With a manager for the New York Mets in place for next season, team owner Steve Cohen turned his attention to his casino proposal Tuesday.
Cohen detailed his plan to put a casino-centered development in Queens next to Citi Field in Flushing, Crain’s reported. Perhaps to downplay its gambling component, he called the project a park.
Many elements of the project had already been in the media, but the big revelations Tuesday were a name and a price tag. Metropolitan Park would cost $8 billion and be spread over 50 acres of parking lots surrounding Citi Field, home to the Mets.
Hard Rock International is partnering with Cohen on the project, which will use SHoP Architects and Field Operations on the design. SHoP also did Barclays Center, among numerous other venues.
“It’s time the world’s greatest city got the sports and entertainment park it deserves,” Cohen said in a statement.
Besides the casino, Cohen’s plan includes a hotel, music venue, food hall and 20 acres of public park, including a connection between Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the Flushing Bay waterfront. The project would be sited almost directly next to a planned Willets Point affordable housing development and 25,000-seat stadium for the New York City Football Club.
While that project started its lengthy public review process last month, Cohen’s casino has many barriers to overcome. Notably, the parking lots Cohen wants to develop is technically parkland, state legislature approval is needed. The local state senator, who by custom must approve parkland alienation, has been reluctant to do that.
Also, because some of the land is city-owned, a home rule message from the City Council is needed. That would hinge on the local Council member, Francisco Moya.
Cohen’s site is only six miles from the Aqueduct Race Track, a so-called “racino” that has the inside track to get one of the three downstate gaming licenses up for grabs in New York. The Hochul administration might not want two casinos so close to each other.
But creating an economic generator in an outer borough — and keeping casinos away from Manhattan, where community and political resistance to gambling is stronger — could work in Cohen’s favor. He claimed that 89 percent of residents approached by his development team about the project signed a petition in support.
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Cohen learned with the Mets this year that pushing every chip into the pot doesn’t guarantee success. The competition for gaming licenses comes from a who’s who of New York real estate. Other proposals outside of Manhattan include Las Vegas Sands’ Nassau County pitch and Thor Equities’ Coney Island concept.
It’s unclear when the state will award the downstate gaming licenses, but next year is a strong possibility.
— Holden Walter-Warner