Silverstein Adds 2,000 Apartments to Far West Side Casino Bid as Deadline Approaches

Applications for New York City’s highly desired casino licenses are due Friday, and developers are making last-minute efforts to boost their bids.

Silverstein Properties announced Thursday that it will partner with Metro Loft Developers to create more than 2,000 apartments — including more than 500 permanently affordable units — through office-to-residential conversions as part of the Avenir, the developer’s proposal for a gaming, hotel, entertainment and residential complex on Manhattan’s Far West Side.

The partnership is currently “evaluating potential conversion sites and will prioritize projects on Manhattan’s West Side” in response to community feedback about a need for more mixed-income housing in the area, the announcement said.

“We are grateful to our local elected officials and Community Board leaders for prioritizing neighborhood housing in this process,” Tal Kerret, president of Silverstein Properties, said in a statement. “Amid a citywide housing shortage, these conversions will create new homes for over 2,000 families.”

A spokesperson for Metro Loft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Metro Loft would join World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein’s team of Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment to build the casino on a 92,000-square-foot vacant lot at West 41st Street and 11th Avenue near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center — land which Silverstein has owned since 1984.

The Avenir project will be built only if the developers win one of the New York State Gaming Commission’s three downstate gaming licenses set to be awarded this year. The Avenir would comprise two 46-story towers linked by a skybridge, 1,000 hotel rooms under the Hyatt brand, and a 600,000-square-foot gaming and entertainment facility, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

In addition, Silverstein said the $7 billion project would create 4,000 union construction jobs and more than 5,000 permanent union jobs, as well as generate “billions of dollars” in state and city tax revenue and funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

And this wouldn’t be Silverstein’s first project with Metro Loft, as the two firms teamed up to convert the office building at 55 Broad Street into 571 residential units last year.

Developers vying for New York’s gaming licenses must submit their applications by 4 p.m. Friday, and the Gaming Commission will announce the names of each applicant immediately following the deadline.

Besides Silverstein’s Avenir, the remaining casino bids include: SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation’s bid for a Times Square casino; New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International’s goal for a casino near Queens’ Citi Field; Soloviev Group and Mohegan’s Freedom Plaza proposal near the United Nations; Thor Equities, Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and Legends’ casino project in Coney Island, Brooklyn; and Resorts World New York City’s plan to redevelop its Queens casino.

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