Mayor: Fall River courting new casino plan amid concerns over Foxwoods
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- Jo C. Goode
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Jun. 17, 2014 @ 12:11 am
Updated Jun 17, 2014 at 12:14 AMFALL RIVER — Mayor Will Flanagan’s administration is open to new suitors who want to build a resort-style casino after Foxwoods, the Connecticut-based gaming company, has yet to work out a deal with the city and will not meet a September deadline to file with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for a license in the southeast.
Flanagan, once a vocal cheerleader for Foxwoods’ proposed $750 million gaming and entertainment facility in Fall River, said he welcomed the announcement last week by the gaming commission that it’s considering extending a deadline date of Sept. 23 for applications for the Region C commercial gaming license.
Next week the gaming commission will consider an extension that could move the deadline to March 2015. Originally, the deadline was set for July 23.
Both Flanagan and representatives from Foxwoods protested the gaming commission’s first deadline extension, claiming the gambling giant would be able to meet the initial deadline.
Flanagan reversed that position.
“I would support the gaming commission extending the timeline to next year and reopen an appropriate procedure to attract new investors,” said Flanagan. “Right now, there are currently only a few able to apply in Region C and (Foxwoods) is having some type of internal conflict and are unable to move forward.”
Fall River Office of Economic Development Vice President Kenneth Fiola, who has been working with Foxwoods since it announced in January its interest in developing in the city, said its financial partners, the investment group Crossroads Massachusetts LLC, has pulled financing from the proposed project.
“Foxwoods is in the process of changing development partners,” Fiola said. “Crossroads was the entity that filed and funded the $400,000 for the initial gaming application.”
Several telephone calls to a Foxwoods’ spokesman, Foxwoods CEO Scott Butera and David Nunes, spokesperson for Crossroads, were not returned.
This may be Foxwoods’ second failed attempt to gain one of the state’s three gaming licenses. In November, Milford voters rejected by referendum a $1 billion proposal from Foxwoods for the eastern region license, which also covers metropolitan Boston and is considered the most lucrative area for gaming.
Flanagan had originally signed an exclusivity agreement with Foxwoods, Fiola said, but now that they will not be filing an application with the gaming commission, that pact was terminated.
Other casino companies have expressed interest in developing in the city and discussions with different gaming interests have proceeded, Fiola said.
Flanagan said he would still be willing to work with Foxwoods.
“But you have to be realistic and attract the very best project and do what is in the best interest of the city,” Flanagan said.
It was a little more than a week ago that Foxwoods’ spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink denied media reports that the company had lost interest in Fall River but would not confirm discussions with leaders in New Bedford to develop a project in that city.
“We have not, in any way, shape or form, said that Fall River is unsuitable,” Wolbrink told the Associated Press.
Last month, Flanagan announced that Foxwoods was abandoning the 30-acre site at the Harbour Mall and looking for 120-acres of waterfront property that would triple the project’s scope.
The city had submitted a draft of a host community agreement to Foxwoods as part of the process to meet the July 23 deadline and then the September deadline, Fiola said, but casino representatives hesitated to make comments about the proposed agreement.
The extension by the gaming commission and the possibility that a referendum to repeal the casino law could be on the ballot in November may have played a role in Foxwoods’ inability to file for a gaming application, Fiola said.
“Obviously if its appealed there will be a chilly climate in Region C for Foxwoods and other companies to meet a deadline,” Fiola said.
http://www.heraldnews.com/article/20140617/NEWS/140616836/1994/NEWS
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