MA Casino Developments

This project might make me move out of Boston:

Now you want to do a traffic Study-- this development is going to make Boston worse than LA because of these FUCKTARDS corrupt assholes on Beacon Hill.

Talk about creating a major traffic nightmare ontop of an already complex situation.
 
This project might make me move out of Boston:

Now you want to do a traffic Study-- this development is going to make Boston worse than LA because of these FUCKTARDS corrupt assholes on Beacon Hill.

Talk about creating a major traffic nightmare ontop of an already complex situation.


LOL at thinking this casino is going to generate a significant increase in rush hour traffic. Guess what, thousands of people don't flock to a casino all at the same time at 5pm on a Tuesday. Arrivals and departures at a casino are staggered especially since there is no large entertainment venue included in this project a la the Mohegan Sun Arena.
 
Seriously relax...partners at assembly is going to be 1000% worse for traffic than the casino. I'm excited for the casino, too bad they couldn't get a 4am alcohol license...or better yet 24/7. I thought Marty wanted later closings in certain areas... Can't think of a better place than this.
 
Seriously relax...partners at assembly is going to be 1000% worse for traffic than the casino. I'm excited for the casino, too bad they couldn't get a 4am alcohol license...or better yet 24/7. I thought Marty wanted later closings in certain areas... Can't think of a better place than this.

Marty was the one that wrote and sent the legislation to the State House that would allow it.

Lots of opposition from silly people will probably kill it ( http://willbrownsberger.com/modernizing-the-business-licensing-processs/ ).

I say silly because may people in my 'hood read the legislation as implementing 24/7 bars in Allston; which it doesn't do at all. People seemingly love their nanny state that doesn't give the city any power.
 
Marty was the one that wrote and sent the legislation to the State House that would allow it.

Lots of opposition from silly people will probably kill it ( http://willbrownsberger.com/modernizing-the-business-licensing-processs/ ).

I say silly because may people in my 'hood read the legislation as implementing 24/7 bars in Allston; which it doesn't do at all. People seemingly love their nanny state that doesn't give the city any power.

Very interesting comments on that link...I'm personally all in favor of later closing times even though I'm barely out late. I don't see the big fuss. Seaport, downtown/Chinatown/faniuel, and lansdowne seem like very appropriate areas for later closing times...and Wynn obvy.
 
Seriously relax...partners at assembly is going to be 1000% worse for traffic than the casino.

This is so true. I live in the area and use the Broadway to Mystic Ave intersections multiple times per day. It is already bad and will be a nightmare soon enough. The traffic mitigation for the Assembly/Partners traffic heading to Sullivan was nothing more than a little paint on the underpass walls and poorly timed lights with too short queue lanes. It cannot handle current traffic levels let alone the 1,000 to 2,000 additional cars that will be head to and coming during rush hour from partners at full build. The Partners' master docs on somervillema.gov that discuss traffic for the intersection at Mystic Ave to Broadway merely used the traffic mitigations designed for IKEA which of course has a completely different traffic profile than a 9 to 5 employment center.

The thing is that they could easily fix this at a small costs. Sorry, my first post is slightly tangent to the topic of casino traffic, but it does tie into the problems of Sullivan.

1. Divert traffic heading to Sullivan from Assembly, south on Mystic Ave(which currently is a one way north, but wide enough to repurpose two lanes for south traffic) instead of going under the 93 underpass and onto Broadway then to Maffa Way. New traffic heading south on Mystic Ave could cut across the underutilized parking lot furthest north and merge with the I-93 off ramp traffic from the left instead of the right. I believe MassDot owns the parking lot and only about half would need to be turned into a road.

2. Divert traffic south on Broadway headed toward Sullivan under the 93 underpass at Mt Vernon, and onto the newly created south lanes on Mystic Ave headed towards Sullivan.

3. Make Broadway south of Mt Vernon a two way street and block the straight through connections to the Sullivan Square. This road becomes the primary entrance, exit of busses to Sullivan that serve the north and provide locals access to the side streets before Sullivan square. Busses and cars from the Sullivan won't need to try to cross Maffa Way to head north.

4. Eliminate the left turn from the I 93 South off ramp headed toward Assembly. There is already a two lane U turn on the exit that heads traffic toward Assembly and this signal creates an extremely short queue (3 cars) for traffic turning toward left from Broadway to Assembly. It provides little benefit and backs up traffic at Broadway.
 
Interesting link. When you click on the "restaurants" page its lists the following Wynn Everett restaurants: Andrea's, Red 8, Sinatra, SW Steakhouse and of course the Buffet. At first glance, I thought these might just be the Vegas restaurants on the Everett site as placeholders//examples of what might be in Everett but they appear to be the actual restaurants.

Will the resort have a big retail space? I know, judging from the retail thread here, that a lot of luxury/high-end retailers are interested in Boston, but haven't been able to find the right space yet...seems like Wynn could be a strong option here?
 
Interesting site with history of the Wynn site and with updates on the remediation work: http://mysticriver.org/river-restoration/

During the week of December 14th the following occurred:

Soil excavation continued in Area 1 (also reported as the A-5 Area) and was stockpiled on-site for future disposal. The southern portion of the excavation reached its final planned extent and was partially backfilled.

In Area 2 (also reported as the CES-2 Area) installation of the excavation support continued.

In Area 3, the Low pH Area, the in-situ solidification/stabilization (ISS) of impacted soils continued. 118 of 320 cells were completed by end-of-day on Saturday, December 19, 2015. The typical size of each cell is 15 feet by 10 feet by approximately 11 feet deep.

Finally, previously excavated concrete obstructions were hammered down to a manageable size and four trailer loads of concrete were transported off-site for disposal. The perimeter air-monitoring system was operational all week, and no alarm conditions attributable to the RAM work were recorded. No soil was transported off-site.
 
Feds OK Taunton Casino to move forward

Now if the Gaming Commission approves another casino license in Southeast Mass the Wampanoags won't pay the state any taxes. Sorry Brockton.

Probably but I saw an article (can't find it - probably Cape Cod Times) that talked with some anti-gaming people who indicated that they intended to sue over the recognition and they intended to wait until the last minute allowed under statute to do so. This is RE: the Carcieri ruling. So several years? While they probably will not be successful, I think the intent is to put enough uncertainty into the minds of the Gaming Commission that they put off additional action. EDIT: additionally they probably will want some sort of injunction that would prevent the tribe from moving until the suit is settled many years in the future.
 
Feds OK Taunton Casino to move forward

Now if the Gaming Commission approves another casino license in Southeast Mass the Wampanoags won't pay the state any taxes. Sorry Brockton.

I'm guessing from the article Steelman hasn't produced any new renderings yet? the one at the head of this article still shows the previous architects rendering that the tribe said did not have enough interior "wow effect". almost 30 million in design fees has got to be a killer...
 
Feds OK Taunton Casino to move forward

Now if the Gaming Commission approves another casino license in Southeast Mass the Wampanoags won't pay the state any taxes. Sorry Brockton.

Put a fork in Plainridge once this thing opens up. Why go to a slots parlor if you have a full blown casino nearby?

It's also going to be interesting to see what happens say 5 or 6 years from now once all 3 Mass casinos open. We already have 2 in CT and 1 in RI. Who's going to last?
 
Put a fork in Plainridge once this thing opens up. Why go to a slots parlor if you have a full blown casino nearby?

It's also going to be interesting to see what happens say 5 or 6 years from now once all 3 Mass casinos open. We already have 2 in CT and 1 in RI. Who's going to last?

The fork already seems to be pressing hard against Plainridge's skin based on how badly it's underperforming projections.

Taunton obviously is the tribe's own risk; not much state say in what happens there. But I don't even know why there's still a SE license in play. No private developer is going to be serious about building when saturation is already taking its toll. The market is speaking: Twin River is probably that region's natural demand level unless this Taunton dev has something knock-yer-socks-off cooked up.

The only function that remaining license serves is for paper gamesmanship between casino moguls...bait-and-switches, or taking it to sit on it as a blocking move until the stalling tactic has run its course and the license goes back into circulation. We're seeing it with the incredible shrinking Springfield casino now that Connecticut's gone one-upsman mad (though probably 80% of that scramble is all about blocking moves too). That one's at least too far along to pull back, but it's going to keep shrinking because MGM knew full well in advance what that license would provoke across the border in terms of blocking jockeying. They probably had folders privately done up from Day 1 of every subsequent facility downsizing to now...and the next two downsizing renders yet to come.
 
The market is speaking: Twin River is probably that region's natural demand level unless this Taunton dev has something knock-yer-socks-off cooked up

Nobody East of Franklin and Attleboro will be going to Twin River when a Taunton Casino opens and vice versa.

The location is designed to divide the market almost exactly along state lines. Pretty much the only Massachusetts customers of RI and CT casinos based on relative driving times might be the ones between Sturbridge, Worcester and Franklin. That gives Taunton a reasonably good sized market with SE Mass and some extra customers in the Summer with rainy day Cape Cod tourism.

Sure that won't happen on day one with the regulars, but over about five years people won't be driving extra to get to Rhode Island.

Market share wise the interesting thing will be where the dividing line is between Wynn Everett and Taunton. People tend to think of Boston as a dividing point based on the risk of getting stuck in traffic on 93. My guess would be that Quincy and Milton would be about where the market is split 50-50 between Taunton and Everett, especially depending on the day of the week and time of day. Friday nights will go to Taunton and Saturday and Sunday will go for Everett.
 
Nobody East of Franklin and Attleboro will be going to Twin River when a Taunton Casino opens and vice versa.

The location is designed to divide the market almost exactly along state lines. Pretty much the only Massachusetts customers of RI and CT casinos based on relative driving times might be the ones between Sturbridge, Worcester and Franklin. That gives Taunton a reasonably good sized market with SE Mass and some extra customers in the Summer with rainy day Cape Cod tourism.

Sure that won't happen on day one with the regulars, but over about five years people won't be driving extra to get to Rhode Island.

Market share wise the interesting thing will be where the dividing line is between Wynn Everett and Taunton. People tend to think of Boston as a dividing point based on the risk of getting stuck in traffic on 93. My guess would be that Quincy and Milton would be about where the market is split 50-50 between Taunton and Everett, especially depending on the day of the week and time of day. Friday nights will go to Taunton and Saturday and Sunday will go for Everett.

Once Pawtucket commuter rail station opens it's a transfer to RIPTA Route 73 at the station and 18 minutes door-to-door to Twin River. Frequencies on all the RIPTA routes at Pawtucket terminal are scheduled to increase a lot when the CR station links to it. All TR needs to do is public-private themselves a transit deal like Wynn is doing with after-hours Orange service to add some 73 evening frequencies. That opens the floodgates to Massachusetts patronage. It'll be quicker and easier to get to Twin River from Mansfield than it is driving two towns over on Route 106 to Plainridge. The GATRA bus out of Attleboro can't compete either, since that takes twice as long to get to Plainville and simply doesn't traverse enough density to fill any usefully increased off-peak frequencies.

Twin River already advertises heavily in the Boston TV market. Once the accessibility catches up to them with RIDOT transit improvements currently in-design, it's game over for Plainridge.


Taunton doesn't become more accessible unless you do something about the godawful capacity pinch on Route 24 between 495 and 140. It's hell on earth at commute hours and on summer weekends--the only such spot on a highway that's otherwise free-and-clear south to Fall River and north to Stoughton--and MassDOT has no funds or plans to fix it. And commuter rail is not coming down the street...not even a Taunton Phase I at this point. I think their regional reach is going to be very limited with that part of the state being a population cavity outside of Taunton-proper and Fall River/New Bedford. They'd have to bank hard on patronage from FR/NB because too many points east on the South Shore and Cape have transit access dropping them off a South Station-Wynn shuttle away from ritzier environs, and easier highway access when Cape traffic's in offseason. Travel time really isn't that different despite short crow-flies distance unless you've got the luxury of a straight shot up 24 or 140 from Fall River/Newport or New Bedford.

Twin River already has pretty firm mindshare west of the Taunton River in places like Somerset, Swansea, Rehoboth, Seekonk that are Providence suburbs by any other name.


It really depends on how well the tribe executes on the resort, because they're going to be roughing for that first decade with all the FUBAR'd transportation right on their doorstep that's not going to get fixed any time soon. I'd predict a slow grower...slower than expected. But if they know what they're doing it can be a success.

Plainridge? I give them less than dozen years before they're out-of-business. Shit location, and Twin River's going to slay them when they gain tenfold better transit access in 5-8 years.

I just don't see anywhere the state can hang that SE license. Taunton, if done right, satisfies the market demand. Brockton is D.O.A. You simply can't plop a casino next door to the high school. It's already cultivated opposition on steroids, and the case for it was weak enough to begin with. All of the machinations with that license just reek of blocking games to keep Taunton at bay. Now that that's shot and Plainridge looks like it has no plausible path to success, nobody who knows what they're doing is going to stick their necks out for that region.

The only question is how long it takes for the Gaming Commission to realize it's only going to fill two licenses, and get down to business instead of chasing weak-to-nonexistent prospects with #3. It wasn't meant to be.
 
I just don't see anywhere the state can hang that SE license. Taunton, if done right, satisfies the market demand. Brockton is D.O.A. You simply can't plop a casino next door to the high school. It's already cultivated opposition on steroids, and the case for it was weak enough to begin with. All of the machinations with that license just reek of blocking games to keep Taunton at bay. Now that that's shot and Plainridge looks like it has no plausible path to success, nobody who knows what they're doing is going to stick their necks out for that region.

The only question is how long it takes for the Gaming Commission to realize it's only going to fill two licenses, and get down to business instead of chasing weak-to-nonexistent prospects with #3. It wasn't meant to be.

On all of that I agree with you. It is just a question of time. I think it is going to be very very hard for the Gaming Commission to drag out the SE license process any further. Literally it wasn't meant to be... as in the law and subsequent agreement with the state specifically envisioned a SE license only if the tribal casino fell through. But I do wonder if they will just keep the option open as a fall back if the financing of Taunton falls through. Either way, regardless of whether they put the SE license on hold or nix it altogether, they can't risk actually awarding a SE license because that triggers the agreement not to collect revenue from the tribe.

As for Twin River. I think the Rhode Island projections are probably in the ballpark: "Rhode Island officials have estimated Twin River could lose between 30 and 35 percent of its revenue when three resort casinos and a slots parlor are up and running in the Bay State, a prospect that is not expected before late 2018 at the earliest."
 

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