“That’s a whole new consumer base that we get, because we didn’t put it outside of Manhattan.”Ĭohen declined to respond to the jab, but Queens politicians weren’t hearing it.

“We’ll get tourists, and we’re gonna get affluent residents of Manhattan and New Jersey, who will not go to Atlantic City anymore,” he added. “They’ll just go to Las Vegas …There’s nothing unique about Queens.” “No tourists are going to fly to New York to go to Queens,” said Brett Herschenfeld, an executive vice president at SL Green, which is partnering with Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation for a Times Square casino. The expected proposal from hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen would complement an overhaul of the area, which includes a professional soccer stadium on the rundown lots of auto shops and junkyards.Īgainst that backdrop, a battle of the boroughs is now underway. That tension - which is coming to a head as the public process to award a $500 million-plus license gets underway - is opening the door for a gaming facility across the East River, where the owner of the Mets is angling to build a casino on the stadium parking lot in Queens. But the real estate honchos promising pomp and circumstance - namely, Related Companies at Hudson Yards and SL Green in Times Square - have to overcome something their money can’t buy: A handful of local politicians who not only don’t care about the flashy proposals, but are turned off by Manhattan’s years-long transformation into a playground for the rich.

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