The Mets’ owner wants tp build a casino village surrounding the Mets baseball venue.
There seems to be a major rift between New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and the United States Tennis Association over parking lot usage next to Cohen’s Mets stadium and the USTA’s various venues in Flushing Meadows. Cohen, with the support of New York City officials, wants to redevelop the 50-acre parking lot next to the ballpark into a casino resort with 1,000 hotel rooms and a gaming floor with 5,000 slot machines, 400 table games, and a sportsbook. The bid includes 18 restaurants and bars, an indoor pool, spa, and fitness complex, 20,000 square feet of retail shopping, almost 100,000 square feet of convention facilities, three parking garages, and 25 acres of public green space. The USTA has said not so fast and got a Manhattan Supreme Court judge, Nancy Bannon, to grant a temporary restraining order halting the planned project by prohibiting Cohen and New York City to sign a parking lot deal until the parking lot dispute with the USTA is resolved. Cohen has not won state approval in his attempt to get a casino license.
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board planned to award at least one or as many as three downstate casino licenses by December 1st. New York City’s five boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester County are considered downstate. Cohen is not the only one bidding for the license. Cohen and Hard Rock International are operating jointly as Queens Futures. Resorts World, which has operated a racino in Queens’ South Ozone Park for the last 14 years, and a Bally’s project in the Bronx near both the Whitestone Bridge and the Throngs Neck Bridge are in the running for a New York City casino. The three locations are in close proximity. The lawsuit will be heard after the December 1st plan to award the casino license. New York City The New York City must file its opposition papers by December 1st, 2025. The USTA must file its reply by December 8th, 2025. The judge has scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for December 11th at 11:30 a.m. The TRO remains in effect until that hearing concludes. The December 1st date to award casino licenses may not be set in stone.
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The casino area.
