Steve Cohen, Hard Rock Win Key Vote Needed to Build Casino Next to Citi Field

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International have scored a major win for their casino bid next to Citi Field in Corona, Queens.

A New York State Senate committee voted 4 to 3 on Tuesday to approve a bill allowing Cohen to build on the 50-acre parking lot adjacent to the baseball stadium, allowing commercial use on undeveloped land currently designated as parkland, Bloomberg reported.

The partners are hoping to build an $8 billion project called Metropolitan Park next to Citi Field. The project would include a gaming resort, 25 acres of green space, athletic fields, a mass transit station, and affordable housing.

However, the legislation still has a way to go. It will need full approval by the state Senate, Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul to become official, according to Bloomberg.

“For decades, these 50 acres of asphalt have only been parking lots,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Park project said in a statement sent to Commercial Observer.

“Today’s committee approval brings us one step closer to delivering 25 acres of actual public park space, 23,000 union jobs, new entertainment options, and over $1 billion in community benefits for Queens,” the spokesperson added.

The section of the land in question was designated as parkland during the World’s Fair 88 years ago, but since then has served only as a parking lot for the baseball stadium and Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Cohen and Hard Rock need approval of the bill — known as a parkland alienation — to move forward.

Cohen and Hard Rock’s chances of building the casino seemed slim when state Sen. Jessica Ramos said she would not introduce the legislation to build on the undeveloped space, arguing that putting a casino in the neighborhood wasn’t a good tradeoff for the added green space it would create.

However, earlier this year state Sen. John Liu announced he would support the parkland alienation legislation, saying the developers’ proposed Flushing Skypark will help increase public access to the waterfront.

News of the Senate committee’s vote comes after Cohen and Hard Rock partnered with Slate Property Group earlier this month to build more than 450 long-term affordable housing units in Corona as part of the Metropolitan Park project, as Commercial Observer first reported.

The joint venture, called Queens Future, is contingent on Cohen and Hard Rock winning a license to operate a casino. As many as three downstate casino licenses are set to be awarded later this year.

Other New York City casino bids include the Soloviev Group and Mohegan’s 6.3-acre casino project near the United Nations; Related Companies and Wynn Resorts’ casino proposal in Hudson Yards, which also seeks to build as many as 4,000 housing units; Thor Equities, Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and Legends’ $3 billion casino project in Coney Island, Brooklyn; and SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation’s bid for a casino in Times Square.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.