{"id":894950,"date":"2025-09-22T12:16:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T19:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/?p=894950"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:17:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T19:17:04","slug":"freedom-plaza-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/freedom-plaza-fails\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom Plaza Fails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

See that weird-looking collection of high-rises above? Yeah, it’s not happening. Freedom Plaza<\/strong>, the something-for-everybody, New York City<\/strong> megaresort proposal of Soloviev Group<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun<\/strong>, got canned today. The relevant Community Advisory Committee<\/strong> voted it down, 4-2<\/a>. Quality-of-life concerns were cite<\/a>d. Not even the transparent, last-minute offer<\/a> to add a thousand more affordable-housing units<\/a> 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 <\/strong>(D) and Mayor Eric Adams<\/strong> (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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The expedient Adams took time out from his heavy schedule of being a bagman for the Trump Organization<\/strong> to lobby New York’s CACs to forward all six<\/a> (make that five) remaining casino bids to Albany<\/strong>. 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<\/strong>, Greenwood Gaming<\/strong> and now Mohegan Sun. (Wheat has yet to be located.) Given the fact that Genting Group<\/strong> and MGM Resorts International<\/strong> are now prohibitive frontrunners for a Gotham casino, it’s highly ironic that the Adams administration should highlight money laundering<\/a> as one of its top concerns, were casinos to become reality in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n\n\n

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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<\/strong>‘s remit is limited to “economic activity and revenue impacts; local siting impacts; workforce enhancement; and diversity framework<\/em>.” Nor do have three finalists have to be selected. Only as many<\/em> as three. However, Adams continued to insist that the CACs should take a dive<\/a>, dumping all the proposals on the New York State Gaming Commission<\/strong> for final disposition. That’s leadership for you. No wonder he’s losing the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/strong> is described as a “national casino builder,<\/em>” which almost sent us into gales of laughter, were it not so sadly untrue. The Coney<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The fate of The Coney is now a formality, by the way. Four votes have been publicly committed<\/a> against it, presaging a lopsided defeat for deadbeat landlord Thor Equities<\/strong>. That gives Bally’s a 50\/50 chance of making it to Albany, along with the Hard Rock International<\/strong>-branded Metropolitan Park<\/strong> proposal. This just gets more and more interesting. It would be the shock of a lifetime if either Resorts World New York City<\/strong> or MGM Empire City <\/strong>got zapped by their respective CACs, but we’ll find out on Thursday. Steve Cohen<\/strong> and Soo Kim<\/strong> have to wait until Sept. 30<\/a> to learn their fates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our favorite part of the Adams Report<\/strong> 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,<\/em>” we’d classify that as a Freudian slip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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