The team behind Metropolitan Park – led by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International – has officially submitted an application to the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board for one of three downstate gaming licenses.
The application, which came ahead of Friday’s deadline for submissions, marks a “major milestone” to bring the Metropolitan Park development to a 50-acre space adjacent to Citi Field, Cohen said in a statement.
“This is the product of over four years of working hand in hand with the community, local leaders, and Mets fans. Now, with this application, we’re one step closer to delivering thousands of good-paying union jobs, a vibrant new park, and year-round entertainment that reflects the energy of Queens,” Cohen said in a statement.
Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said the development would be a “one-of-a-kind global destination” that would serve as an “economic engine” for the people of Queens.
“This project was developed in partnership with the community, from the first conversations to the final design. We’re proud to be taking this important step to turn that vision into reality,” Allen said in a statement.
Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion development proposal with a Hard Rock casino as its centerpiece, includes plans for a 25-acre public park, new shops and restaurants, a Taste of Queens food hall, and a full-scale redevelopment of the Mets-Willets Point subway station, along with improvements to roads and bike paths in the area. It would also include a 5,650-capacity theater-style venue dedicated to welcoming a wide range of entertainment events, Metropolitan Park officials said.
According to the development team, the project is expected to generate 23,000 union jobs and deliver $1 billion in community benefits for Queens.
The development would take place on a 50-acre space adjacent to Citi Field, previously mapped as municipal parkland.
Although the proposed development area is an asphalt parking lot, it was legally designated as city parkland, meaning the city needed to approve zoning text and city map amendments before the project could proceed. The state legislature also needed to approve a parkland alienation bill reclassifying the 50-acre site as commercial property.
The City Council overwhelmingly approved zoning and city map amendments as part of the Universal Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process, while both houses of the state legislature also overwhelmingly approved parkland alienation legislation.
Metropolitan Park officials said the development would mark the creation of New York’s first “true” stadium district, with the entertainment complex located between Citi Field and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows. Soccer club New York City FC is also currently developing New York’s first-ever soccer-specific stadium on the opposite side of Citi Field.
Officials also said the proposal has received “unmatched” community support compared to other bids for the downstate licenses, which have not moved through the ULURP process.
They said the project’s public engagement has included 16 public workshops, over 1,000 stakeholder meetings, and nearly 45,000 door knocks. Furthermore, the project received overwhelming support from five of the six “adjacent” community boards that border Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. CB4, the only community board “adjacent” to the project that did not vote in favor of Metropolitan Park, failed to hold a vote within the 60-day window outlined in the ULURP process.
However, the $8 billion Metropolitan Park proposal hinges on the project winning one of the three downstate casino licenses approved by state legislators. The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board will decide who receives the three licenses.
Competition is fierce, with eight projects across the city vying for the three licenses.
Two of those projects — Empire City in Yonkers and Resorts World NYC in Queens — are expansions of existing “racinos,” or racetracks with gambling, which have long appeared to be early favorites to win the licenses.
Other projects vying for a downstate casino license have outlined proposals at Times Square, the United Nations, Coney Island, and the former Trump Links golf course in the Bronx, among other locations.
Representatives of the Metropolitan Park project have previously stated that the development will not proceed unless it wins one of the three downstate licenses.
State officials are expected to award downstate gaming licenses to the three successful projects by the end of 2025.
