No New Casino in Manhattan as Freedom Plaza Bid Gets Voted Down

Manhattan is officially out of luck in terms of getting one of New York’s three available downstate casino licenses with the last of the three applicants in the borough striking out.

The Community Advisory Committee (CAC) voted Monday against allowing the application for the so-called Freedom Plaza proposal to move forward, leaving only five applicants remaining at the table — all of them in the outer boroughs or nearby.

The $11 billion proposal near the United Nations campus, backed by the Soloviev Group and Mohegan Sun, got nixed within a week of the other two Manhattan applicants, and after shifting the amount of housing at the last minute to include 1,080 residential units consisting of 100 percent affordable housing. Previously, only 600 of those units had been set aside for affordable housing.

But the extra incentive seemed to mean little to the six-member CAC, which voted 4-2 against Freedom Plaza, meaning the proposal will not advance to the next stage of consideration with the New York State Gaming Commission. 

“We believe [the community and partners] recognized what we did – Freedom Plaza was a transformative project that promised benefits that our community deserved and was built upon a sustained engagement with neighbors, civic leaders, and stakeholders across the city that recognized this once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Soloviev Group CEO Michael Hershman said in a statement. “Manhattan is the undisputed capital of the world, and it deserved a fully integrated resort that would have attracted visitors while serving the needs of its community.”

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, City Councilmember Keith Powers, State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein released a statement supporting the CAC’s decision.

“Over the past three months, the CAC has heard extensive feedback from thousands of concerned local residents, business owners and workers, as well as the Freedom Plaza Project team. Our neighbors on the East Side of Manhattan have communicated to us, and to the CAC, through hours of public hearings, significant concerns regarding increased congestion, public safety, and the quality of life concerns this project would introduce into our community.”

The other applicants rejected by the CAC include Caesars Palace Times Square proposed by SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and Roc Nation, and The Avenir on Manhattan’s far West Side proposed by Silverstein Properties, Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment.

A week prior, during the final public hearing on the proposal, a wide majority of the speakers identified themselves as employees of either the Soloviev Group or Mohegan Sun while local residents were eclipsed, according to reports.

Freedom Plaza was one of the two proposals  — alongside Steve Cohen’s Metropolitan Park in Queens — to project the most jobs of the eight applicants.

 Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.