- HSP Gaming LP - Sugarhouse Casino
- Philadelphia Entertainment and Development LP - Foxwoods
Foxwoods Casino
Foxwoods Development Co. is a commercial entity wholly owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. They own and operates a highly successful casino in Connecticut. Their Connecticut property is the largest casino in the world and is located on the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation reservation Today Foxwoods comprises six casinos that collectively offer more than 7,000 slot machines and 400 tables for 17 different types of table games, including 100 for poker. There's also a high-tech Race Book, as well as the world's largest Bingo Hall.If it gets through the expected legal challenges, their Philadelphia project will be built on 16 acres on the South Philadelphia riverfront at Columbus Boulevard and Reed Street at Piers 60, 62 and 63 and near Home Depot, IKEA, Target and Wal-Mart.
Scheduled to be built in phases, the initial casino construction includes 3,000 slot machines, entertainment and food and beverage venues. The casino will be built to allow expansion to 5,000 slots. Additional amenities, including a major waterfront hotel and retail shopping will follow.
Partnering with the Tribe is a diverse group of primarily local investors and business leaders, national sports figures and the legendary entertainer and record producer Quincy Jones.
More than 60 percent of the partner investor group is owned by Washington Partners Community Charities, LP, consisting of the Rubin Family Charitable Foundation, the Silver Family Charitable Foundation and Ed. Snider, all of whom have committed to donate 100 percent of their profits from the casino to philanthropic endeavors.
The Rubin Family Charitable Foundation and the Silver Family Charitable Foundation were created to fund charitable causes, primarily focusing on disadvantaged children in the Delaware Valley and southern New Jersey.
Ed Snider has pledged the funds received on behalf of his interest to charitable causes as well.
The Rubin Family Charitable Foundation was established by Ronald Rubin, CEO of PREIT and a Philadelphia-based real estate developer, whose holdings include the historic Bellevue, and other properties. The Silver Family Charitable Foundation was established by Melissa Silver, daughter of Lewis Katz, who is a partner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and a partner in the YankeeNets, the entity that owns the NY Yankee baseball team and the YES cable television network. Ed. Snider is the chairman and part-owner of Comcast Spectacor, whose holdings include the NHL Philadelphia Flyers and the NBA Philadelphia 76ers.
Other limited partner investors in Washington Philadelphia Investors, LP, some of whom have pledged a portion of their interests to charitable endeavors, are 76ers President and General Manager Billy King, world-renown music impresario Quincy Jones, developer Peter DePaul, former Phillies' centerfielder Garry Maddox.
Also, Atlantic City race track owner Robert Levy, Temple Women's Basketball Coach Dawn Staley, local attorney and businessman, Fred Tecee, A.J. Agarwal, a senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, an investment and advisory firm, Sylvia DiBona, wife of the late Independence Blue Cross President and CEO G. Fred DiBona, Jr., and local businessman Alan Steinberg.
Sugarhouse Casino
HSP Gaming LP - Sugarhouse Casino, will build on 22.6 acres on the Delaware waterfront in Northern Liberties, at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon Street where the former Jack Frost Sugar Refinery was located. They have encountered little community opposition and they are located in an area where a new exit from I-95 has already been approved. Sugarhouse is backed by local partners which include real estate developer Daniel Keating, lawyer Richard Sprague, former state Supreme Court Justice William Lamb, auto sales magnate Robert Potamkin, Jerry Johnson, president of eMoney Advisor Inc., and real estate developer Peter DePaul.Collectively, the partners have successfully developed, constructed and operated casinos, luxury hotels and other hospitality businesses around the world that have earned critical and community praise. They include Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Water Tower Place in Chicago, Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing, and Four Seasons Hotels in Philadelphia, Chicago and Sydney, Australia. Niagara Falls Casino, completed in 2004, was the largest privatelyfinanced commercial development in Canada and has become the number one tourist destination in that country.
The 1.3 million square foot casino complex, will cost $450 million and will include a state-of-the-art casino floor with 3,000 slot machines, a wide variety of bars of restaurants, a 25,000 square foot multi-purpose event center and customer parking for 3,000 cars. Future plans call for the construction of a 500-room hotel tower, expanded dining facilities, a health spa and additional garage parking.
In order to generate the maximum tax revenue in the shortest amount of time, if awarded a license, Sugarhouse is planning to open a temporary facility within nine months of licensing. One option under consideration is to relocate an existing riverboat casino that can house up to 1,500 slot machines.
Ultimately, it is estimated that the Sugarhouse Casino will create in excess of 1,300 permanent, high-quality new jobs. Additionally, in the first five years of operation, the Sugarhouse Casino is projected to generate more than $1.2 billion in gaming taxes, including $788 million in wage tax relief for Philadelphians, $93 million for Philadelphia City and County, $208 million for the Pennsylvania Racehorse Development Fund and $116 million for the Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund.