A Thursday hearing presented Queens Borough President Donovan Richards with varied opinions on the proposed Metropolitan Park, a mixed-use development plan that would include a Hard Rock Casino near Citi Field. Most of the commentary provided by groups and residents in Queens was enthusiastically positive about the project.
Those sentiments echo Richards’s own, making him a likely “yes” vote for the proposal for the committee on which Richards occupies a seat along with continuing positive momentum for the project. Richards wasn’t without his requests for additions to the proposal from Hard Rock and Steven Cohen, though.
Cohen’s team presents Metropolitan Park plans
The hearing on Dec. 5, 2024, featured several representatives of Cohen’s team working on the Metropolitan Park project. The hearing also took place less than two weeks after the proposal gained approval from all five relevant community boards.
Michael “Sully” Sullivan, Cohen’s chief of staff, spoke to the proposal’s community benefits and gave a broad overview of the plans. Julissa Ferreras-Copeland discussed the proposal’s engagement with the community while Gregg Pasquarelli detailed the proposed design. Their testimony stressed the financial commitment of Cohen and Hard Rock while avoiding concerns like traffic congestion.
After the presentation, Richards shared his thoughts on the project.
Hearing gives Richards opportunity to question developers
Richards first asked Sullivan to reiterate the projection for job creation and Sullivan replied that the estimate sat at 23,000 between permanent and temporary positions. Sullivan denoted that they expect 6,100 of those to be temporary jobs related to the construction of the various developments.
Richards then mentioned the “MWBE number” (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise) and stressed that he would like to see that figure climb to 40% or over. Richards next asked about Metropolitan Park’s “local hiring goals.”
“We have announced a Queens hiring process,” Sullivan replied. “If you’re from Queens and you’re qualified for a job, you get the first shot at it.”
Sullivan did not elaborate on what “being from Queens” exactly means but did add that Metropolitan Park has memorandums of understanding with multiple local workforce development centers.
Richards addressed reporting on local hiring and MWBE, to which Sullivan responded that Metropolitan Park engaged with a local non-profit to provide monthly reports on those subjects. Sullivan did not name the organization.
Richards communicated his satisfaction and returned to community benefits, asking for further clarification.
Richards probes community benefit plans
Sullivan was presented with an $163 million community benefit fund by Richards, and was asked by him to define that term.
“What we’re committing to, and this is a bare minimum. … is a partnership that Hard Rock and we are committing to,” Sullivan replied. “[It will be] $163 million over 30 years. We’re going to have a local community board that instructs us what the priorities are. People that receive the funds can’t be on it. It’s got to be independent folks but Queens residents. We’ll turn over the board to get fresh opinions every few years.”
Richards followed by asking about revenue projections. Sullivan responded that because the potential casino tax rates and license cost are both parts of the competitive bidding process, it’s difficult to estimate revenue currently.
When Richards inquired about community space, particularly a food hall featuring local vendors, Sullivan responded that Metropolitan Park would subsidize costs and restrict access to local vendors in the “Taste of Queens’ food hall. Additionally, Sullivan commented that Metropolitan Park would provide community space for meetings and performances.
Sullivan then replied to parking concerns expressed by Richards, explaining that the plans include a new garage on top of furthering efforts to increase mass transit to the venue. At that point, Richards asked about plans for the public park space, particularly maintenance costs.
Sullivan replied that Cohen and Hard Rock would together cover the cost of maintaining the park, including private security. Richards’ final question brought gambling into the conversation.
Hard Rock official addresses gambling addiction concerns
Hard Rock VP for Global Social Responsibility Paul Pellizzari took the floor to discuss responsible gambling measures at the proposed casino.
“We have education programs aimed at all players. … We train all of our team members. … We train them on the red flag science. … One thing we’re very proud of is being integrated into the community. We have already at this stage in the process signed MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with local organizations, including Elmcor…with Korean Community Services, with [the] Korean-American Family Service Center, and with Hamilton Madison House.”
Before his time concluded, Richards suggested mandatory reporting on the distribution of responsible gambling dollars from Metropolitan Park. The rest of the nearly five-hour meeting featured comments from dozens of local groups and residents.
Community members chime in on Metropolitan Park
While the majority of the people giving testimony at the hearing spoke in favor of Metropolitan Park, that support was not universal.
As an example, Margaret Flanagan, who spoke as both a Queens resident and a volunteer with Guardians of Flushing Bay, cited concerns about diminishing publicly owned space. Flanagan suggested that approval be contingent upon a one-to-one acre replacement of the public parkland within Queens.
Richards will have time to review the information from Metropolitan Park and the dozens of comments. His vote will not become a pertinent issue for several months.
Richards’ role in the future of Metropolitan Park
As the borough president of Queens, Richards occupies one of six seats on a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the borough. The other five members consist of:
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams
- the locally appropriate member of the New York Assembly
- the relevant member of the New York City Council
- the locally appropriate member of the New York Senate
Those committees will play an important role in determining the future sites of as many as three brick-and-mortar commercial casinos in the southern part of New York.
While separate from the licensing process, CACs will have influence over where licensed parties can develop their casinos.
Under the current timeline, the CACs have through Sept. 30, 2025 to render their decisions on proposals. That timeline is tentative to the discretion of officials working on the process, however, despite attempts to establish statutory deadlines.
Rejection of plans from the CAC would not revoke a gaming license for a developer but it would force the licensee to at least modify their plans for a specific site to the satisfaction of the CAC members. The New York State Gaming Commission will determine the suitability of an applicant for a casino license.
At this time, a path to CAC approval for Metropolitan Park is visible.
Support for Metropolitan Park is possible but tenuous
There are some indications that Richards will vote in favor of Metropolitan Park. Arun Venugopal of Gothamist reports that Richards supports the project and nothing in Richards’ questioning on Thursday explicitly conveyed otherwise.
For as much as Richards seems to support the project, though, the local state Senator Jessica Ramos has conveyed opposition. Ramos has maintained that she will not file legislation to alienate the necessary parkland and Venogopal reported that Ramos believes her constituents do not want a casino in Queens.
Comments from Adams and Hochul on Metropolitan Park that would indicate a leaning have been absent. In October, Hochul refuted reports that she would introduce legislation to ease parkland alienation requirements to aid the Cohen-Hard Rock plans.
Concerning the local Assembly member Nily Rozic and City Council member Sandra Ung, Ung did go on the record on the issue in May. Speaking with Sophie Krichevsky of the Queens Chronicle, Ung conveyed concerns about the casino.
“My city council district is the largest city council district of Asian-Americans. I believe it’s 73%. There is a gambling issue in my community. I find this to be concerning. I know it’s free will, and that a conversation comes up, that no one is forcing anyone to go there, I don’t want this community to be targeted to go there.”
Thursday’s hearing was a positive development for Cohen and Hard Rock but many challenges lie ahead. Richards doesn’t appear to be among those obstacles at this time.
