The final round of the casino competition is nigh.
For those who haven’t been closely following the drama, here’s where things stand:
The community advisory committees tasked with reviewing the casino proposals have voted on seven of the eight proposals. The final CAC vote is slated for Tuesday at 11 a.m.
The CACs have approved three of the projects, which now go to the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board for final consideration:
— MGM Empire City in Yonkers
— Queens Aqueduct Casino, operated by Resorts World
— Bally’s in Throggs Neck
The committees have rejected four:
— Soloviev Group, Mohegan Tribe and Banyan Group’s Freedom Plaza
— Silverstein Properties, Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment’ Avenir
— SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment, Roc Nation and Live Nation’s Caesar Palace Times Square
— Thor Equities, Saratoga Casinos and the Chickasaw Nation’s the Coney
A CAC will vote on Steve Cohen’s Metropolitan Park on Tuesday morning. The odds seem to be in the proposal’s favor: Only one of the elected officials who has an appointee on the CAC, Sen. Jessica Ramos, has been a vocal opponent of the proposal. Borough President Donovan Richards has been supportive.
Metropolitan Park would turn 50 acres worth of parking lots next to Citi Field into an $8 billion casino complex. The project would include a Hard Rock hotel and a 5,650-person live music venue, along with bars, restaurants and 25 acres of green space.
The state board is expected to select which teams get a license by the end of the year.
What we’re thinking about: Mayor Eric Adams has dropped his reelection bid. Does this affect your stance on the mayoral race? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Long Beach, Calif., was once known as “Iowa by the sea,” because of the migration of Midwesterners to the seaside city, as part of a broader influx that brought 2 million people to Los Angeles County between 1920 and 1930, according to PBS SoCal.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Nearly 50,000 commuters are about to save one minute on their daily subway trips thanks to a planned route switch. Starting Dec. 8, F and M trains will switch East River tunnels between Manhattan and Queens, Gothamist reports. The current setup causes between 15 and 20 percent of all rush-hour trains on the E, M and R routes to be delayed at Queens Plaza station, according to the MTA. “This will completely isolate local service from express service, so this will be much less prone to delays,” Alan Foster, the MTA’s Director of Rail Network Planning, said.
— Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is facing increasing pressure to drop out of the mayoral race following Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement that he will no longer seek reelection. But Sliwa told reporters on Monday that “there’s no dropping out,” according to City & State. He also wouldn’t acknowledge who he favors between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, saying of the choices: “It’s the double-headed Hydra.”
— In case you needed another reason not to swim in the Hudson River: A federal judge recently sided with a company that is challenging the state’s ban on dumping radiological substances. Holtec International wants to discharge 45,000 gallons of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson as part of its efforts to dismantle the defunct Indian Point nuclear facility in Westchester County, the Times Union reports. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ruled last week that New York’s ban on such discharges is unconstitutional.
Closing Time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Monday was $18 million for a penthouse at 50 Riverside Boulevard. The Upper West Side condominium unit at One Riverside Park is 6,200 square feet and was sold off-market. Its previous sale was in 2016 as a new-construction unit for $19.7 million, per property records.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $25 million for 149 Spring Street. The Soho rental building is eight stories and 18,400 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $35 million for 15 East 62nd Street. The Lenox Hill townhouse is 16,200 square feet and listed by Brown Harris Stevens.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 20,981-square-foot, seven-story, mixed-use building at 563 Brooklyn Avenue. Zarina Kindo is the applicant of record. — Joseph Jungermann
