Raising the stakes: $1.1B Catskills casino could have resi

Empire Resorts is mulling a potential residential component for its proposed $1.1 billion casino in the Catskills region.

Empire Resorts and EPR Properties last week were one of three teams selected by New York State’s Gaming Facility Location Board to build a Las Vegas-style casino upstate. The proposal for the Montreign Resort Casino in Thompson, N.Y. included 61 tables, 2,150 slot machines, a 391-room hotel, an indoor water park, a golf course, and a 200,000 square foot “entertainment village.”

Now, the developer is considering expanding its plans, including possibly adding residential, installing a shooting range, and updating its racetrack and racino in nearby Monticello, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“It’s not going to be: come here and play a slot machine,” Emanuel Pearlman, chair of Empire Resorts, told the newspaper. “There are going to be many reasons to come here … I’m pretty much open to anything,” he said.

Depending on the success of the Montreign and the Adelaar (the name for the non-casino amenities), Pearlman said they might develop land with retail or entertainment. EPR Properties owns 1,700 acres at the proposed site in Thompson. [WSJ] — Tess Hofmann