The Post has learned that the gaming company Bally’s is putting its money on The Bronx by proposing a casino next to the Trump Organization’s public golf course at Ferry Point.
Sources who know about the company’s plans say that its officials have talked with the Trump Organization about giving Bally’s 17 of the 300 acres on the site to run a casino.
The city owns the land, and a real estate company run by two of former President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, has a 20-year contract with the Parks Department to run it as a golf course.
Sources say that Bally’s plan would only need 10 acres for its casino. The other seven acres could be used for green space or other things, like housing for workers.
Long-term, Bally’s would like to take over the whole property, which used to be a garbage dump, from the Trump Organization, according to people who know what the casino company is thinking.
Sources who know about the project say that it could lead to more than 15,000 construction jobs and more than 3,500 permanent, high-paying union jobs with salaries starting at $70,000 and benefits and retirement plans.
In a statement to The Post on Sunday, Bally’s said that its big plan to build a casino next to the course at the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point is still on.
“We are very excited about the idea of bringing Bally’s approach to gaming and entertainment that focuses on the community to The Bronx. A spokesperson for Bally’s said, “We start with the idea that the leaders in the community know what’s best for their community.”
“With this as our guiding principle, we have been having a series of ongoing conversations with local elected officials, community groups, and key civic leaders to find out what they want from a possible new project,” the statement said. “Our vision is to turn a former garbage dump and a high-end golf course into a world-class entertainment destination, with a focus on workforce housing and new and improved public green space at the centre of the project.”
Bally’s promised that small businesses and people who live in the Bronx will be able to “share in the casino’s economic prosperity and have access to its amenities for generations to come.”
The spokesperson said, “We couldn’t be happier about the chance to write the next chapter of Bally’s long history in the Bronx.”
The Trump Organization, which used to run casinos in Atlantic City, didn’t have anything to say right away.
Soon, a state board will start taking applications for up to three casino licences in the south of the state.
The only gambling company betting on a casino in The Bronx is Bally’s.
Genting/Resorts World and MGM’s Empire City, which own the slot machines at the Aqueduct race track in Ozone Park, Queens, and the Yonkers race track, are expected to put in bids to add table games to their offerings.
Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets, wants to build a casino near Citi Field in Willets Point, Queens, where the team plays. A professional soccer stadium with room for 25,000 people is also planned for the area.
The Steve Ross-Related Companies/Wynn Resorts partnership for Hudson Yards, the landlord SL Green/Caesars Entertainment team for Times Square, and a group that includes Legends, which is part-owned by the Yankees organisation and is pushing for a gaming facility in Coney Island, are also planning to run casinos.
Marjorie Velazquez, a Bronx councilwoman whose district includes the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, said she was all for putting a casino there.
Velazquez said Sunday, “It’s great for The Bronx.”
She thinks that the casino will have good union jobs that will help small businesses in the area.
Velazquez said that the Trump golf course is too expensive and that most of the people who live in her district can’t afford to play there.
“It’s a chance to think again about what can be done at the site. I’m very happy that The Bronx is being talked about.”
Bally’s has some roots in New York. Its Chairman, Soo Kim, grew up in Queens, and the company owns one of New York’s licences to offer sports betting.
It is getting some important people from the Bronx with political connections to help make its case. Stanley Schlein, a lawyer with close ties to the Bronx Democratic Party and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), just signed up as a lobbyist for Bally’s.
Get Miranda’s latest take
Sign up for Miranda Devine’s newsletter, Devine Online.
A spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams, Fabien Levy, said, “We’re not going to comment on a proposal that hasn’t been made yet and that we won’t be making a decision on.” He said this because the state will be the one to give out licences for casinos.
City Council members have been putting pressure on the Adams administration to get rid of the Trump Organization’s lease on the Ferry Point golf course, which runs out in April 2032. People have said bad things about the company for letting Saudi Arabia pay for a women’s golf tournament at Ferry Point.
In January 2021, former Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was ending the city’s contract with the Trump Organization to run the golf course. He said he had the right to do so because Trump had played a “criminal” role in the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But in April of last year, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge said that the city had broken the 20-year contract without good reason.
Add Comment