Jay-Z and his Roc Nation byplay imperium are partnered with Caesars Entertainment and New House of York City tangible estate investment funds bank SL Green River to play an structured gambling casino holiday resort to Manhattan’s Times Square. But with plenteousness of local opposition, including from the Theater District’s Broadway League and Shubert Organization, Jay-Z is hyping why the public should make his side.
In an unresolved letter of the alphabet published past Roc Carry Nation and picked up by several NYC media outlets on Thursday, Jay-Z says bringing a casino to the mettle of Manhattan would welfare New York as a whole. The hip-hop mogul, whose Roc Carry Nation empire includes tape publishing, sports and talent representation, fashion, and philanthropy, says the gambling casino critics make paste much misinformation near the Times Square project.
Caesars and SL William Green have got united to metamorphose the latter’s 1515 Broadway business office and house skyscraper into an integrated resort hotel with a casino, entertainment, shopping, spa, and formula and group meeting space. The 54-story edifice is currently nursing home to Viacom/MTV Networks and Disney’s “Lion King” musical production.
The Caesars architectural plan suggests placing the gambling casino infinite on the octad highest floors of the skyscraper.
Jay-Z Hypes Casino
SL Green and Caesars believe a cassino in Times Square would pull heptad zillion unexampled visitors to the expanse apiece twelvemonth and 600K overnight guests annually.
In his surface letter, the 53-year-old says the additional visitation would benefit non only when 1515 Broadway, but the many restaurants, theaters, amusement venues, and shops in Times Square and inwards the Theater District.
“Caesars Palace Times Square testament benefit all of New House of York — the hotel and eating place workers inwards the area, retailers, and surrounding neighborhoods,” Jay-Z asserted.
The mogul said the Roc Nation/Caesars/SL beseech includes a $115 meg plight to fortify diverse theater programs and provide daycare services for Great White Way performers, workers, and their families.
Our press honors the city of dreams, New York City, and the people who make made this put we all phone call home the cultural and entertainment upper-case letter of the world,” Jay-Z continued. “This is our moment, our opportunity, to enamour the zip of Times Square and invest in our city.”
Jay-Z pinpointed several benefits the casino would deliver, including assess benefits for little businesses and mass transit. Gaming revenue could also bread and butter investments inwards sanitisation and security.
“You’re a New Yorker. You let it,” Jay-Z concluded with the closure salutation, “in service.”
Staunch Opposition
The opposition to a Times Square cassino is in the first place led by the Theater District’s interests and the many upscale restaurants that cater to the house crowds. They title a casino would poach businesses from those restaurants and small businesses.
One of the most famous Great White Way eateries, Sardi’s, is among the cassino opposition. In a January op-ed, Sardi’s possessor Max Klimavicius said a Caesars cassino is “a losing bet.”
“No affair how often accent promoters essay to station on glitz and glamour, a cassino inward Times Square has the potency to jeopardize the fiber of the Theater District and the fate of its restaurants,” Klimavicius said. “These restaurants are where families collect in joyful, pre-theater anticipation, where dates begin, and where dramas and musicals are discussed over afters and a nightcap after the curtain comes down.”