Silverstein Properties Unveils Avenir New York City Casino Vision
Posted on: May 26, 2025, 07:59h.
Last updated on: May 26, 2025, 07:59h.
- Silverstein Properties is further detailing its New York City bid
- Silverstein is partnered with Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment
- The casino plan targets Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen
The New York City casino bid by Silverstein Properties that includes gaming and hospitality firms Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment has unveiled its multibillion-dollar resort vision for Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen.
Earlier this month, Silverstein announced Rush’s involvement in the bid. The Chicago-based gaming company operates Rivers Casinos in Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia. Rush joins Greenwood and its two Parx casinos in Pennsylvania as the would-be operators and managers of Silverstein’s casino complex should it win one of the three downstate New York casino concessions slated to be awarded by the end of 2025.
While the seven other expected NYC bids have been in the works for many months, if not years, and those proposals have been touting the many community and economic benefits each would bring, Silverstein is only now divulging blueprint specifics.
Hell’s Kitchen Casino
Silverstein Properties, privately owned by 93-year-old real estate tycoon Larry Silverstein, best known for his involvement in the World Trade Center and later development of One World Trade, wants to build a 785-foot skyscraper on a 2.1-acre site he owns at 11th Ave. between 40th and 41st Streets.
Renderings for the Avenir, as the project is being called, include 1,000 hotel rooms, numerous restaurants and bars, a food hall, a 1,000-seat concert hall, 100 affordable housing units, and 600,000 square feet of gaming space occupying eight stories of the towering structure. Silverstein says the project, if greenlit, would create 4,000 union construction jobs and more than 5,000 permanent union jobs.
Over the last 40 years, we have invested heavily in this neighborhood, and care deeply about the fabric of this community,” Lisa Silverstein, CEO of Silverstein Properties, told the New York Post. “We design as though the neighborhood is a campus, architecturally tying all the elements so they work seamlessly together. It will bring more security, enterprise, and entertainment on a level that doesn’t exist in one establishment and become a sophisticated addition to the New York skyline.”
Silverstein Properties seems more focused on its casino bid after Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, formerly viewed as serious contenders, folded. Both companies faced strong local backlash, respectively on Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum and in Hudson Yards West in a tender with billionaire Stephen Ross.
Saks Fifth Avenue, though considered a long shot, folded on its Midtown Manhattan boutique casino concept in April.
Political Inroads
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board has ordered casino bids to be submitted by June 27. To qualify for consideration, a bid must secure approval from its Community Advisory Committee, prove compliance and approval with all required state and local zoning requirements, and pay a $1 million application fee to the New York State Gaming Commission to cover costs associated with reviewing the scheme.
Each CAC must approve the casino plan with a two-thirds majority threshold. For bids within NYC, a CAC consists of six members — the state governor, NYC mayor, and applicable state senator, assemblymember, borough president, and city councilmember.
For bids outside NYC, the five-member CAC consists of the governor and applicable county executive, state senator, assemblymember, and locality’s senior elected official.
Billionaire Steve Cohen is spending millions lobbying state and local lawmakers to support his casino bid with Hard Rock International at his Citi Field MLB ballpark in Queens. Resorts World New York City, seen as a front-runner along with MGM Resorts’ Empire City, has doled out over $1 million in gaming lobbyist fees.
Bally’s Corp., Soloviev Group, and the consortium behind the Coney Island bid have also spent heavily in promoting their resort developments to elected officials.
Silverstein Properties, however, is among the most politically connected enterprises in all of New York.
Last Comment ( 1 )
People might disagree with me. I'm sorry I'm all for it. You all go to Atlantic City to gamble, bringing them tremendous revenue. What's wrong with the picture, put a casino in times square and here, let New York City bring in the revenue. Maybe having it will get some of these lazy people off their butts and get a job. Let's make New York City rich. Take some of the revenue and use it for the homeless, the food banks, affordable housing, schools , education, medical. As far as crime is concerned, we already have it. Oh wait we could use that to hire more police officers. Wake up