NYC casino developers getting community pushback

On a chilly evening last week, a circle of New Yorkers wrapped in heavy jackets and winter hats stood outside the Coney Island YMCA, holding handmade signs, clapping their hands and wagging their fingers.

“No to the casino! No to the casino!” they chanted.

The group of about 25 demonstrators had gathered outside a community town hall called by Borough President Antonio Reynoso as Brooklynites weigh a proposal to put a casino by the borough’s southern waterfront.

The concept is in its early stages. But outside the evening community meeting, one of two Monday town halls that together drew an estimated 350 people, the gaggle of concerned Coney Islanders showed no appetite for gambling near their sandy, amusement-packed neighborhood.

“We need a casino like we need a hole in the head,” Ann Valdez, a community activist, said later, expressing concerns about the casino bringing crime, adding to traffic — “unless they can build a magic road” to Coney Island — and sucking up money from low-income residents.

The Coney Island proposal is one in a crowded stable of bids under development in New York City, ground zero in a state-run process that could deliver up to three downstate casino licenses.

Two casino licenses are expected to go to existing so-called racinos in Yonkers and Jamaica, Queens, leaving at least eight deep-pocketed developers vying to bring the last license to the five boroughs.

There are at least five plans in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, one in the Bronx and one in Queens. They span a range of styles and vary widely in their ambitions.

But developers hoping to cash in on the coveted license face a common, early hurdle: community pushback.

In crowded Manhattan, where competing interests collide block-by-block, the local community boards representing the districts of the five announced bids have all declared their opposition to casinos in their neighborhoods.

“It’s early in the process, and there are significant community objections already,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, describing public opinion on the idea of a casino in Manhattan as “overwhelmingly negative.”

But he cautioned that the plans remain in their infancy, and said his position is that it is “too early to rule anything out or anything in.”

The three outer-borough bids — at Coney Island, in the Bronx and near Citi Field in Queens — have so far met less explicit community board criticism. But the developers of those projects have moved more slowly to publicize their plans, and have still been hit by outbursts of local criticism.

Each bid is set to come before a six-member board with representatives for the mayor, the governor, the local state Assembly member and senator, the local City Council member and the local borough president.

A successful bid would have to gain support from at least four of the six members. Officials who have votes in the process said input from constituents and community boards would be pivotal.

“I’m elected by people,” explained Ari Kagan, the Coney Island councilman, adding that broad opposition voiced against the Coney Island bid has him “90%” out on the project.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents the Manhattan district where Related Companies and Wynn Resorts are developing a bid to put a casino at Hudson Yards, said he believes in the power of the community boards in the process.

“I want to hear from community members,” Hoylman-Sigal said, though he noted he is opposed in principle to the notion of a Manhattan casino. “It would be a dubious political distinction to be the elected official who brought casino gambling to Manhattan.”

Opponents say casinos drive local crime, bleed the wallets of addicted patrons and are ill-suited to congested neighborhoods. Proponents say they feed economic activity and provide a rush of jobs.

It remains uncertain whether a new casino complex will come to New York City at all: Las Vegas Sands, flush with cash, is working on a bid to build a resort and casino at the site of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Insiders see the Long Island bid as an early favorite.

But Mayor Adams has said he wants the third license to land somewhere within city limits, hailing a new casino as a potential economic engine. The possibility of a Big Apple casino, particularly one in the tourist-rich heart of Manhattan, has left developers salivating.

Caesars and SL Green Realty have drawn up designs for a casino at 1515 Broadway, the 54-floor Times Square tower that houses the Minskoff Theatre. Mohegan and the Soloviev Building Company are pushing to build a casino, park and museum at a long-vacant lot near the UN building.

Saks Fifth Avenue has pitched a small, high-end casino located on the three top floors of its ritzy Midtown department store at 611 Fifth Ave., hopeful that a trimmed-down scale and moneyed clientele will appeal to officials.

Developers have also confirmed the Hudson Yards bid and a plan from Vornado Realty Trust to put a casino at the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania near Madison Square Garden. But little is known about those plans.

Silverstein Properties is said to be working on a sixth Manhattan proposal, according to three officials. The firm declined to comment.

One of the most polished proposals so far is the Times Square plan. But basic details, like what floors would house the casino, remain elusive. SL Green, boasting of local labor support, has said its plan would boost Broadway ticket sales and potentially reduce congestion.

The Broadway League, a trade group, has argued that the casino would exacerbate congestion in one of the most crowded spots in the Western Hemisphere, panning the plan as a “reckless experiment and a losing bet in the long-term.”

Manhattan Community Board 5, which represents Times Square, issued a resolution in December opposing any casino in the district, citing crime, congestion and gambling addiction. The resolution passed by a 25-to 3-vote, with one abstention.

The community board’s turf also includes Saks Fifth Avenue and the site of the Hotel Pennsylvania, a century-old hotel that is undergoing demolition.

SL Green, which bills itself as New York’s largest commercial landlord, provided a statement for this story saying that it has assembled a coalition of Times Square casino supporters that includes “dozens of local businesses, unions, and advocacy groups.”

“We will also continue to address the concerns of community boards and elected leaders as we communicate the tremendous benefit of a gaming destination at 1515 Broadway,” said the statement.

Saks Fifth Avenue did not return requests for comment. Vornado, the Hotel Pennsylvania bidder, declined to comment.

Further west, Manhattan Community Board 4 announced its opposition to the budding casino bid at Hudson Yards. In a Monday letter to local officials, the board said a casino bid would “delay and complicate” plans to bring housing and greenspace to the area west of Penn Station.

Details about the bid for a casino next to the Javits Center are sparse. Related Companies and Wynn Resorts said in a statement that they were continuing with their plans, but pledged to “include detailed initiatives that will lift the local community, underserved populations.”

Assemblyman Tony Simone, whose district includes Hudson Yards, said in a text message that he opposes the idea of a casino in Manhattan and looks at the plan “skeptically.”

“Any casino in Manhattan is clearly going to be an uphill battle to win the local support they need,” Simone added.

Across town, an ambitious Manhattan casino plan aims to transform a tangled seven-acre lot between E. 38th St. and E. 41st St. into a leafy park, athletic fields and a museum dedicated to democracy. The plan would place the casino beneath a glassy hotel and a new housing tower.

On Wednesday, Manhattan Community Board 6 overwhelmingly passed a resolution in opposition to the Soloviev plan. The vote was 33 to 4, with one abstention.

The resolution cited concerns about “public safety, noise, sanitation” and congestion in a neighborhood already gripped by gridlock during the UN’s annual General Assembly.

Assemblyman Harvey Epstein, whose district includes the site, said the plot is a “terrible location” for a casino and that he is “skeptical at best.” But he added that he had not heard from the developer.

“The community really will drive this,” he said of the bidding process, “because it will change the character of the neighborhoods.”

Michael Hershman, chief executive of Soloviev Group, said he would continue to try to prove the value of the concept to the community, and described the board’s vote as premature. He said his group’s goal is to address the community’s housing and greenspace needs.

Northeast of Midtown, the Bally’s casino chain has pitched a plan to build a Bronx casino on a plot that is now part of the struggling Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point.

In a statement, Bally’s said it starts its work “with the proposition that the leaders in the community know what is best for their community.”

It is not yet clear if the communities around the golf course believe a casino is what is best for their section of the Bronx, which is located across the Whitestone Bridge from Queens.

Matt Cruz, the district manager for the local community board, said the nearby neighborhoods “aren’t keen” on the idea so far.

“There isn’t much of an appetite,” Cruz said. “There hasn’t been a positive response.”

Still, elected officials in the Bronx have expressed openness to Bally’s concept. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson has described dialogue around the casino project as an important conversation.

“It might not be so bad — I’m still looking at it,” said Assemblyman Michael Benedetto. He described himself as “very open” to the concept, but added that community leaders appear cautious.

Across the bridge, another casino bid is brewing slowly near Citi Field in Queens. The Mets owner, Steve Cohen, has worked to develop the area near the ballpark, a sea of concrete and asphalt where Corona meets Willets Point.

Cohen has recently hosted six listening sessions on possible future projects, according to a spokesman, including a potential casino bid for a 50-acre space near Citi Field.

Apparently cognizant of the central role community pushback will play in the bidding process, Cohen’s team has shied away from saying outright that a casino is in the works. But locals, insiders and officials expect a bid is forthcoming.

A week ago, opponents held a news conference at a library in Flushing, urging local officials to reject the casino pitch. Sarah Ahn, an organizer with the nonprofit Flushing Workers Center, said Friday that a casino would “prey” on the community.

Still, the local community board has not taken a public swing at the idea of a Citi Field casino. And the concept has already garnered support from the local borough president, a feather in Cohen’s cap that no other project can claim.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who described seeing Resorts World’s racino near JFK Airport create good-paying jobs, said the notion of a casino at Citi Field makes “a lot of sense” and praised Cohen’s community outreach as “intensive.”

“They’ve gone above and beyond, as they should,” Richards said. “I know Manhattan has been somewhat oppositional, but in Queens, you haven’t really heard any elected official say ‘no.’”

He said both the Resorts World location and the Citi Field site “can be home runs” for Queens as the city’s two first full-service casinos.

One member of Queens Community Board 7, John Park, said that he supports the casino, citing tax revenue, but added that the community seems split. Park’s wife, for example, opposes the idea of a casino.

In Brooklyn, members of the Coney Island community board have not taken a formal position either. But Lucy Mujica-Diaz, chairperson for Brooklyn Community Board 13, said she had heard significant concerns that a casino would bring poverty, crime and traffic.

The Brooklyn bid, from Thor Equities, Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and Legends, is not well developed. But planners released renderings a week ago that showed a futuristic building, dubbed The Coney, nestled in among the attractions off the Coney Island boardwalk.

Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, has not taken a formal position on the casino. He said he will be guided by community needs.

Robert Cornegy, a former councilman in central Brooklyn who is assisting with the project, said in a statement that community members are excited about the possibilities that a “casino and entertainment venue brings to Coney Island: good paying jobs and economic development.”

But Angela Kravtchenko, a Coney Island activist, said residential neighborhoods and casinos should not mix.

“We know what a casino brings: With a casino, we will have a spike in crime,” she predicted. “We want to live in a safe, inviting neighborhood.”