Louis Cappelli may have taken a few recession-fueled body blows with plans north of Westchester County, but he”™s back up and in the ring with new partners, the Mohegan Tribe.
Meantime Empire Resorts, developers of what would be a nearby rival casino, would like to see Cappelli”™s plans go down for the count and plan to fight him.
The Mohegans, owners of Connecticut”™s Mohegan Sun and Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania, have entered into an agreement with Cappelli to build on the site of the former Concord Hotel and Resort in Kiamesha Lake, where Cappelli”™s ambitious plans for a $1 billion “Entertainment City” were knocked out by the crash of 2008.
In a prepared statement, state and local officials praised the resurrection of the Concord project.
State Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mt. Hope, said Mohegan Sun “offers a tremendous product and a world-renowned brand. I am very enthusiastic about this project and am 100 percent in support of this tremendous economic development opportunity which will create over 1,000 much-needed jobs in our region.”
State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh, agreed: “As I have done all along, I support the redevelopment of the Concord property which will benefit Sullivan County, the mid-Hudson region and all of New York.”
“I am certainly encouraged with the new partnership that has been assembled to bring this exciting development to fruition,” said Tony Cellini, supervisor of the town of Thompson, where the Concord property is situated. “The 1,000 jobs are most welcomed and vital and I look forward to the opening of this historic project.”
State and local officials may be thrilled Cappelli is back in action and ready to break ground next month, but there”™s already a wrinkle.
Empire Resorts issued a statement on May 6 immediately following the announcement of the Cappelli-MTGA partnership: “At this time, neither Concord Associates, nor the (state Gaming) Authority, have valid New York State licenses to operate a harness racetrack or video gaming machines in Sullivan County … in addition, Empire does not believe that such licenses can be obtained.”
Empire, with its own casino and plans to renovate the existing Monticello harness track, wants to build a hotel on 29 acres it owns adjacent to its property. It intends to “vigorously oppose any request to obtain such licenses, including, if necessary, by pursuing all of its available legal rights and remedies.”
Cappelli said, “Empire”™s claim of having an exclusive license in Sullivan County is simply not correct.”
The Westchester developer bought the once-famous Concord for $10.25 million in a bankruptcy proceeding in 2000. Armed with plans to build a 550-plus room hotel, conference center, luxury spa, a racino and a harness track, and assembling willing investors to share the cost ”“ and ostensibly to reap the profit ”“ more than $1 million went into demolishing the former resort and doing remediation work to the site. It was cleared and ready to build on by mid-2008.
Cappelli won concessions from former Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature that would have allowed him to retain a significant portion of Entertainment City”™s VLT revenue in exchange for the economic boost it would be for a financially stressed region, creating hundreds of construction jobs and an estimated 1,000 permanent jobs.
The now-barren site where the Concord once stood may soon see a smaller version of Cappelli”™s proposed Entertainment City with his new partner, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. Their proposed joint venture, Concord Kiamesha Holdings L.L.C., has engaged Jeffries & Co., headquartered in Manhattan, as its financial adviser.
MTGA will bring in well-known casino/resort designers Marnell Associates from Las Vegas to fully develop the 116-acre site. The new casino/hotel resort complex is budgeted at over $600 million and includes a 75,000 square foot casino with 2,100 VLTs and capacity for up to 450 electronic game tables, along with a 258-room hotel, 10,000 square feet of ballrooms, five restaurants, several retail outlets and entertainment spaces.
Plans also call for a harness racing facility with a 5/8 mile track and grandstand, along with paddock facilities; a simulcast facility for pari-mutuel wagering is part of the game plan.
Sullivan residents, who have wearily and warily awaited the dawn of casino gambling in the Catskills, may have an unwanted ringside seat what could become a prolonged battle between Cappelli and his former associates at Empire Resorts, where he once sat on its board of directors. “We”™re just waiting for the bell to ring,” said one longtime casino-watcher.
Cappelli could not be reached for further comment.
