Both the Jay-Z-backed Caesars Palace Times Square casino bid and a Hell’s Kitchen gaming plan from Silverstein Properties were rejected Wednesday by their respective community advisory committees.
Each six-member panel voted 4-2 against advancing the proposals, with only the representatives appointed by Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul in support.
The committees faced a Sept. 30 deadline to decide whether the bids could proceed to the next stage of state-level review. For The Avenir, the Hell’s Kitchen proposal, developers had asked to delay the vote for further discussion, but the committee rejected that request during its Sept. 17 meeting.
‘What you did here today was despicable’
At the first vote of the day, Adams’ appointee Laura Smith criticized the Times Square panel for rushing the process, saying the decision came less than a week after the final public hearing.
“I believe it is important to acknowledge that the accelerated timeline has constrained the committee’s ability to meet the very standards of transparency, engagement, and thorough review that were built into the CAC framework,” said Cox.
Adams’s representative on the Avenir committee, Nabeela Malik, echoed those concerns an hour later.
In a statement to amNewYork, a City Hall spokesperson criticized the votes as premature.
“Any new casino proposal deserves legitimate consideration of its impact on the surrounding neighborhood, so it’s a shame that today’s votes were rushed — leaving two weeks of negotiating on the table and limiting the opportunity for a fuller evaluation and community discussion,” a spokesperson said. “This rushed decision created a less competitive process for a casino in New York City before the decision ever reaches the state and has deprived New Yorkers living and working in Manhattan of the opportunity for $23.9 billion in economic impact and more than 31,000 jobs.”
Before that panel rejected The Avenir, Hochul’s appointee Angel Vasquez argued the developers’ request for a postponement should have been honored.
“There are 13 days remaining until the deadline. There are nine full business days remaining until the deadline, and we were in conversations about the housing proposal up until last night, and those conversations are incomplete,” Vasquez said. “Therefore, I believe that this should have been postponed.”
Afterward, Silverstein Properties Chief Operating Officer Dino Fusco told reporters the company had been asked to amend its application to include more than $1 billion worth of additional housing.
“We didn’t have the ability in the amount of time to be able to answer that request, so we sent an email asking the CAC to postpone today’s meeting so we have an opportunity to respond to their request. That was declined,” Fusco said.
Matthew Tighe, Assembly Member Tony Simone’s representative on both committees, told amNewYork his votes were based “solely on whether the community supports this proposal.”
“This has been a two-year process; these applications have been out there, so any last-minute amendments, the community can’t possibly form an opinion on that, and we’re at the end of the line of this process here,” Tighe said.
He added that the Avenir committee never formally requested the amendment in question. Simone himself said he did not know why a member submitted it the night before the vote, adding that Silverstein could still propose housing without a casino on the Hell’s Kitchen site.
Likewise, Simone noted SL Green could still return with other ideas. “We welcome Mark Holliday giving us a new proposal that respects Broadway and ensures the middle class lives in the city,” he said, adding that projects prioritizing affordable housing and open space would be considered.
Tighe emphasized that public testimony from residents near both proposed sites was “overwhelmingly against.”
“It’s a community advisory committee. The agenda was to listen to the community,” he said, noting that testimony from outside the neighborhoods was not given more weight than phone calls or emails from local residents who were unable to testify in person.
Tensions ran high after the Times Square vote. Representatives from SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment, and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation stormed out of the Times Square Alliance office after SL Green CEO Marc Holliday blasted the committee.
“What you did here today was despicable, a lack of leadership, a lack of consideration for all people who benefit from this proposal,” Holliday said. He praised Hochul and Adams’s representatives as “courageous” and accused the others of hiding from responsibility.
“Don’t run and hide, because what you did, the benefits you denied this community, in this city and state, you have to live with that history forever,” he said before leaving.
A spokesperson for the Caesars Palace Times Square bid said they were disappointed by Wednesday’s decision and process.
“While we disagree with the outcome of this process, we remain committed to advocating for positive change in the city we love. We’ve built strong relationships with a community that is eager for progress, and we hope that those who opposed this project — both in the public and private sectors — will now bring the same energy and resources to solving the very real challenges facing Times Square,” they said.
The four people who voted against the Times Square plan were Richard Gottfried, appointed by Sen. Liz Krueger; Tighe, appointed by Assembly Member Tony Simone; Chris Carroll, appointed by Borough President Mark Levine; and Carl Wilson, chair, appointed by Council Member Erik Bottcher.
The proposal had faced significant resistance from the Broadway community. Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League and member of the No Times Square Casino Coalition, praised the outcome.
“A casino can go anywhere, but Broadway only lives here. We are so filled with gratitude for the committee members and the local elected officials—State Senator Liz Krueger, Assembly Member Tony Simone, Borough President Mark Levine, and Council Member Erik Bottcher—who looked at the facts, listened to the residents, and stood up for this neighborhood and the theater community,” Laks said.
Bottcher’s district also includes the Hell’s Kitchen site. Ahead of that vote, he said he decided not to support either bid after extensive community outreach.
“This is not a decision I took lightly. All economic development opportunities deserve strong consideration. I believe casinos must clear a particularly high bar, requiring a uniquely strong degree of community buy-in before being sited in a neighborhood,” Bottcher said. “Despite extensive outreach by the applicants, that level of support has not materialized.”
Bottcher’s appointee, Quentin Heilbroner, voted no on the Avenir panel, along with Tighe, committee chair, Madeleine McGrory, appointed by Levine, and Gottfried, this time representing state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
‘A win for the West Side’
At a press conference in Times Square following the votes, Assembly Member Tony Simone said the outcome reflected overwhelming local opposition.
“I love this city. I love this state, and we want a pro-growth, abundance New York. I am pro-housing. I am a YIMBY. I am not a NIMBY,” Simone said. “The community advisory committee was set up specifically by the governor and the state legislature to listen to the community, and the community spoke loud and clear … our office got thousands of emails and calls, and the answer was resoundingly, to reject these two proposals. So we listened.”
Simone added that while he did not personally favor casinos, other parts of the state may still see projects move forward. “There will still be other casinos downstate, maybe in Queens, maybe another district that will create thousands of jobs and bring economic credit,” he said.
Nancy Goshow, chair of the Manhattan Community Board 5 land use committee, thanked the CACs for reflecting neighborhood concerns. “The overwhelming opinion has clearly been no to gambling, which is why Community Board 5 opposed the proposal in this district,” she said.
“Local residents want more affordable housing, school seats, open space, and safety, so let’s all come together as a community to chart the path forward.”
Leah Oken, of the Theatrical Wardrobe Union Local 764, said the decision was critical for Broadway. “We are so appreciative that everyone heard our members … and their dedication to keeping Broadway here, keeping it in the forefront of everyone’s mind, in a safe place to work,” she said.
Delores Rubin, chair of Community Board 4, said the vote showed the committees listened to the people who live in the neighborhood. “We are so appreciative that the committee heard the voices of the community and understood that overwhelmingly, we do not support gambling in this community,” Rubin said. “However, we are a community of change … we all welcome the conversation to move forward in a positive way.”
Silverstein’s Dino Fusco claimed that some 50% of locals who spoke at the CAC’s public hearings supported the Hell’s Kitchen casino, a claim which Simone disputed, saying that “over 90% were opposed, and I’m talking about residents in the district.”
Caesars Palace Times Square and the Avenir were the first of eight bids vying for one of three coveted state gaming licenses to face a vote by their respective CACs.
