Related, Wynn Plan Casino in NYC's Hudson Yards

A long list of commercial real estate and resort developers have made it known that they want to be at the front of the line for the most coveted property designation in NYC this year: the winner of one of three casino licenses that will be awarded in the Big Apple later this year.

Now, at least one partnership has upped the ante by filing plans to develop a casino at a high-profile site on the West Side of Manhattan, the first substantive bid to be put forward.

Related has joined forces with Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts to put forward a plan to build a casino on the undeveloped western half of Hudson Yards.

The plan calls for a new betting palace to be erected on a 10-acre platform that will be built over active rail lines, effectively connecting the 18M SF eastern half of Hudson Yards with the Hudson River waterfront. Related developed the eastern half, which opened in 2019, with Oxford Properties.

The site for the proposed casino sits next to the Javits Center, NYC’s convention center.

“The Western Yards provides the ideal site for a resort that will reinvigorate our tourism economy and provide billions in tax revenues for the city and state,” said Jeff Blau, Related CEO, in a statement.

Related’s original agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority envisioned six residential buildings, including 265 below-market-rate units, parks and a school on the western half of the Hudson Yards site. The development was supposed to be completed by 2025.

According to a report in the NY Times, Related is trying to renegotiate its deal with the MTA.

A previous effort to redevelop the western half of Hudson Yards with a high-volume, public-facing facility—NYC’s bid to host the Summer Olympics by building a new stadium on the site, eventually to be the home of the Jets—was shot down when NIMBY opposition force the US Olympic Committee to drop the new stadium from its proposal.

In April, NY state lawmakers approved up to three full-service casinos for the NYC area. Currently, the only facility with partial casino-type gambling within NYC city limits is Resorts World’s facility at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.

Despite the restriction of the racetrack casino to video slot machines—Resorts World has no table games—the gaming site at Aqueduct yields the most gambling revenue of any property outside of Nevada, according to the NY Times.

New York’s state gambling commission has until October to create a board that will manage the casino license application process, which is supposed to commence within 90 days of the board’s formation.

New York Mets owner Steven Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire, reportedly has been in discussions with Hard Rock to develop a casino on land currently occupied by auto body shops Flushing Meadows next to Citi Field.