New player in NYC; Big splash in Atlantic City

Look out Manhattan casino aspirants: There is a new player in the game. It’s Larry Silverstein, the real estate mogul behind the redevelopment of the World Trade Center area post-9/11. He’s proposing Avenir, a mega-budget project that would erect two 46-story towers above the casino podium, which itself would entail 600,000 square feet of gaming and related amenities. High in the sky, a 1,000 concert hall would be on the 45th floor of one of the towers, which will be connected to the other via a lofty skybridge. Silverstein has a strategic location—just north of the convention-centric Javits Center and four blocks west of Times Square. What’s more, Silverstein owns the land outright, which clears a few hurdles. Avenir could be a category-killer and there’s more …

… because the power behind the Silverstein throne in this case is his chosen partner, Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, owners of the ultra-dominant Parx Casino near Philadelphia. They know how to build a better casino mousetrap, so Silverstein’s rivals had best take this newest development (pun intended) seriously. Other than 1,000 affordable-housing units (evidently a sine qua non of any serious New York City casino development), we’ve pretty much given you all the available details of Avenir. But it shakes up our forecast of the Manhattan casino sweepstakes and makes one wonder if rivals like Caesars Entertainment are going to have to put more cash on the barrelhead.

Made plans for next weekend? How about a trip to Atlantic City? One could be a guest at the unveiling of Bart Blatstein‘s new, Showboat-located water park. It won’t be cheap: Tickets start at $69 a head and top out at $119. Reports our Boardwalk bureau, “Billed as the world’s largest waterpark near a beachfront, there are several admission prices depending on whether you’re going by day, evening or with VIP access. The waterpark also has a 1,000-square-foot surf simulator, pools, party rooms, lounge areas, and more than a dozen waterslides. Guess can come and go as they please up until 4 p.m.”

Oh, and there’s retail. The $69 tickets cover “twilight admission” (4 p.m.) while $119 gets you “All-Access VIP Admission” compete with dedicated check-in plus “Adult Island.” Hmmmm. We’re visualizing Kate Beckinsale in a bikini. Your mileage may vary. There’s also a swim-up bar, the only one on the Boardwalk, for VIP customers. Atlantic City isn’t well-supplied with non-casino entertainment and we welcome what Blatstein is doing for it. He was dealt a not-so-good hand when he inherited the Showboat but he hasn’t complained and has applied himself energetically to turning the place around, to which we say “Bravo.”

Our apologies for making S&G so brief today. Not only are we vacationing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the remainder of the week, we were also laid low by a very nasty viral infection from which we’ve not fully recovered. So this may not be 100% of the usual S&G but it’s 100% of what we’ve got.