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Manhattan Community Board 4 has unanimously voted no to a proposal by Related and Wynn Resorts for a casino at Hudson Yards. Plans for the seemingly squashed project were filed with the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) last year, as reported by AN. Friends of the High Line, a local nonprofit, also came out in opposition to the casino.
Related and Wynn Resorts are eying a site between 30th and 33rd streets, and 11th and 12th avenues, for their mixed-use development. For that area, the development team ideated a casino, a commercial/office building, and a residential tower, as well as a new public park and elementary school building. In August Related shared that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was responsible for the site’s master plan, while design work on planned public park would be helmed by Hollander Design and Sasaki. An in-house team of designers is working on the resort component of the mixed-use development, while SOM is working on the architecture for the development.
Joe Restuccia, a Community Board 4 member, said CB4 rejected the project after Related walked down the amount of housing it initially promised years ago.
Negotiations in regard to the casino started in 2009. That year, Related had offered to build 5,700 homes at Hudson Yards to complement the gaming and entertainment district. But the latest version now only has 1,500 housing units—324 of which would be affordable.
High Line at the Railyards, a Friends of the High Line affiliate, started a petition to stop the casino, which has garnered more than 3,000 signatures. Now, the group wants developers to go back to the drawing board, and make something more informed by community input and the original 2009 rezoning agreement.
Community Board 4’s rejection was a significant blow, but the Hudson Yards casino proposal isn’t dead yet. Now, Related and Wynn Resorts are courting Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, as part of the city’s land use review process (ULURP), to get their way.
Related’s casino proposal is one of 11 in New York today. Applications for one of three highly sought after gaming licenses are due in June.
The New York State Gaming Commission said it expects to issue the three licenses by the end of 2025.