- Saks Fifth Avenue is joining the New York casino race.
- Saks is proposing a 200,000 square foot casino on the upper floors of its midtown Manhattan flagship location at 611 5th Avenue.
- Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts are also proposing Manhattan casinos.
Hudson’s Bay Company, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue department stores, announced last Friday that it will be joining the race for the three commercial casino licenses in downstate New York.
According to a report from the New York Times, Hudson’ Bay is finalizing its plans to propose a casino on the upper floors of its Midtown Manhattan flagship location at 611 5th Avenue.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s owners seek to build a casino aimed at a moneyed clientele on the top floors of their upscale Midtown department store.
The company is just one of many groups vying for one of three lucrative NYC casino licenses.https://t.co/bHDZXQAPSH
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) January 15, 2023
The company has reportedly “invested significant time and energy over the past year in building a strategic plan to most effectively and positively enhance the Saks Fifth Avenue experience with a luxury high-end casino.”
A 200,000 Square Foot Casino
The Saks casino project is expected to start on the 9th floor and turn the building’s top three floors into a high-end casino. Currently, the 9th floor houses women’s apparel, holiday decorations, and children’s books. Meanwhile, the 10th floor is being utilized as Saks’ flexible office space operation. The New York Times article also said that the casino would span 200,000 square feet, and would have a separate lobby and entrance from the department store.
Conversion of the space into a casino would take less than one year, according to a company official. That would give it an advantage over the other more ambitious proposals which would take significantly more time to complete, as the sooner a proposed casino will open would mean the earlier the state can reap its benefits.
There are several issues however with the Saks’ proposal, including its location which is just across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then there is the neighborhood group Community Board 5, which has said that it is opposed to the casino proposal due to concerns over its impact on other local businesses.
Stiff Competition
But perhaps more than the potential issues, it will be the stiff competition that could derail HBC’s casino bid. There are at least two direct competitors who are also making a bid for a Manhattan casino. There is Caesars Entertainment and SL Green which have joined forces to propose Caesars Palace Times Square at 1515 Broadway in Times Square and then there is the bid of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts which is planning to build a 1,500-room casino at the western position of Related’s $25 billion project on the east side of Manhattan.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is plotting to build a casino near the Mets’ home stadium CitiField in Willets Point. Thor Equities has partnered with the Chickasaw Nation, Saratoga Casino Holdings, and Legends as partners in a $3 billion casino proposal in Brooklyn’s Coney Island.
Billionaire Steven Soloviev has also expressed his desire to submit a proposal for a casino on a six-acre lot south of the United Nations while Vornado’s Steve Roth wants to build a gambling property in Herald Square. The latest company to throw its hat in the N.Y. casino arena was Las Vegas Sands which announced its bid for a casino in the area of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Only One License Up for Grabs?
Aside from the proposals mentioned above, Saks will have to deal with the fact that the state’s two exiting slot parlors – Empire City Casino in Yonkers and Resorts World in Queens, are joining the bidding war by seeking a full casino license. These two casinos are believed to be the frontrunners to land two of the three casino licenses that are up for grabs because they are already existing casinos and would only need to add table games to start operating as full casinos.
The winners of the casino bidding will be announced later this year. The New York Gaming Facility Board unanimously voted to solicit proposals for the three casino licenses earlier this month. Once the proposals are received, the Board is expected to consider job creation potential, economic growth, and commitment to collaborate with local New York contractors before making its recommendation.
New York voters approved in 2013 to expand casino gaming to commercial companies. The New York Gaming Commission issued four upstate licenses in 2013 and gave them exclusivity until 2023. During last year’s budget, legislators inserted a language that will allow the commission to issue three downstate licenses in 2023.
