Flushing is on track to get its casino.
Monday marked a monumental step towards Steve Cohen’s dream to build a metropolis around Citi Field. The Gaming Facility Location Board met at the CUNY Graduate Center in Midtown on Monday and recommended that Metropolitan Park receive a gaming license.
The decision allows for Cohen and the Hard Rock group to apply to the Gaming Commission of New York for the official gaming license. As of now, they are just recommended by the Location Board, which allows them to apply for the license.
The board first met in front of the media to discuss the criteria that all three casino applicants had to meet to receive a recommendation. It was split into four categories: Economic Activity & Business Development, Local Impact Siting, Workforce Enhancement, and Diversity Framework.
Economic Activity & Business Development was the heaviest weighted criterion, coming in at a 70% factor rate. This category included the capital investment the group was making, a goal of maximizing state and local revenues, providing the highest number of quality jobs, a gaming facility of the highest caliber quality with a variety of amenities, the highest and best value to patrons to create a secure and robust gaming market, benefits of the site location with a good recapture rate, construction schedule and budget, an ability to finance the project, and experience.
“Hard Rock Metropolitan Park is a $5.3 billion integrated casino resort and entertainment district in Queens adjacent to Citi Field, with a projected June 2030 opening,” Cindy Estrada stated while discussing Metropolitan Park.
“Its commitment to local hiring and small business procurement, workforce diversity, and targeted hiring of unemployed and underemployed residents were important considerations. The board also weighed its proposed community benefit of $761 million, which included investment in transportation and pedestrian safety improvement, extensive open space amenities and social service contribution, and community impact funding.”
She highlighted the project’s expanse, which includes a casino, concert venue, more than 15 bars and restaurants, public green space, and retail, as the contributing factors to the economic impact.
Metropolitan Park. Photo Credit: NYC/FDC
The other three categories were all weighed equally at a 10% factor rate. Those factors included diversity of workers, tourism, and entertainment values, while also demonstrating workforce development, organization of labor agreements, a strong workforce, and preventative measures for those with gambling addictions.
The next step for Metropolitan Park will be securing the gaming license from the commission, something that chair member Vicki L. Been stated wasn’t assured despite the recommendation.
“The Gaming Commission has a wide, wide-ranging set of criteria that they use, character and fitness, ability to deliver (on community promises), it is not a rubber stamp,” Been said. “I can tell you, having spent many, many hours with the Gaming Commission team, they are an incredibly hard-working, thorough, exacting, and tough group to get through. And they ask the right questions and evaluate information in an incredibly perceptive way.”
Been was then asked whether or not the odds were strong for Metropolitan Park and the other casino applicants.
“I am not a betting person,” Been quipped.
The character and fitness test will be the final roadblock for Cohen and his dreams of a utopia that surrounds Citi Field. Of course, with Cohen, this test is a massive question, due to his firm, SAC Capital Advisors, pleading guilty to wire fraud and securities fraud in 2013. However, that decision solely falls on the Gaming Commission and was not considered by the Location Board.
If approved, one question moving forward would be the traffic heading into Citi Field. Queens is already home to many venues, such as Arthur Ashe Stadium, Forest Hills Stadium, LaGuardia Airport, and, soon, NYCFC’s stadium in Willets Point in 2027. It potentially could make a long drive to the stadium from Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut even longer, but the Location Board believes it won’t be an issue. (The proposal also includes a fully revamped MTA station.)
“The environmental impact statement did look very hard at that issue as did we,” Been answered. “We visited the site and asked all kinds of questions about the proposed mitigation efforts that Metropolitan Park would make. The proposed mitigation seemed very promising, seemed like it would address the conflict between cars, pedestrians, bikers, etc.”
In a perfect world, the Mets are set up for one of the most entertaining and stunning environments surrounding their ballpark. The city of New York is also set up, as the casino is expected to pull in massive gaming tax revenue. Cohen and the Hard Rock group will have to pay an initial $500 million licensing fee that will be invested in transportation, then the Location Board expects future taxes to be invested in the city’s educational fund. Two other locations were recommended, too, in the Bronx and another in Queens.
“Each proposal presents a strong competitive positioning based on brand strength, amenities, and facility designs,” chair member Greg Reimers stated. “Using conservative assumptions, the board’s consultants projected incremental game tax revenue of nearly $1 billion in 2036, totalling approximately $7 billion from 2027-2036, plus $1.5 billion in licensing fees.”
