MA Casino Developments

Vornado Realty Trust to pull out of Suffolk Downs

Thursday, March 28, 2013 By:Ira Kantor
Vornado Realty Trust will divest its 19 percent interest in Suffolk Downs after refusing to submit to background checks required of all casino license applicants, officials said today.

The state gambling commission approved putting Vornado’s interest in Suffolk Downs into a blind trust until the divestiture was complete so the license bid could move forward, according to a memo from Catherine Blue, the commission’s general counsel.

The memo indicates that out of 14 individuals associated with Vornado, only two filed the required disclosure forms, with another being allowed to withdraw as a qualifier.

In a statement, Suffolk Downs Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle said: “Vornado has decided to focus on its core real estate development practice and has decided to divest its 19 percent interest in Suffolk Downs that it acquired in 2005. The partnership has worked with the Gaming Commission to update our list of qualifiers and work towards the opportunity to earn a gaming license in Massachusetts. We are confident in our ability to design, finance, develop and operate a world-class Caesars Resort at Suffolk Downs that will be an economic engine for the creation of jobs and tourism in our Commonwealth.”

“This change to our list of qualifiers will have no impact on our application for a gaming license,” Tuttle added.

Vornado has long been an archnemesis of outgoing Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, after the former halted construction in 2008 on a $750 million mixed-use high-rise at the former Filene’s site in Downtown Crossing. At the time, the firm bid to become an owner of the Hub’s John Hancock Tower.

Menino went so far as to have a top official call New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office to convey his dissatisfaction with Vornado after the firm said it was moving forward with plans to build a Manhattan skyscraper just 34 feet shy of the Empire State Building’s height.

A Vornado spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
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http://bostonherald.com/business/bu...ado_realty_trust_to_pull_out_of_suffolk_downs

Something is going wrong
 
wynn-philadelphia-1.752.564.s.jpg
 
datadyne007 said:
Hah! Recycling building designs! Thanks Justin.
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My gut tells me Wynn is not serious about Boston, but is basically here to gum up the works for Suffolk, and by extension Ceasars. This reminds me of something he did in Hartford during the mid 1990s. Foxwoods success had been bigger than anybody in the industry and state of Connecticut had anticipated.

Seeing a burgeoning market and a potential serious competitor, Wynn showed up in Hartford promising to build a dazzling downtown hotel/resort/casino. The proposal never came to pass (thankfully), but he did manage to drum up publicity for his then newly-minted Mirage resort in Vegas.

Incidentially, Wynn's foray into Connectcut directly resulted in the deal between the Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and the state of Connecticut whereby 25 percent of their slot handle goes to the state treasury. If any other casino operator is allowed to enter Connecticut, that agreement goes away.

I have a feeling once the rubber hits the road and its time to get serious about the applicatoin to the state gaming board, Wynn will pull up stakes. But not before a bruising PR battle with Suffolk/Ceasars.
 
But wasn't the deposit like $400K? Seems like an awful lot of money to spend to screw around with Caesars.
 
I think Wynn is serious. Vegas is hurting and it's not like the golden days. Wynn has diversified pretty well with Macau but it's pretty essential for all of the big Casino corps to expand to the big regional markets in the US. That's why you're seeing Caesars, Wynn, MGM (w/ Foxwoods) starting to seriously enter the regional market.
 
Here's something that I don't get: How come people aren't sure of Steve Wynn's seriousness, but continue to take the horsetrack's plan seriously?

Only in a place like Boston would a bankrupt old horsetrack be considered the "serious proposal", and the world's most successful gambling empire would be considered "fluff".
 
Mike02125 said:
Here's something that I don't get: How come people aren't sure of Steve Wynn's seriousness, but continue to take the horsetrack's plan seriously?

Only in a place like Boston would a bankrupt old horsetrack be considered the "serious proposal", and the world's most successful gambling empire would be considered "fluff".
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Especially when their 19% stakeholding developer just jumped ship because some of their partners refused a background check...
 
I think once Voranado realized that Wynn was for real, they decided to cut their losses and get out of the horsetrack. The timing appears to be directly related.
 
WYNN has no shot building his casino on that location. He will come up with so much opposition from Somerville, Charlestown and the land also contaminated, the traffic infrastructure nightmare. Don't forget the land is just not all Everett is also part of Boston.

I think WYNN is playing this to get in with Suffolk Downs Casino at this point.

Vornado is starting to realize that the Casino Czars and the entire state process is a mess.
 
Since we are diving into theories on Wynn... I am guessing that he is making like "Storage Wars" and bidding up his opponent to stick him with a bad deal at high cost. Caesars is financially shaky so Wynn can make a small commitment ($400K is noting to Wynn - he has spent more on a bathroom fixture) to get Caesars/Suffolk to over commit to Boston to the great detriment of their company. Wynn can pull out at the last minute and leave Caesars holding the billion dollar bag. He can then proceed to crush them in other markets or even drive them to bankruptcy while they struggle with their oversize binding commitment to the Mass. Gaming Commission in the meaningless Massachusetts market.
 
I guess talking politics on an architecture fan page is kind of silly, so I'm kicking myself for even getting into this, but after being at the press conference this week and then going to check out the site... these comments all couldn't be more off-base.

Why is a contaminated/filthy site with bad infrastructure a bad thing? That just means we'll get a cleaned-up site with all-new infrastructure... isn't that considered a good, or even a great thing?

As for architecture, re-opening the Mystic River and activating that waterfront would be the biggest benefit of all these proposals to people like me who don't like and don't care about gambling.
 
To further Mike's point: there aren't a whole lot of 40+ acre sites that close to Boston that aren't contaminated. The contamination issues is not that big a deal.
Both sites have infrastructure headaches.
 
The train tracks that run from sullivan, I wonder if there is an opportunity for an infill commuter rail stop.

I actually think infrastructure wise, for the mystic river its a win. But potentially the mitigation deal for Boston could do something for Sullivan Sq. When we talk about an area that could get built up to support more middle income housing, Sullivan sq is a great example. If the rotary was cleaned up and some of the old buildings, plus with Assembly sq. on the other side and Union sq. up and coming, and Northpoint growing too, so major residential towers and a multi-modal transit station-like it was in its heyday- would be a great end game if this project accelerated something here.

(note: don't care about gambling or this proposals vs. suffolk- purely urbanist thinking)
 
Mike02125 said:
I think once Voranado realized that Wynn was for real, they decided to cut their losses and get out of the horsetrack. The timing appears to be directly related.
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This. They're not down for taking the heat in the kitchen, and they're pulling out now. The mayor was ready to ram the shit out of the Eastie casino, but he's on his way out. The next guy might not be willing nor able to force the Eastie casino through. Everett has virtually no opposition, as compared to every other proposal everywhere.
 
choo said:
The train tracks that run from sullivan, I wonder if there is an opportunity for an infill commuter rail stop.

I actually think infrastructure wise, for the mystic river its a win. But potentially the mitigation deal for Boston could do something for Sullivan Sq. When we talk about an area that could get built up to support more middle income housing, Sullivan sq is a great example. If the rotary was cleaned up and some of the old buildings, plus with Assembly sq. on the other side and Union sq. up and coming, and Northpoint growing too, so major residential towers and a multi-modal transit station-like it was in its heyday- would be a great end game if this project accelerated something here.

(note: don't care about gambling or this proposals vs. suffolk- purely urbanist thinking)
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Even better would be to have this project jump-start LRV urban ring with a GL route from the airport to the Grand Junction with a stop right where the casino entryway would be.
 
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