Related Ups Ante for Hudson Yards Casino with $10B Bid
Pitches 3M SF, 1,700-room hotel to serve conventions at Javits Center.
The competition is heating up for the biggest economic development prize in NYC this year: the three coveted casino licenses that will be awarded by the state in the metro area later this year.
A bevy of high-profile partnerships involving real estate titans pairing up with gaming giants is jockeying for the pole position—and one of them just pushed a $10B stack of chips into the middle of table in this poker game.
In September, Related Co. announced it was joining forces with Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts on a proposal to build a casino on the undeveloped western half of Hudson Yards.
The plan called for a new betting palace to be erected on a 10-acre platform that will be built over active rail lines, effectively connecting the 18M SF eastern half of Hudson Yards with the Hudson River waterfront. Related developed the eastern half, which opened in 2019, with Oxford Properties.
This week, Related CEO Jeff Blau tied the project to a revival of the Javit Center, NYC’s convention center, which is next door to Hudson Yards but always has struggled due to the lack of a convention hotel within walking distance.
In an interview with the New York Post, Blau revealed that the centerpiece of Related’s casino bid will be a 3M SF skyscraper that will become a 1,700-room Wynn-branded resort hotel. The hotel will serve as a convention hotel for Javits Center events as well as the home of a 250K SF gaming palace.
“It will be one of the most incredible tall buildings in New York City,” Blau told the newspaper.
Related’s CEO also revealed that the developer will be building a 2M SF office tower on an undeveloped 6.5-acre portion of Hudson Yards West between 11th and 12th avenues.
Nassau County’s bid to replace the Nassau Coliseum with a Sands casino cleared a key hurdle recently when county officials approved a proposed lease transfer for the site.
“While there are still hurdles to overcome, the overwhelming bipartisan approval of the lease transfer to the Sands puts Nassau County one step closer to opening up what will be one of the finest resorts, entertainment centers and casinos in the world,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told the NY Post on Sunday.
NY Mets owner and hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s bid to build a Hard Rock casino and entertainment complex on state land adjacent to Citi Field failed to win approval last month from the state legislature to authorize the conversion of part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park into the project.
A bill that would approve the change did not come to a vote in the final weeks of the legislative session after a state senator who represents the Willets Point neighborhood that includes Citi Field blocked the measure.