Caesars Palace Times Square Hearing Attracts Large Crowd
The Caesars Palace Times Square casino bid has drawn hundreds of attendees and speakers to its first formal community hearing at Scandinavia House's Borge Hall.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:Backed by a consortium of Caesars Entertainment, SL Green, and Roc Nation, the proposal is among eight bids competing for one of the three available casino licenses in downstate New York.
Caesars Palace Times Square aims to convert an existing building at 1515 Broadway into a $5.4 billion casino resort, and many people were on ground last Wednesday during the bid’s public hearing by a local Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to support or oppose the proposal.
The Times Square casino development was the second bid to undergo public scrutiny after MGM Empire City’s hearing on Monday. It is also the second CAC hearing for the project; it still needs to undergo one more hearing before being considered for a license. The project needs approval from at least four of the six CAC members to move forward and potentially secure one of the three authorizations.
The Wednesday engagement lasted for seven hours. The companies behind the project jointly presented a condensed version of the presentation they gave last month. Caesars CEO Tom Reeg, who missed the previous presentation, made an appearance and emphasized the project's potential to attract international tourists, a key benefit amid recent visitation declines in Las Vegas, the company's primary market.
He elaborated on the company's plan to expand its Caesars Rewards program to local businesses. The program would operate on a "hub-and-spoke" model, connecting various properties, particularly significant since Caesars currently lacks a presence in New York, with its nearest property in Atlantic City.
SL Green was represented by its CEO, Marc Holliday, who highlighted the proposal's main advantages, including the casino's ground-level inaccessibility, low-impact construction, and capacity constraints that would drive visitors to nearby businesses.
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Mixed Reactions from Community
The project received support from trade unions, particularly the Construction & General Building Laborers' Local 79 branch, whose representatives spoke in favor of the project, highlighting its potential benefits for workers and the local economy.
Additionally, two local celebrities, Fat Joe and Lenard McKelvey, AKA Charlamagne The God, with ties to Roc Nation and Jay-Z, a key figure in the project, lent their endorsements.
I’m so excited about this project because New York City is the epicentre of entertainment. Wherever I go around the world – I’m going to Mongolia next week-I’m sure I’m going to see New York City on the TV screen.
In contrast, the theatre community, including actors’ unions and theatre groups, strongly opposed the bid, citing worries about its potential impact on the city’s local arts scene.
Last year, Broadway added $15 billion to the New York City economy. Do you want to be responsible for messing that up?
Several residents were also concerned about the societal consequences of the project, including increased congestion and reduced quality of life for nearby residents.
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