As we wait with bated breath to see what New York City’s impending casinos will look like, Hard Rock International has offered a bereft world some modicum of satisfaction: group Chairman Jim Allen declared that the company had decided on three potential sites where it could build a casino.
Ever the tantalus though, Allen would not specify what exactly those the three locations were.
He did specify that Hard Rock’s price tag for the Big Apple casino would be a hefty $2bn.
Furthermore, the Florida-based company (which is owned by the Seminole Tribe) does have experience building in Manhattan, an island which is regarded by many as one of the most burdensome and convoluted real estate development markets in the world.
This April, Hard Rock will be opening a hotel on West 48th Street at a cost of between $400m-$500m. It will be 35 stories, have 446 guestrooms, two venues, dining and a rooftop lounge. What it will not have? A casino.
Allen insists that this is not the site for that, if for no other reason than smallness of scale. As he told the Associated Press: “You have to have a footprint of real estate large enough to take advantage of the size of the market. We’re extremely proud of our hotel on 48th Street, but its footprint is just not large enough for gaming.
“As far as other locations, really we’re waiting on the governor and the committee that’s going to be sending out the request for proposals to see what language is in the bill as to geographic locations that would be acceptable to the state.”
The selection process for the site will begin in earnest at the end of summer, Allen insists. He expects a casino in New York City will generate about $2bn in annual revenue.
