Bally’s Bronx is considered a long shot, but the company appears most comfortable in that position.
The first round of local community advisory committee meetings for all eight downstate New York casino licences is now complete, after Bally’s Corp on Friday gave a presentation on its proposed $4 billion integrated resort in the Bronx.
It was a packed house inside a Residence Inn meeting room to see the presentation, and for good reason. Bally’s proposal is perhaps the most controversial of any thus far, having been boosted twice by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
In June, Adams helped the project pass a city council vote on its parkland rezoning bill by lowering the threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority. Then when the council rejected a separate vote for the project in July, Adams stepped in again and vetoed that decision, at which point the council stood down.
The mayor, who had federal corruption charges against him dismissed earlier this year by the Department of Justice, has maintained that his actions are not an endorsement. Rather, Adams says, they are an effort to ensure that the field of bids is as wide as possible for up to three available downstate licences.
Bally’s is proposing a large-scale integrated resort complex on a golf course it owns at Ferry Point. The course was purchased from the Trump Organization, and the deal includes an additional $115 million kicker to the seller if the site is awarded a licence. This connection has not been popular, but the project has survived several obstacles just to get to this point.
Billion-dollar goals for Bally’s
Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim was front and centre to discuss his company’s New York ambitions, which, if selected, would be in addition to multiple ongoing projects elsewhere. The company is building a $1.8 billion casino in Chicago, recently took control of Australian operator Star Entertainment, is mulling options for its empty Las Vegas Strip plot and just reverse-merged with Intralot, among other things.
Kim, a “proud product of New York City”, said Bally’s is “quite intentional” in its strategy. While none of the company’s 19 active US casinos is comparable to the scale of the Bronx proposal, Kim is confident Bally’s can deliver its biggest commitment yet.
“We believe we’re the most relevant operator and we bring our fantastic track record of being able to manage a project exactly that this market represents and we’re here to answer the call for the state,” Kim told the committee.
Every New York applicant is bullish on the market being perhaps the highest-grossing in the US once active. Kim was no different, projecting that Bally’s Bronx would generate gross gaming revenue “well north” of $1 billion per year.
That would put it with the very top performers in the country, alongside MGM National Harbor in Maryland and fellow New York applicant Resorts World NYC. Kim actually used National Harbor as a comparable example when asked by the committee, with no Bally’s property being applicable.
The project’s $4 billion price tag would make it the borough’s biggest-ever private investment. Yet there are concerns about Bally’s ability to pay such a bill, as it is highly leveraged and leases most of its real estate. That said, Kim is confident the mega-resort could become a staple of the area, on par with Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo and similar landmarks.
Plans to help those in need
Generally speaking, the New York casino pitches mostly fall into two categories: those that back their home borough and those that highlight its shortcomings. In other words, all three Manhattan bids have touted their community’s wealth and tourism supremacy. Others, like The Coney in Brooklyn and Bally’s Bronx, argue that their lesser-privileged communities are where development is most needed.
Local economic impact, workforce development and diversity initiatives are among the key factors being considered by state officials. The Bronx, by most socioeconomic metrics, is the worst-performing of the five boroughs. Does a thriving hub like Manhattan need such a development? The Bronx is perhaps more limited in its growth possibilities, or at least that’s the argument Bally’s is hoping to lean on.
“We think that by placing it in the county, the borough that has objectively the most economic need … we believe that placing it where it matters the most is most responsive to the [request for applications],” Kim said Friday.
Christopher Jewett, Bally’s senior vice president of corporate development, said the project would provide about 15,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent positions. The average compensation per full time employee is projected at $96,000, below most of the other bids.
“Where else is economic impact more meaningful than the borough with the least economic investment, the highest unemployment rate and the lowest median income?” Jewett said.
Right down the fairway for Bally’s?
Architecturally, Bally’s proposal is somewhat futuristic, with several stepped and tiered structures connected via skybridge. Jewett said the design was formed with the course in mind.
“We took inspiration from the surrounding form of the golf course and utilised our stepped hotel design to mimic the undulating fairways of the surrounding links golf course while also keeping the structure fairly low in terms of height,” he said.
Its finished height would be about 100 feet below the top of the nearby Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, minimising disruption to the skyline. The site was a landfill for decades, Jewett said, before it was developed as a golf course and opened to the public in 2015. With the exception of the clubhouse, which would be relocated, most of the existing course grounds would be unchanged.
Bally’s announced its loyalty programme would be extended to partnering business throughout the community, which has become popular among applicants. Notably, Jewett mentioned the company is planning to offer public equity shares in the project totalling 9% of ownership for local residents. Bally’s is attempting to roll out a similar programme in Chicago in the coming weeks, but only after it was sued for discrimination on its first try.
“We envision these shares of the [investment programme] being available for as little as $250 or $500, providing opportunity for equity ownership across all social classes,” Jewett said.
Preston pride in New York race
With regard to local support, Bally’s Chief Legal Officer Kim Barker said stakeholders canvassed more than 11,000 registered voters, 9,700 of whom signed petition cards. Support for the project in various communities ranged from 55% to 85%, she said.
“Across every single ZIP code in the Bronx, there was overwhelming support for this project,” Barker asserted.
Key to the company’s outreach efforts is its Bally’s Foundation philanthropic arm. In April, the foundation attempted to endear itself in the community by saving Preston High School, an all-girls Catholic school, from closure. Bally’s purchased the school building for $8.5 million and leased it back to the school for $1, while donating an additional $1.6 million for repairs.
“We were proud to do that because we recognised the importance that institution played here in the Bronx,” Barker said.
Eyes and ears on the inside
The question-and-answer period was highlighted by numerous questions from CAC member Danielle Volpe, vice president of business development at Nu World Title. This should not have been a surprise based on how the committees were appointed.
Essentially, each CAC comprised five or six applicable state and local officials. Those officials were allowed to appoint someone to the committee on their behalf, or join the committees themselves, which was far less common. Some of these officials were outwardly opposed to their assigned project. Thus, their committee appointees have been the most aggressive in terms of questioning, serving as de facto proxies for the appointers.
In Bally’s case, Volpe was appointed by Councilmember Kristy Marmorato, who was among the most vocal opponents of the Bronx project. Before Adams vetoed the second council vote, Marmorato penned an op-ed in the New York Daily News imploring him not to do so.
Volpe grilled Bally’s on several points regarding its public support and requested copies of its petition materials. She also alleged that the company falsely attributed statements of support to several local groups, listing them individually. A local resident, Volpe questioned the proposed traffic changes, with real-life examples of taking her child to school near the project site.
Other CAC examples played out similarly. The Coney’s biggest opponent, Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, appointed Marissa Solomon to its CAC, where she unleashed wrath. Metropolitan Park’s biggest detractor, Senator Jessica Ramos, appointed George Dixon in her place, who also did not shy away from confrontation.
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