In two weeks, possibly sooner, we will know where new casinos will rise in New York City. It seems one proposal just dodged a speedbump.
On Friday, a state Supreme Court judge temporarily barred the city from inking a new lease with Steve Cohen that would allow his development to be built on Citi Field’s parking lots. Such a deal would be necessary to pave the way for his $8 billion casino complex next to Citi Field, dubbed Metropolitan Park, if the state decides to award him a license.
The order specified that an agreement with the city and Steve Cohen couldn’t move forward until the city established that the deal would maintain the rights of the U.S. Tennis Association National Tennis Center under its lease with the city. More specifically, the USTA wanted to ensure that its rights would take precedent — through a “superiority clause” — over the new agreement.
The judge’s decision came after the USTA filed a lawsuit last week, alleging that the city “refused” to guarantee that the superiority clause would be included in the new agreement with Cohen and that it would respect the association’s lease rights. Those rights, according to the lawsuit, include ensuring that competing events (aside from baseball) are not held during the three weeks of the U.S. Open and that at least 2,920 parking spaces are available for the tennis tournament’s spectators at Citi Field.
But the city and Queens Future (the entity tied to Cohen and the rest of the casino team) reached a new agreement on Monday. A spokesperson for the casino team confirmed that the deal complied with Friday’s order because it included the superiority clause.
“After months of discussion, the city and Queens Future have reached an agreement with respect to the Metropolitan Park project that complies with a recent court order and reflects the U.S. Tennis Association’s rights,” a City Hall spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to the advancement of a world-class casino that would create thousands of union-paying jobs, billions of dollars in economic impact, and improvements to local communities.”
The casino, if ultimately approved, will take the place of 50 acres of underutilized parking lots next to Citi Field. The project will ultimately have more parking than the current facility, so that appears to be less of an issue with USTA than the “competing events” held during the U.S. Open. The casino complex is expected to include a 5,650-seat entertainment venue. A rep for Metropolitan Park indicated that the development team was still exploring options related to events held during the U.S. Open. So, this may be an ongoing issue.
On Monday, though, USTA seemed content with the city’s agreement.
“We are thankful that the court honored our request and that the city has complied by adding the required language to its lease with Queens Future, which now acknowledges protections during the three weeks of the US Open,” a spokesperson for USTA said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming the casino as our newest neighbor in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park.”
Members of the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board on Monday toured the three sites that are competing for state licenses. The board is expected to award up to three licenses before Dec. 1.
What we’re thinking about: Who will lead the city’s housing-related agencies under the Mamdani administration? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: New Rochelle just released two new tools for tracking storefronts and key metrics, such as the number of residential units downtown.
The LiveXYZ Storefront Map & Directory features an interactive map that shows what businesses occupy storefronts downtown, as well as which locations are vacant. The New Rochelle Downtown Vanguard Dashboard shows downtown’s population growth since 2016, the number of residential units built in that time and the number of businesses that have opened in the past few years.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Council member Chi Ossé on Monday created a campaign committee to challenge House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries next year, Politico New York reports. This is his first official step toward challenging Jeffries, though he maintained Monday that he is still “exploring” a run. “The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in. These failures are some of the many reasons why I am currently exploring a potential run for New York’s 8th Congressional District,” Ossé said in a statement Monday. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has tried to dissuade Ossé from primarying Jeffries.
— Gov. Kathy Hochul hopes that business leaders can convince President Donald Trump not to deploy National Guard troops in New York, Gothamist reports. “I’ve had conversations with a lot of business leaders saying, ‘When the time comes, make sure that you also convey your concerns about what this would do to destabilize New York City and the outsize impact that this would have across America,’” Hochul told reporters on Monday. “It would have an effect that other cities do not have because we are the financial center. And you cannot disturb that without consequences.”
Closing Time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Monday was $44.9 million for a condominium unit at 50 West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. Developer Extell sold the 7,000-square-foot condo, and the listing agent was Douglas Elliman’s Janice Chang.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $8 million for 9-20 Main Avenue. The Astoria corner deli has four units and is 10,700 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $22 million for a penthouse unit at 255 East 77th Street. The Upper East Side condo is 5,200 square feet. Compass’ Alexa Lambert, Alison Black and Shelton Smith have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 230,914-square-foot, 25-story residential building with 58 dwelling units at 37 West 66th Street in Lincoln Square. Jennifer Cheuk of Stephen B. Jacobs Group is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann