MA Casino Developments

I'm unsure of the waterfont aspects of this proposal will pan out as planned. I don't see the Mystic as being a waterway people want to use recreationally.
 
I suspect Wynn is aiming for a slightly higher class of people than those who frequent the "yacht clubs" of the Mystic.
 
I don't think there's anything inherent about the Mystic that makes people not want to use it recreationally. It just hasn't been tapped to its potential.
 
The only problems with the Mystic are the decrepit looking shorelines, which will be cleaned up, cut into straight lines, dredged around, and have a nice seawall walkway put up. The pilings, abandoned barges, etc will be removed, and you instantly have a decent place. There's no oil slicks or anything as you have with the Chelsea Creek.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
The only problems with the Mystic are the decrepit looking shorelines, which will be cleaned up, cut into straight lines, dredged around, and have a nice seawall walkway put up. The pilings, abandoned barges, etc will be removed, and you instantly have a decent place. There's no oil slicks or anything as you have with the Chelsea Creek.
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I've never been "on" the Mystic--just driven over and around it. The general area seems pretty decrepit and blighted. I think making the Mystic "recreational" may go beyond the water itself--what are you looking at as you cruise by? Again, maybe the view is different when you're on the water, but it just doesn't seem like it could ever be a pleasant experience.
 
Even as recently as maybe 10 years ago, the Malden River was seen as a filthy industrial canal doomed to have no future. Now, with a dump capped over, drains and CSO's capped, and the shoreline restored, it's turning into a recreational gem quite rapidly.

Other than capping off upstream CSO's and cleaning up shorelines and industries in Everett and Charlestown, I can't see what could possibly be dirtying up the Mystic more than the Charles. I have to wonder though, does the dam provide quality issues? Like the Charles, pollutants get bottled up behind the dam and the river never properly flushes out with the tides. I think there should probably be major tidal flushings regularly.
 
The Mystic, for its various problems, is absolutely lovely. Visit http://mysticriver.org/ to learn more about it. It is already used a lot for recreation. Tufts crew team has its boathouse there.
 
Tufts crew boathouse is actually on the Malden River, in the River's Edge development. Though I'm sure they row a lot on the Mystic.
 
Chicago firm unveils plans for Worcester slots parlor

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http://bostonherald.com/business/bu...firm_unveils_plans_for_worcester_slots_parlor

By: Ira Kantor
Mass Gaming & Entertainment LLC, an affiliate of Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming LLC, unveiled plans and renderings tonight for its proposed Worcester slots parlor during a presentation to the city’s Joint Meeting of the Standing Committees on Economic Development and Public Safety.

The proposed casino represents a total investment of $240 million in the city, including the development of a downtown hotel, officials said, adding the casino is also expected to create hundreds of construction jobs, and an estimated 600 permanent casino and hotel jobs.

“We believe this casino will be a catalyst for substantial economic development for the city and the Green Island neighborhood, as we have seen with our other properties,” said Greg Carlin, CEO of Mass Gaming & Entertainment. “Worcester is the best location in Massachusetts for the Category 2 license and we are excited about the opportunity to work with the city and the community on this proposal, which will reinvigorate this long-dormant site and enhance the Canal District.”


Officials said tonight Worcester residents will be given first priority for anticipated casino jobs, and that job fairs will be held for local residents to learn about opportunities and how to apply. Mass Gaming also detailed a local business partnership initiative that will provide opportunities for Worcester-based businesses to receive priority as vendors for the casino for several products and services, including as providers of food and beverages, furniture, equipment and other supplies for the casino.

Mass Gaming also offered a first look at a traffic improvement initiative for the area, which would include significant investment in offsite improvements to roadways, as well as streetscape and lighting plans to make the area more “pedestrian-friendly and inviting.”

The Herald reported last month that Rush Street Gaming is one of four firms that has applied for the state’s sole slots license. Rush Street’s competition includes Raynham Park, Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, and PPE Resort Casinos, an affiliate of Baltimore-based gaming developer Cordish.
 
I heard Everett approved the Casino or something. I don't know which hoop it is, though, nor how many hoops are left. But Everett is fierce competition to Suffolk Downs.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
I heard Everett approved the Casino or something. I don't know which hoop it is, though, nor how many hoops are left. But Everett is fierce competition to Suffolk Downs.
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I might eat my words as I said we would never see a casino in Everett. I could be 100% wrong.

Everett Community is all for it and with the Mayor pushing the casino agenda it has a great shot of happening.

This possibly could be the worst location since Traffic is a complete nightmare worse than Suffolk Downs.

I would rather see Suffolk Downs get the casino in the end which I hope that is WYNN end game.
 
Wynn to Menino: Butt out!

Says mayor has no say in casino talks
Saturday, May 11, 2013
By:Dave Wedge

Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn yesterday hammered Mayor Thomas M. Menino for being “partisan” in the casino fight and pledged that the Hub will have no say in his proposed $1.5 billion Everett gaming mecca.

“Mayor Menino is not an objective third party. He is committed to the other side. He’s taken sides in this,” Wynn told the Herald.

City attorneys fired off a letter to Wynn in February asking to discuss the Everett project, which abuts Boston property, but the two sides have yet to meet — and Wynn says he has no plans to do so.

“I don’t know where we intersect with them,” Wynn said. “We’re not in Boston with our project. We’re only in Everett.”
But Menino countered that he will have his say because the road going in and out of Wynn’s site, Route 99, and the shores of the Mystic River are owned by Boston.

“It’s city property you have to go through,” Menino said. “We have to be part of the negotiations.”

The mayor, a staunch supporter of a proposed $1 billion casino at Suffolk Downs in East Boston, added that he won’t be meeting with Wynn, but said city attorneys have contacted the developer’s team.

“My lawyers answered any questions he asked,” Menino said.
Under the state gaming law, casino developers have to strike mitigation deals with “surrounding communities” that border cities or towns that have casinos. If a deal can’t be struck, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission can step in as a peacemaker.

The rule seeks to stop surrounding communities from stalling or blocking a project, but Wynn said he doesn’t believe he’ll have to win any approval or deal with Boston at all. “That’s not how I understand it,” he said.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said he too hasn’t spoken to Menino about the planned resort and doesn’t expect to.

“If Boston considers itself a surrounding community, they have a venue with the Gaming Commission,” DeMaria said. “If they don’t get the license at Suffolk Downs and we do, they can take their case to the Gaming Commission.”
Wynn said he’s “never met” Menino and claimed the first time he ever saw him was on TV during the Boston Marathon bombings aftermath.

“When we first showed up in Everett, he sort of went on the attack. And I was surprised,” Wynn said, referring to sarcastic comments made by Menino about Wynn back in January. “He was partisan. He wants it there.”

The developments come as Wynn upped the ante on the Everett gaming palace, pledging to spend up to $1.5 billion on a gleaming, 300-foot waterfront resort.
The plans, unveiled in a lavish ceremony in Everett yesterday, call for a 550-room, 19-story, glass-encased hotel that will be “Wynn bronze” in color and will overlook the Mystic River. Wynn, who is battling Suffolk Downs and Foxwoods in Milford for the sole Boston casino license, said the resort will take 30 months to build once the license is issued, meaning it could open in summer 2016.

Wynn also dismissed reports his company could face a shakeup if his ex-wife, Elaine, sells off her nearly 10 percent stake in his $13 billion company.
“It’s totally irrelevant,” he said. “The arrangement me and my wife have is rock solid.”
Dave Wedge / Boston Herald

dave.wedge@bostonherald.com
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http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/05/wynn_to_menino_butt_out


I would rather see the casino at Suffolk Downs at this point than Everett.
If the casino is located in Everett on the old Monsanto Site than 93 will face terrible grid lock traffic scenarios in my opinion. That area is overbuilt for a billion dollar casino opened 24 hours a day.

The entire North Shore will be suffocated without proper infrastructure changes.
Taxpayers will be into Wynn for at least 500 Million to billions just in HWY, MBTA changes.

Sorry Beton.
 
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I guess my whole feeling on this subject is that when gaming was legalized in Massachusetts, I got excited that there would finally be some really cool and out-there architecture, and instead Suffolk Downs looks like an office park in Waltham and Wynn is using the same tower design as the Wynn Macau and Wynn Philadelphia.

I'm not a gambler so I'll never go to the horsetrack casino - so I prefer the shopping and dining boardwalk on the waterfront that Wynn is offering - I just get the sense it is a much higher class development. The Mystic has been the Charles River's ugly step-child for too long, this would be a good kickstart to creating some there there.
 
I stumbled across an old issue (05/15) of The Standard Times at my parents' house the other day and it had this ground-level rendering in it for Taunton (b/w in print and online for some reason):

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Semass' post above this has a nice aerial. No word on who is the architect though. I bet this rendering looks awesome in color. It looks CBT'ish, tbh.
 
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