Trump Takes Ground-Lease Option on Slot Site

John Burke, EVP and treasurer of Trump, tells GlobeSt.com, "the financial aspects of this agreement are confidential." Mike O'Neill, founder and chairman of Conshohocken-based Preferred Real Estate Investments, which owns the Budd site, also declined to reveal terms of the ground-lease option.

The state's gaming control board will issue licenses by the end of 2006. A license allows for an initial 3,000 slot machines and the ability to apply for an additional 2,000. If Trump obtains a license it will explore "various development options, including developing a gaming and entertainment facility through a joint venture with a third party," according to a statement by the Atlantic City-based company. Burke says, "we've managed properties and developed them ourselves. Obviously we bring gaming expertise, but all options are open as to how we'd wish to proceed." The company currently operates three gaming properties in Atlantic City and a riverboat casino in Gary, IN.

The Budd site is one of 11 evaluated in an interim report by the city's Gaming Advisory Task Force, which preliminarily suggested the two slot parlors flank Center City. While nine of the 11 are along the Delaware River to the east, Budd is one of two, and the only remaining one, located west of the city. The other was the site of the former Adam's Mark hotel, which was acquired by Target. According to published reports, Pat Croce, former president and co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, attempted to buy that property for a slots parlor, but Target, which plans a store there, quashed any potential sale.

The entire Budd site is a designated Keystone Opportunity Zone. O'Neill tells GlobeSt.com the KOZ would probably not apply, and "we recommended they [Trump] waive it," he adds, "since raising tax dollars is the primary goal of gaming licenses. But, the facility, coupled with KOZs surrounding it, would attract companies that rely on traffic, such as a supermarket, which is something the community and we would like to see."

Representatives of Trump and Preferred have had discussions since early summer with residents and community groups in the East Falls neighborhood where the Budd site is located. "Any objections were not really related to a casino," O'Neill says. "Concerns over eminent domain and the possibility of losing homes to further development, if a casino was there, were raised," he says. "That's not going to happen. We have more than 70 acres yet to develop; we don't need any more."

Meanwhile, he says Preferred has offered to donate 11 acres to the Salvation Army for a $40-million community center. The organization has obtained a grant to build several centers, and their locations are not yet final.