Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett

Everett mayor has seemingly embraced a lot more housing and has been doing great bus transit improvements that make the community more accessible. This is really what a lot of areas around the core need to do to address the region housing problem. I think they (correctly) see all this housing and transit accessibility improvements to Boston and within Everett as a way to really house a young and single workforce that will put minimal strain on city resources (I.e. more money flowing into town for a relatively minimal impact on school system). I really hope it becomes a model that Lynn, Chelsea, Quincy etc adopt as aggressively as Everett appears to be.
 
These are not all moves that can be completed by a single agent and also ignores several laws but:

-Expand the Home Depot at Assembly into the (still, how?) empty former Circuit City, and kill the one at Gateway.

-Build a single lane road + pedestrian/bike bridge north of the dam connecting Gateway to Assembly. Dedicate one lane of 28N and one lane of 16E to buses. Run a clockwise shuttle all day and all night. Assembly Square (T) > Station Landing > Wellington (T) > Gateway Center > Casino > loop. Make it free like the Logan Shuttles.

-Demo the Station Landing garage, turn it into housing.

-Build a Wellington SUPER-garage, consolidate as much parking as possible there.

-Keep Target, but incorporate everything else into ground-level retail in a new Gateway Center that's 4x as dense with less parking.

-Build on the Assembly surface lots.

-Build a ped/bike bridge across the Malden River between Wellington and Gateway (less important).

-Place Blue Bikes docks at each node.

-Call the whole thing Mystic Landing or whatever

The point of it is to create a single, continuous district boxed by 93/28/16/99 which encourages you to arrive by transit. Get off the Orange Line and walk, bike or bus to home, shopping, dining, casino, beautiful parks all along the Mystic banks. And if you have to drive, leave your car in one place instead of the dozen or so decentralized lots and structures around what could be one site. If there are backups getting into and out of that lot, well, all the more time to think about your life choices as a motorist.
 
Yeah. And one of the best-kept secrets of all time... discounted booze for EVERYONE. You don't need to be a member to get the deals on the liquor. They legally can't allow that. So walk in and buy the good stuff cheap, membership or no membership.
Also true for the pharmacy and eye glasses/contacts.
 
I can be as much as an pro-urban, anti-big box snob as anyone but I do have an honest soft spot for Costco. Plus they treat their employees well, which is awesome.
 
+1 for Costco, they seem to at least give a damn about the people who work for them.
 
These are not all moves that can be completed by a single agent and also ignores several laws but:

-Expand the Home Depot at Assembly into the (still, how?) empty former Circuit City, and kill the one at Gateway.

-Build a single lane road + pedestrian/bike bridge north of the dam connecting Gateway to Assembly. Dedicate one lane of 28N and one lane of 16E to buses. Run a clockwise shuttle all day and all night. Assembly Square (T) > Station Landing > Wellington (T) > Gateway Center > Casino > loop. Make it free like the Logan Shuttles.

-Demo the Station Landing garage, turn it into housing.

-Build a Wellington SUPER-garage, consolidate as much parking as possible there.

-Keep Target, but incorporate everything else into ground-level retail in a new Gateway Center that's 4x as dense with less parking.

-Build on the Assembly surface lots.

-Build a ped/bike bridge across the Malden River between Wellington and Gateway (less important).

-Place Blue Bikes docks at each node.

-Call the whole thing Mystic Landing or whatever

The point of it is to create a single, continuous district boxed by 93/28/16/99 which encourages you to arrive by transit. Get off the Orange Line and walk, bike or bus to home, shopping, dining, casino, beautiful parks all along the Mystic banks. And if you have to drive, leave your car in one place instead of the dozen or so decentralized lots and structures around what could be one site. If there are backups getting into and out of that lot, well, all the more time to think about your life choices as a motorist.


Assembly surface lots are being built on in the coming years. Also, the Xmbly Development is taking place by Circuit City.
 
Assembly surface lots are being built on in the coming years. Also, the Xmbly Development is taking place by Circuit City.

"Xmbly" is the old (since demolished) movie theater and surface lots around the original "5 Middlesex Ave" office building. Nothing is planned for the far side of Home Depot where the vacant Circuit City is.

This has been discussed before on this forum, but both the Somerville and Everett Home Depots do incredible business. One location couldn't handle their combined volume.

The Gateway Center certainly has room for improvement (have those lots ever been full?) but we can't just wave away big boxes like Home Depot and Costco; they play a valuable role in any community.
 
Almost there!

44118469202_bb396a276f_b.jpg
 
Driving by there not too long ago, I saw that Encore Casino. You lose where you are for a second and then you see the triple deckers and realize that you're in Everett.
 
You have to give props to the Everett Mayor for making this happen.

I'm still bothered by the overall infrastructure issues that this might pose for 93 North and South but that's not his problem.
 
Yeah. And one of the best-kept secrets of all time... discounted booze for EVERYONE. You don't need to be a member to get the deals on the liquor. They legally can't allow that. So walk in and buy the good stuff cheap, membership or no membership.

Do you know if that's just MA law or is it federal (i.e., is this true of all Costcos)?
 
Do you know if that's just MA law or is it federal (i.e., is this true of all Costcos)?

It's MA law. MA prohibits discounts/sales/specials on alcohol. It has to be priced as originally marked for a sustained period of time.

(So that's why Coogan's can have $1 Buds because they maintain the set price at $1, but other bars that normally sell Buds for like $5 can't have a $1 Bud special)
 
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It's a MA Blue Law. MA prohibits discounts/sales/specials on alcohol. It has to be priced as originally marked for a sustained period of time.

(So that's why Coogan's can have $1 Buds because they maintain the set price at $1, but other bars that normally sell Buds for like $5 can't have a $1 Bud special)


Any idea how long a "sustained period of time" actually is? Would a month qualify? 2 weeks? Can a bar legally sell $1 buds for several weeks and then revert back to $5 each?
 
Any idea how long a "sustained period of time" actually is? Would a month qualify? 2 weeks? Can a bar legally sell $1 buds for several weeks and then revert back to $5 each?

From here:
The “Happy Hour” regulation prohibits any licensee or employee or agent of a licensee from engaging in or permitting any of the following activities:
1. offering or delivering any free drinks to any person or group of persons;
2. delivering more than two drinks to one person at one time;
3. selling, offering to sell or delivering to any person or group of persons any drinks at a price less than the price regularly charged for such drinks during the same calendar week, except at private functions not open to the public;
4. selling, offering to sell or delivering to any person an unlimited number of drinks during any set period of time for a fixed price, except at private functions not open to the public;
5. selling, offering to sell or delivering drinks to any person or group of persons on any one day at prices less than those charged the general public on that day, except at private functions not open to the public;
6. selling, offering to sell or delivering malt beverages or mixed drinks by the pitcher except to two or more persons at any one time;
7. increasing the volume of alcoholic beverages contained in a drink without increasing proportionately the price regularly charged for such drink during the same calendar week and;
8. encouraging or permitting, on the licensed premises, any game or contest, which involves drinking or the awarding of drinks as, prizes.

Discounts are allowed on liquor in MA (plenty of liquor stores feature sales) but they have to start at the beginning of the week. Prices can't drop within a calendar week or within a day (hence, no "happy hours") but prices can increase.

There are tons of other MA blue laws relating to alcohol on top of the "Happy Hour Law" (e.g., no alcohol can be sold by any establishment at a "loss," no one company can operate more than a set number of liquor stores, etc.). The law that prevents Costco from checking membership at their liquor section is also separate from the "Happy Hour Law."

All of these laws have the effect of making alcohol more expensive in the state, and accordingly they are generally supported by established liquor license holders. Bars and restaurants don't want to offer happy hours (it cuts into their margins) so they generally support the ban and lobby against its repeal. Happy hours are a great example of a "prisoner's dilemma": bars and restaurants are all better off if they don't offer happy hours, but in a competitive world they do offer them just because they know that if they don't they'll be undercut by their competition. By banning happy hours bars don't need to worry about this competition, and they're all better off; it's the consumer who suffers.

There's some interesting stuff going on with "Total Wine," a national liquor chain who's coming into Massachusetts, challenging the incumbents, filing lawsuits, and shaking stuff up. For example, they won a decision regarding "minimum pricing," as the Commonwealth penalized them for selling liquor below their wholesale price. They claimed that quantity discounts they receive should factored into their wholesale price, lowering it and allowing them to sell liquor cheaper, and a judge agreed. As they continue to aggressively expand they're going to run into more legal hurdles, and I hope they keep plowing through and challenging the laws.

And also interestingly, despite all the laws put in place to make alcohol more expensive, Massachusetts actually has among the lowest alcohol excise taxes in the nation (the taxes the Commonwealth actually charges on liquor sold). Plenty of states where liquor is far cheaper and far more available charge way higher taxes on it. The difference is that our laws allow license holders to charge more, but only a very small cut actually goes to the Commonwealth. Other states take way bigger cuts for their treasuries, but don't enact policies to enable license holders to charge as high markups.
 
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You have to give props to the Everett Mayor for making this happen.

I'm still bothered by the overall infrastructure issues that this might pose for 93 North and South but that's not his problem.

Carlo DeMaria Jr. is a scumbag, sorry to break the news to you.
 
From here:


Discounts are allowed on liquor in MA (plenty of liquor stores feature sales) but they have to start at the beginning of the week. Prices can't drop within a calendar week or within a day (hence, no "happy hours") but prices can increase.

There are tons of other MA blue laws relating to alcohol on top of the "Happy Hour Law" (e.g., no alcohol can be sold by any establishment at a "loss," no one company can operate more than a set number of liquor stores, etc.). The law that prevents Costco from checking membership at their liquor section is also separate from the "Happy Hour Law."

All of these laws have the effect of making alcohol more expensive in the state, and accordingly they are generally supported by established liquor license holders. Bars and restaurants don't want to offer happy hours (it cuts into their margins) so they generally support the ban and lobby against its repeal. Happy hours are a great example of a "prisoner's dilemma": bars and restaurants are all better off if they don't offer happy hours, but in a competitive world they do offer them just because they know that if they don't they'll be undercut by their competition. By banning happy hours bars don't need to worry about this competition, and they're all better off; it's the consumer who suffers.

There's some interesting stuff going on with "Total Wine," a national liquor chain who's coming into Massachusetts, challenging the incumbents, filing lawsuits, and shaking stuff up. For example, they won a decision regarding "minimum pricing," as the Commonwealth penalized them for selling liquor below their wholesale price. They claimed that quantity discounts they receive should factored into their wholesale price, lowering it and allowing them to sell liquor cheaper, and a judge agreed. As they continue to aggressively expand they're going to run into more legal hurdles, and I hope they keep plowing through and challenging the laws.

And also interestingly, despite all the laws put in place to make alcohol more expensive, Massachusetts actually has among the lowest alcohol excise taxes in the nation (the taxes the Commonwealth actually charges on liquor sold). Plenty of states where liquor is far cheaper and far more available charge way higher taxes on it. The difference is that our laws allow license holders to charge more, but only a very small cut actually goes to the Commonwealth. Other states take way bigger cuts for their treasuries, but don't enact policies to enable license holders to charge as high markups.

Thanks for that nice breakdown.

So the Massachusetts casinos will not be able to comp drinks to those paying table games, or sitting at the video poker bar. I am curious if that might turn some people off and they continue to frequent Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun?
 
Carlo DeMaria Jr. is a scumbag, sorry to break the news to you.

And?
He didn't say he was great.
Just gave props for an instance that is believed to have produced a positive result.

Even scumbags do good every now and then.
 
According to Curbed Boston (and Focus Gaming News), Wynn's/Encore Boston Harbor is back on the market, and they are involved in "informal talks" with a potential buyer. Didn't they just commission some new custom boats for their water shuttle service? It seems odd that on the one hand, they seem to be keeping every aspect of the original plan going, (like building custom boats to Wynn Co. specs) and at the same time they are marketing the property. Maybe they are hedging their bets (no pun intended) in case the gaming commission will not grant them the casino license due to Wynn's problems, so they're lining up a potential buyer just in case?
 

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