With the promise of 2,000 permanent jobs matched by 2,000 slot machines, MGM officials this morning including Bridgeport-born CEO Jim Murren will unveil plans for a $675 million waterfront resort on Seaview Avenue including a 300-room hotel, 900-foot boardwalk, 30,000 square feet of retail space and 160 table games. In a city in dire need of jobs and a state bleeding major businesses to other states, MGM hopes the waterfront resort provides backbone to the state to break the exclusive casino rights with Connecticut’s two tribal nations.
MGM is offering the state an annual revenue stream of $316 million and a $50 million licensing fee. Bridgeport will receive $8 million a year as the host city in addition to tax revenue if built as proposed on the former site of Carpenter Technology, across the street from the Bass Pro Shops anchoring the Steelpointe Harbor development. MGM seeks no public subsidy.
CT Post reporter Neil Vigdor has more:
MGM executives pointed to last December’s opening of MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., as a benchmark for the Bridgeport project. Bridgeport, along with a project in Tokyo, are the top two priorities of the company’s CEO, Murren, they said.
“I don’t know when those two cities are in the same sentence,” (Uri) Clinton (MGM official) said.
Full story here.
Tom Gill should RFP all three Casinos, MGM, Foxwoods, and Mohegan Sun.
Remington with a New Train Station in the Heart of this City would be the best place to locate a Casino.
It has easy excess from I-95 the Ferry boat and now a New Train Station.
The Shot Tower Casino can be seen from I-95 and just like Bass Pro will draw thousands of people to
it.
It’s a fabulous location that doesn’t need a whole lot of approvals to clean up the property or to build a Bridge to get there.
New York State now has 21 Casino’s and employs Tens of thousand of people.
When we started talking about a Casino for Bridgeport, New York had just seven.
If Mr. Clinton is right and I think he is, we owe it to ourselves to create Jobs for Bridgeport !
So here’s the scarey part, how fast can we replace our two State Senators from Bridgeport?
Sen. Marilyn Moore and Ed Gomes both voted for the joint tribal casino venture in East Windsor.
While Ed Gomes Co-Sponsored the East Windsor Casino Bill.
At the same time our two State Senators voted down MGM Casino jobs for Bridgeport!
Union Jobs for Bridgeport!!!
Do you think they’ll come on board for a MGM Casino plans for Bridgeport?
Will they ever roll the dice for Bridgeport Casino Jobs?
I don’t think so! Not while their Flucking Hands our in the pockets of Mohegan and Foxwoods East Windsor Casino!
This is an interesting proposal. If it is all it appears to be then it could provide a nice shot in the arm for the city, help develop the waterfront, provide jobs, make Bridgeport a destination which could help build up other businesses and it would be done without public money or tax abetments. Again seems promising; but the devil is always in the details.
OMG- A positive post from Jim Fox. Thank G-d. The question of the day will be, Does Mayor Ganim want to leave Bridgeport to be Governor or wait 4 years when the come back kid has a real story to tell. “FOCUS”, If this project is real, Ganim will be a hero for supporting and pushing this project through.
Christopher Rosario and Ezequiel Santiago should be commended for keeping this vision alive. Bridgeport now becomes a destination with entertainment downtown, Breweries, pubs and Comedy clubs. Things are looking good.
But Wait? There’s More!
Props to Rosario and Santiagp!
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Casino-project-would-put-city-development-on-new-12205480.php
Another prop for the Ganim for Governor campaign.
Get that new wing for the Museum of Wishful Thinking started.
While I would love to see MGM come to Bridgeport and goodness knows Bridgeport and its resident’s could use this opportunity the biggest hindrance to this is, MGM hopes the waterfront resort provides backbone to the state to break the exclusive casino rights with Connecticut’s two tribal nations.
There are two chances that the tribal nations will allow the state to break it’s exclusive casino rights, Slim and None. Keep hope alive.
Combined Connecticut gaming revenue totaled $1.6 billion in 2015, down from $1.62 billion in 2014 and down still further from $1.73 billion in 2013, according to data compiled by Alan Meister, an economist with Nathan Associates Inc. for Casino City’s 2017 Indian Gaming Industry Report.
Why would the state give that up for $316 million yearly and $8 million for Bridgeport when the state has never given a damn about Bridgeport?
Donald Day…are you possibly looking at TOTAL GAMING Dollars which include Lottery,Parimutuel,OTB and Casino. I went to the Dtate of Connecticut Dept of Consumer Protection and I saw in 2015,total revenue deposited onto the Connecticut General Fund from Casinos as being 267,985,849(round off to 268 million)
http://www.ct.gov/dcp/lib/dcp/pdf/gaming/stmt2015.pdf
LOL,here we go again,Joe gathering the press,TV cameras etc,and announcing a “big development” for Bpt,that will never happen.These ‘announcements are only for Joe to get his name in the papers and TV newscast throughout the state,all part of his ridiculous idea he can be elected Governor…The state is never signing off on this,MGM
Frank, you are absolutely correct. After looking this over then it looks to be great for Bridgeport, residents and city. Having said that, the State had never given a damn about Bridgeport and I don’t see that happening now.
The state will get even less slot revenue based on the fact that Connecticut’s two casinos stand to lose $703 million a year, and annual state slot revenues could drop by $100 million, once four new casinos are up and running in New York and Massachusetts in 2019, a new report says. If this is the case the State should jump on any extra $316 million a year, but…….
MGM officials din’t give a rat’s ass about the people of the city of Bridgeport. They just want cheap real estate and a tax abatement. None of the casino profits will make it into the city’s economy. 6000 permanent jobs, eh? If pigs had wings…
Great news for Bridgeport! Do we have the resolve and political wherewithal to move things forward on this proposal — and maximize its long-term value to our city beyond its face-value? This is one proposal that makes sense for the developer, brings cash with it, and can actually come to fruition… We should leverage the best deal possible and make it work for us in all aspects of our municipal, residential, and economic life…
I would have to sat this is…”interesting.” The Christophs/RCI/Steelpoint have signed a contract(which probably can be mutually waled away from) but I would think that the Christophs would love to just finish up with Steelpoint in one fell swoop. As far as I know or have heard,there is one building planned wchich is supposed to house a seafood restaurant and offices for the Christophs. Everything else has disappeared and it’s starting to look like a heavy lift to fill up the rest of Steelpoint,the Carpenter site.Steelpointe can become a ,figurative and literal,albatross hanging around the neck of the Christoph’s.There is also the now un-used O&G site.However,is this still a ploy by MGM to stop the Indian casino outside of Hartford. But,then again,the Indian casinos has seen their business decline and I don’t believe that there is any analysis that it will increase substantially. Maybe the Indians would like to give up the deal with The State of Connecticut and may no longer even want to have revenue sharing with the State Government. A lot of questions. One big concern is the proliferation of casino gambling in the states around Connecticut. Will all thee Casinos simple cut up a finite pie with each casino location getting a smaller slice. One possible market area that a Bridgeport Casino might tap into is Long Island with the ferry service as long as no casino is built on Long Island NY. It’s hard for me to see a casino being built in Long Island unless it’s closer to Queens(Coney Island) or Brooklyn. I still think of Atlantic City one is was one of the few gambling site on the East Coast and even Atlantic City casinos have had their ups and downs. I am very wary of this MGM casino bid. It could be a big bang or a huge bust. I really don’t think there are any guarantees even with all these rosy prediction due to marketplace,proximity to NY etc. We will see.
obviously,there are some misspellings. I hope everyone can guess the correct words.
Actually,there is a casino in Queens(ten minutes from JFK airport) and another one in Yonkers. Hours are limited(10-6 Seven days a week). The New York Casinos look like limited,”branch” casinos.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/which_casinos_are_still_open_in_atlantic_city_and.html
Mgm is playing Bridgeport against the state you watch there will be NO casino when this is over.
Exactly Andy, and Joe just found something else to “announce”..Joe just needs headlines at this point,and of course, bi monthly fundraisers.