part of the Adams Report has to come near the end, where the city calls for a “fulsome” disclosure process. Since the dictionary definition of fulsome is “Complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree,” we’d classify that as a Freudian slip.
A dump by any other name. That pile of crud in Atlantic City known as Trump Plaza is on the market once more. Arguably Carl Icahn‘s all-time-worst real estate investment, the old Trump Dump was a total dog from a business standpoint and had to be partially imploded, as it was literally falling apart in real time. It would be nice to see the remnants leveled and redeveloped, as it sits next to Boardwalk Hall. But that ship probably sailed during Icahn’s many years of inaction. With Class III gambling in New York City imminent, what demand is there for new development on the Boardwalk?
Ichan tried to sell this civic excrescence two years ago but found no takers for a “generational oceanfront redevelopment opportunity.” At the time, Uncle Carl had fallen on evil days and Icahn Enterprises had halved its shareholder dividend. No asking price for the rattletrap casino was given then—or now. It would probably be embarrassing for Uncle Carl to state it publicly. No wonder, as Casino.org informs us that the “structure in which the restaurants are housed is likely a teardown, as the building is severely rundown and presumably on the brink of being condemned.”
It was a terrible investment nine years ago and an even worse one now. Had the normally astute Icahn not been so enamored of the once and future POTUS’s brand name he might have seen that clearly. What a sad denouement to Icahn’s career.
For safety reasons, one hotel tower of the former Trump Plaza had to come down. The “government” of Atlantic City made comments that they wanted to take control of the site. “Uncle Carl” let the other hotel tower and the parking garage remain so it couldn’t be claimed by AC. As for the town, no major beach concert and no major airshow. If you want something other than casinos, go elsewhere.