Queens casino owner to add hotel complex as part of $400M expansion 

The head of a Queens casino is seeking to build a $400 million expansion to the facility that would include a new hotel and convention complex.

Ryan Eller, president of the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, plans to add 750,000 square feet to the complex, which would include a 400-key hotel, a 20,000-square-foot spa and resort and 140,000 square feet of convention space, the Wall Street Journal reported. Plans also call for 1,000 new video-lottery terminals in addition to the existing 5,500 gambling machines. The terminals were initially intended for a gambling parlor in Nassau County, but that plan ultimately failed.

Eller presented the plans to the New York State Franchise Oversight Board last week, outlining an expansion on the west side of the casino. A portion of the revenue from the new machines would still go to Nassau County, the state education fund and horse racing funds, the newspaper reported.

In 2014, a joint venture behind the New York City Football Club was reportedly considering building a stadium at a site adjacent to the racetrack. A year later, the New York Times reported that the club was looking at a Northern Manhattan site owned by Columbia University. [WSJ] — Kathryn Brenzel