Steve Cohen wants a casino next to his Mets stadium.
Remember that 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. It has disappeared. 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. The USTA and the city have reached a deal whereby there will be plenty of parking for the US Open which is held during the last week of August and the first week of September. There will be also plenty of parking available for soccer games at the new venue that will open in 2027 for Major League Soccer’s NYCFC franchise. It is now full speed ahead for Cohen 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. Each of the bidders has a sports element. The South Ozone Park property includes Aqueduct Racetrack. The track though will be closed down perhaps as early as 2026 when renovations are completed at Belmont Racetrack on the Queens-Nassau County border as the New York Racing Association plans to consolidate its operations. Bally’s owns Golf Links at Ferry Point which is New York City’s only links-style public golf course. Cohen and Resort World’s proposals is aided by public transit while Bally’s bid is hampered by the lack of subway service to the area. The December 1st date to award casino licenses may not be set in stone.
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