The cards are down, and two proposed casinos in Manhattan are out of the running in the first votes on projects across the region vying for up to three new state licenses.
In votes Wednesday morning, local advisory committees nixed a gambling complex proposed for Times Square and another near Hudson Yards.
The Avenir sought to bring 1,000 hotel rooms and a casino to a site near the Javits Center to be developed by Silverstein Properties. The other, Caesars Palace Times Square, would have redeveloped an existing tower in the famed Manhattan hub to create a new gambling and entertainment facility backed by Jay-Z, his company Roc Nation, its parent Live Nation, Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty.
Caesars went first and was defeated by a four-to-two vote of its local Community Advisory Committee — with votes in support coming from the mayor and governor’s representatives, and the no votes from the delegates of local elected officials.
As the reps filed out of the room after the vote, SL Green Realty chairman Marc Holliday called their action “despicable,” Crain’s New York reported.
“The benefits you denied this community and this city and state — you have to live with that history forever,” he shouted.
Each casino proposal is required by the state to include at least $500 million worth of investment in the communities where they plan to build. The Times Square proposal estimated its total investment to be worth $5.4 billion, with 3,800 permanent jobs created and $250 million in support to the community, including safety improvements to Times Square and $15 million for a civil rights museum.
Opponents of the Times Square proposal cheered the decision. The Roc Nation project — which had invested heavily in winning local residents’ support — had faced especially strong pushback from the Broadway theater industry.
“So grateful to our elected officials and committees who voted, because this wasn’t just a win for us, it was a win for the entire community,” said LaChanze, an actress and theatre producer, at a press conference in Times Square after the vote. “This is our home. When we come together, when we fight for our city, we win.”
Anti-Times Square casino advocates celebrate a community advisory committee voting down the proposal, Sept. 17, 2025 Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
‘Ready for a Vote’
Even as the Caesars proposal went down in defeat, the developers of the Avenir made a last-minute effort to postpone their vote — with Silverstein Properties protesting that it had received a request from the committee to amend their application late Tuesday night.
But the Avenir Community Advisory Committee proceeded with a vote, also voting two in favor, four against.
Nabeela Malik, Mayor Eric Adams’ representative on the CAC for The Avenir, was one of the two members who voted yes for the casino — but first expressed concern that the vote was happening with still two weeks left until the deadline.
“By moving today’s vote forward we effectively lost more than two weeks of deliberation,” Malik said. She remarked that the proposal is complex and that more time would have allowed for committee members to review, comment and consider the application.
Former Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, appointed by Sen. Liz Krueger to the committee, voted no, and said he thought the committee was ready for a vote.
“This is a process that has been going on now for actually several years and our process has gone for at least for a couple months,” Gottfried said. “It’s been as open and involved and fair a process as I’ve seen in decades in involvement in state and local government, so I think we’re ready for a vote.”
The Avenir was a projected $7 billion development with 4,000 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs, its application to the state said.
Dino Fusco, chief operating officer of Silverstein said he was surprised the CAC went ahead with a vote on Wednesday after the CAC requested an amendment to Silverstein’s proposal “ten minutes before the 11th hour,” and Silverstein repeatedly asked to delay the vote.
Fusco said Silverstein has worked with the CAC for two and a half months, and with constituents in the neighborhood for years, to put forward a proposal that included an increase in residential and affordable housing and close to $100 million of funding to the MTA.
“It’s a bit surprising to me, that with that good faith effort that we were making, to try to make our proposal as reinforcing as what we had gotten feedback on, to not even have the opportunity to have that conversation is very, very disappointing,” said Fusco, in a press conference after the vote.
With Wednesday’s votes, the two Manhattan projects have no path forward to become legally licensed casinos. Had they received a green light from the committees, the proposals would have moved forward to a final review by the Gaming Facility Location Board, convened by the New York State Gaming Commission.
That board has said it will make a final decision on up to three available casino licenses for the downstate area by the end of the calendar year.
Six other proposals are still in the running. They include plans from Bally’s for its Throggs Neck golf course, Thor Equities in Coney Island, Mets owner Steve Cohen near Citi Field and Soloviev Group’s Freedom Plaza on the east side of Manhattan. Two already licensed electronic-only gaming halls from Resorts World in southeast Queens and MGM Empire City in Yonkers are also seeking full-casino licenses.
Proposals have faced considerable local opposition, including in The Bronx and around Citi Field. The Coney Island proposal, too, saw heated debate at its final hearing last week.
Wednesday’s votes are the end point in a long and winding road for the two shot-down Manhattan casino proposals, which have both been in the works for years. West side neighbors cheered their downfall.
“We have common concerns that are very much community oriented and also having a community remain an actual community,” said Anne Haas, a longtime Hell’s Kitchen resident. “A place where you can raise your kids and a place where there’s affordable housing, where people care about those things. A place where people care about the environment.”
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