On the eve of the submission deadline for gaming proposals, Silverstein Properties is flipping over its river card.
The developer, which is looking to build a casino on Manhattan’s Far West Side, sweetened its $7 billion proposal with the carrot of converting offices into 2,000 apartments, Bloomberg reported. A quarter of those converted units would be designated affordable.
Silverstein would team with Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft to purchase the requisite properties and convert them. The two companies have a history, joining forces on the sizable office-to-residential conversion of 55 Broad Street in the Financial District.
It wasn’t immediately clear, but the conversions are likely contingent on Silverstein securing one of the three downstate gaming licenses being offered up by New York.
While the casino is slated for undeveloped land on 41st Street and 11th Avenue — just north of the Javits Center — the housing isn’t necessarily destined for the same plot. A joint statement from Silverstein and Metro Loft said they were “evaluating potential conversion sites” and working to “prioritize projects on Manhattan’s west side,” giving off the appearance that the search zone is vast.
In some ways, that echoes a similar addition made by Steve Cohen for his casino proposal in the parking lot next to Citi Field.
He and gaming partner Hard Rock International joined with Slate Property Group to propose 450 affordable housing units, contingent on securing a gaming license for the $8 billion Metropolitan Park. The affordable housing component, however, is sited two miles away from the casino site and next to another affordable housing development in Corona.
Other bidders are similarly collecting support and upping the ante in their proposals; SL Green, for example, this week announced the Rev. Al Sharpton as a supporter of its Times Square casino bid while unveiling a model to help New Yorkers invest in the project.
Silverstein’s proposal — dubbed Avenir — also includes a 1,000-room Hyatt hotel, more than a dozen restaurants and bars and a food hall. Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment are partners on the project.
The competition for a gaming license has tightened in recent months as bidders have folded their cards. Saks Fifth Avenue and a Wynn/Related partnership both abandoned their plans.
The racinos at Resorts World in Queens and Empire City in Yonkers are assumed to be frontrunners because they have infrastructure in place. That leaves one license in legitimate play; applications are due June 27.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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