Casino complex skirting Citi Field renderings

Article posted by Coliseum, October 16^th, 2024

Image: SHoP Architects and Field Operations

The Major League Baseball (MLB) team New York Mets Owner Steve Cohen has revealed fresh renderings of his proposed lavish new entertainment complex around the Mets home ground – the Citi Field in Queens, New York City, US.

‘NEW YORK POST’ stated that Cohen, the billionaire Hedge Fund Manager who purchased the Mets in 2020, has joined the Hard Rock Entertainment in trying to convert a Citi Field parking lot into a sprawling $8 billion gaming center, hotel and music venue dubbed the ‘Metropolitan Park’.

The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League East Division.

The 41,800-capacity Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (public park) in the borough of Queens, New York City, United States. Opened in 2009, Citi Field is the home of Major League Baseball’s (MLB’s) New York Mets.

Image: SHoP Architects and Field Operations

‘NEW YORK POST’ further stated that the proposed entertainment playground would offer 20 acres of green space, five acres of athletic fields and playgrounds and access to Flushing Bay (tidal embayment in New York City) and Flushing-Corona Park.

The plan also looks to improve mass transit, road networks and parking and projects 23,000 permanent and construction jobs in the coming years.

Cohen has not yet received approval from the key lawmakers – particularly the New York State Senator Jessica Ramos whose district includes Willets Point (neighborhood in New York) and the neighborhoods around it – to use the land as a casino entertainment complex. It is currently zoned as parkland.

He also needs the support of the Governor of New York Kathy Hochul to pass a law allowing commercial development there.

The casino plan requires approval from the State gaming regulators, too.

Image: SHoP Architects and Field Operations

Under the current law, the State officials can issue up to three new casino licenses in the downstate region, including New York City.

The gaming giants and real-estate honchos are creating stiff competition for Cohen as they are putting all their chips on the table to win one of the three coveted licenses.

The developers and the casino operators have joined forces with proposals to build a casino in Times Square (plaza in New York), Hudson Yards (a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City), Coney Island (beach in New York), and possibly Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, New York City, where the gaming operator Bally’s replaced the Trump Organization as operator of the golf course.

Providence (US)-based Bally’s Corporation is a global casino-entertainment company with a growing omni-channel presence. It currently owns and manages 15 casinos across 10 States, a golf course in New York, a horse racetrack in Colorado, and has access to online sports betting (OSB) licenses in 18 States.

New York (US)-based the Trump Organization is an American privately-owned conglomerate owned by Donald Trump. It serves as the holding company for all of Trump’s business ventures and investments with around 250 of its affiliates and subsidiaries using the Trump name.

Image: SHoP Architects and Field Operations

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