Council Denies Mayor's $102M Casino Deal

Some say the council also voted in retribution to new Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's feelings on legislation that controls municipal councils in the state.

The deal was supposed to be signed by June 15, when the temporary operating agreements are supposed to end. According to Shannon McCarthy, a spokesman for Kilpatrick, the mayor is not going to try again. He's sticking to the deal he worked out, she says.

"He said he will not go back to the table," she tells GlobeSt.com. "These deals were negotiated in good faith, and they are the best deals for the city."

Kilpatrick was too busy attending the Detroit Regional Chamber's 22nd Annual Leadership Policy Conference at Mackinac Island to attend the council meeting. Under the deal he had worked out, the city would receive $102 million from the casinos over the next two years.

The casinos, including Greektown, MGM Grand and MotorCity, were originally supposed to move to a site along the Detroit River for a $2-billion project. However, the city could not acquire enough land for the project, and Kilpatrick worked out a deal that would let the casinos build their permanent buildings at their current sites.

The casinos also forgave a $150-million debt incurred by the city to assemble the property.

The three casinos are spread throughout Downtown, and none have suggested a move. The three will build hotel rooms at their current sites, and expand their gaming areas.

MGM Grand recently bid to buy the nearby State of Michigan Plaza Building for $12.5 million, where it may put a hotel on the nine-acre site.

Kilpatrick says because of the economy, Detroit now relies on the casinos to provide about one-third of all its revenues for the year.