NYC Hudson Yards Developer Pitches 1,500-Room Resort in Casino Bid

(Bloomberg)—Hudson Yards developer Related Cos. is proposing a resort with about 1,500 guest rooms as part of its bid for one of New York’s gaming licenses.

Plans also call for about 20 restaurants, a nightclub, theater and casino at the second phase of the project on Manhattan’s far west side. The company also aims to increase affordable housing in the area and add a school, Related Chief Executive Officer Jeff Blau said on Bloomberg Television Wednesday.

Related is teaming up with Wynn Resorts Ltd. to pursue one of three gaming licenses for New York’s downstate area. Competitors include SL Green Realty Corp., which has proposed a casino project in Times Square in partnership with Caesars Entertainment Inc. and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

If Related is selected, construction of the complex would kick off the second phase of the company’s $25 billion Hudson Yards project, on a site between 11th Avenue and the Hudson River. The first phase, east of 11th Avenue, includes office skyscrapers, residential towers and a shopping mall.

A resort-casino on the western yards also would draw more visitors to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which recently underwent a $1.5 billion expansion, Related said.

“We think it’s the opportune place to put something like this, and I think it will generate the highest economic development returns for the state,” Blau said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s David Westin. The project “will kick-start over $10 billion of development in New York City at a time when we need it. We need the economic development, we need the jobs.”

Related expects a request for proposals from the state to be announced early next year, with a selection of the winners by the end of 2023.

To contact the authors of this story: Natalie Wong in New York at [email protected], David Westin in New York at [email protected]

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