Local committee begins review of Steve Cohen’s casino plan

A local Community Advisory Committee began reviewing the plan for Metropolitan Park on Monday. Rendering via Metropolitan Park

By Jacob Kaye

A local community advisory committee began reviewing Mets owner Steve Cohen’s bid to build a casino next to Citi Field this week – the final hurdle before his $8 billion plan can be considered viable by the state’s Gaming Commission, which is set to award three downstate casino licenses by the year’s end.

After getting the thumbs up from a number of Queens’ community boards, the City Council, the State Assembly, the State Senate and the borough president, Cohen and Hard Rock made their pitch to the recently-appointed Community Advisory Committee on Monday.

The six-member committee will issue a vote on the proposal by the end of September. In order for the casino plan dubbed Metropolitan Park to be considered by the Gaming Commission, it must win over four of the committee’s members.

They are already off to a good start.

The committee includes three elected officials – Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Assemblymember Larinda Hooks, City Councilmember Francisco Moya – who have each issued their support for the casino and entertainment complex proposal at some point over the past year.

The committee also includes Governer Kathy Hochul appointee Gregory Anderson, the deputy director of state operations in the governor’s office, and Lin Zeng, the director of the Department of City Planning’s Queens office who was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams. While neither Hochul nor Adams have voiced their support for any individual project, they’ve been largely supportive of the effort to bring a casino – or three – to the five boroughs.

The last member appointed to the committee was George Dixon, who was tapped to the position by State Senator Jessica Ramos. Ramos, who has been highly critical of the project, declined to introduce legislation in Albany last year that would have allowed Cohen to build on Citi Field’s parking lot, which is owned by the city, leased to the Mets and technically designated as parkland – State Senator John Liu introduced the bill to grant the permission to Cohen.

There didn’t appear to be any major concerns about the plan to build a casino and entertainment complex expressed by the committee on Monday, who heard a presentation on the proposal and asked a few questions to its developers.

“The bottom line… is our proposal is to take the 50 acres of asphalt around Citi Field, to take half the land, 25 acres, and build a brand new New York City public park,” Michael Sullivan, Cohen’s chief of staff, told the committee on Monday. “Then take the other 25 acres and build an entertainment destination to string together and tie together the incredible entertainment cultural venues that we have in the neighborhoods around us. We strongly believe that this is the best site in New York City for a project like this.”

While committee members asked about parking, traffic, climate and other impacts of the project, none asked about the potential impact of the casino.

Metropolitan Park is one of eight proposals vying for a license from the state. Among their competitors is Resorts World New York City, the racino in South Queens hoping to expand their operation into a full-blown casino.

In addition to Metropolitan Park’s casino, the proposal includes plans to build a hotel, several parking garages, a convention center, a live music venue and a food hall. It also would include 25 acres of open space interspersed within the complex.

Metropolitan Park’s Community Advisory Committee made up of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Assemblymember Larinda Hooks, District Leader George Dixon, City Councilmember Francisco Moya, Deputy Director of state operations in the governor’s office Gregory Anderson and Lin Zeng, the director of the Department of City Planning’s Queens office.  Screenshot via Gaming Commission/YouTube

According to Cohen, the project would create around 23,000 union jobs – around 16,300 would be temporary, construction jobs, while the remaining 6,700 would be permanent jobs.

If he’s granted the license, the Mets owner has also promised to pour $1 billion into the area in community benefits, including improvements to the local 7 train station that would bring Metropolitan Park-goers to and from the complex.

In their application to the Gaming Commission submitted last month, Metropolitan Park’s developers said that they expect to bring in $3.9 billion annually after the complex’s third year of operation.

The complex likely would not be completed until 2030.

While the proposal has been popular with a number of business leaders, including Queens Chamber of Commerce President Tom Grech, and with a number of local nonprofit organizations, it’s also seen opposition from several advocacy groups.

Several Queens residents showed up to Monday’s meeting with signs voicing their opposition to Metropolitan Park – there were also around 40 supporters of the project in attendance, according to a Metropolitan Park spokesperson.

Rebecca Pryor, the executive director of the Guardians of the Flushing Bay, criticized the committee’s consideration of local opinions on the project.

“The CAC process…has not felt reflective of the low- and middle-income communities who will be directly impacted by this project,” she told the Eagle. “And it’s not clear that the decision makers at the table are championing those voices.”

After hearing the presentation on Monday, the committee will next hold at least one public hearing on Metropolitan Park before holding a final vote.