SL Green, Caesars Partner on Times Square Casino

For the second time in two months, a real estate developer has joined forces with a Vegas casino power player to put forward a project to build a betting palace in Manhattan.

SL Green Realty and Caesars Entertainment have announced a partnership to redevelop 1515 Broadway in Times Square as a casino.

The partners said Caesars Palace Times Square will be designed to include a Broadway theater that will be home to The Lion King. They also promised “significant security and traffic improvements” in Times Square.

“We believe that Times Square offers the best location for a new resort casino that can attract tourists and benefit local businesses. Our approach will ensure that under-represented communities benefit both in terms of employment and investment opportunities,” said Marc Holliday, CEO of SL Green, in a statement.

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 before the end of this year.

Last month, Related 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.

In his statement this week, Holliday stressed that the company’s proposal to join Caesars in putting a casino in Times Square can be accomplished quickly because it’s a redevelopment and not a new build.

“Because we are proposing a renovation, once the license is issued, we can open quicker than other facilities, which require entirely new construction, changes in law, and will be disruptive to their local communities,” Holliday said.

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.

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 the end of this month 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.