Casinos
No planning and development issue has been as controversial in Philadelphia as the Commonwealth’s siting of two slots-only casinos on the Delaware riverfront in December 2006. When Pennsylvania legalized slots gaming in 2004, Mayor Street convened a task force to review potential casino sites and submit recommendations to the state. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board ended up placing SugarHouse Casino at the former Jack Frost Refinery site at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon Street in Fishtown, and Foxwoods Casino at a riverfront site at Columbus Boulevard and Reed Street, neither of which were the city’s recommendations. SugarHouse opened in 2010.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the country with legalized gaming, and its casino is the nearest to residential neighborhoods in the country. By the same token, casinos will pay millions of dollars in taxes to the city every year, which can fund vital city services. What has followed since 2006 has been a flurry of lawsuits, countersuits, license extensions, protests, and redesigns, all while the casino developers slowly continue their march through the permitting process.
Separate AVI and schools | waterfront zoning overlay update | stop-work over at Goldtex | Philly food truck scene | $1.5 billion for PA from gaming | new (old) publisher for Media Network
May Day rallies | Route 34 track improvements | casino license auction | connector street plans | SRC budget hearing tonight
Could Philly benefit from another casino?
The Inquirer’s Jennifer Lin looks at the economic context of Bart Blatstein’s proposal to build a casino-entertainment complex at the Inquirer-Daily News building. It could result in a lower revenue for the state.
Poll: A casino on Callowhill?
Developer Bart Blatstein wants to build a casino behind the Inquirer building. Tell us what you think by taking today’s Word on the Street poll.
Dilworth House stands | Clarke wants another casino | Tower Place construction starts | Reading Viaduct as neighborhood park | ‘Barnes Totem’ install delayed
Kimmel Center reno | Philly’s bandit sign crusader | spared Sheppard and Stanton could move | Foxwoods dead | PMN sale announcement | property reassessment scares Council | SEPTA rethinks transfers
Planning and zoning roundup, SEPTA green grants, Philly’s ethnic eats
This Just In: Public Meetings, PHA auctions, Shane’s Candy
Where’s PlanPhilly this week? Stay tuned for coverage of the PHA vacant property auction, zoning code reform, rezonings along the Delaware and Germantown Avenue, SugarHouse’s expansion, and more.
Tensions high between City and Occupy, Sheriff’s Office’s investigated, CDAG objects to SugarHouse expansion, Buddhist temple’s deed stolen
Rivage reimagined, new owners for Olympia, redevelopment on Chestnut Street, Mayfair playground rebuilt, Foxwoods denied
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