City casinos not interested in design discussion

The developers of two proposed casinos on the Delaware riverfront this week rebuffed an invitation from an academic group to discuss their designs.

The casinos - SugarHouse in Fishtown and Foxwoods in South Philly - say Penn Praxis can't conduct a fair analysis because its opinion is already known.

Mayor Nutter, while last month accepting much of a long-term plan to redevelop the riverfront, called on Penn Praxis to conduct an "honest, legitimate, third-party analysis" of the casino designs.

Nutter spoke at a public hearing after Harris Steinberg, Penn Praxis executive director, called the casino designs "large, windowless boxes."

Foxwoods, in a letter to Steinberg, said the study has a "preordained result" - to find reasons to support Nutter's goal of moving the casinos to new locations.

But if Penn Praxis determines that the Foxwoods site can "co-exist" with its riverfront plan, the developers said they'd be willing to consider how everyone's ideas could fit together.

SugarHouse, in a similar letter, noted that its developers already had met with Steinberg and now found his description of their design intentionally incorrect.

"It is difficult to see how you could be 'independent' given your past statements," SugarHouse president Bob Sheldon wrote.

Penn Praxis is an arm of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

Steinberg yesterday said the lack of casino participation will not handicap his analysis.

"I've never said casinos can't exist on the waterfront," he said.

"It's just that in their current configuration, they're not consistent with the waterfront plan."

Steinberg said the study, which gets under way next week, will focus on infrastructure, riverfront views and access, and on how to handle traffic and parking.

It will not consider alternate locations for the two casinos.

"It's really about the city growing in a smart fashion in the 21st century," Steinberg said.

"While we would like them to participate, we think the exercise is valid in terms of the future of the city." *