Foxwoods considers temporary casino to meet deadline

The tight state-imposed deadline for opening Foxwoods Casino by May 29, 2011, has made raising money "more problematic" and prompted the project's partners to consider putting up a temporary structure before building a permanent gaming hall, an attorney for Foxwoods said yesterday.

In a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Friday, Foxwoods had disclosed the possibility of a temporary casino along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia, citing "unanticipated issues." It did not elaborate.

But attorney Stephen A. Cozen, in a telephone interview yesterday, explained that potential lenders have been concerned about the time constraints on the project, which adds another element of risk to the deal.

"No one wants to take the chance of going up against the time limit without options," Cozen said. "They may feel it's safer to go with a temporary building than an interim one."

A temporary casino could be erected quickly, then torn down and replaced. A racetrack in Western Pennsylvania, the Meadows, opened a slots parlor in a structure made of metal framing and a material sheath before moving into a permanent structure this year.

In contrast, an interim facility would serve as the first phase of permanent construction. The developers of SugarHouse Casino broke ground this month for just such a hall on Delaware Avenue in Fishtown-Northern Liberties.

Cozen said the Foxwoods investors - 13 mostly local entrepreneurs and sports figures, plus the Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut - have until the end of November to decide which way to go. However, "the decision, I think, will be made long prior to that," he said.

If they pursue a temporary facility, Cozen said, he expected a quick handling of the matter by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

"They'd be more than happy to get us up and running as quickly as possible, if that's what we need to do," he said.

Foxwoods has until Dec. 1 to give state regulators specifics on the financing of a slots parlor for 1,500 machines. The partners have not disclosed how much money they will need to raise.

A temporary structure could be put up on the 16.5-acre site on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia, without interfering with the construction of a permanent casino, Cozen said. "You can do both."

A spokesman for Mayor Nutter said a temporary casino along the Delaware would present the same problems as a permanent structure.

"We have long had concerns about a Foxwoods casino on the waterfront, and these concerns would certainly not be alleviated by the proposal of a temporary structure for which traffic, congestion, and parking would remain significant challenges," said Luke Butler, a spokesman for Nutter.

Butler said the mayor has asked for, but not received, a copy of the letter Foxwoods sent to the state gaming board. The mayor had reached out to Foxwoods "on a number of occasions," most recently last week, he said, but "we haven't heard back from them."

Since 2006, when it secured one of two gaming licenses in the city, the Foxwoods project has bounced from its original waterfront site to Center City and, in August, back to the waterfront by order of the gaming board.

If Foxwoods wants to build a temporary casino, it will have to petition the gaming board, said Douglas Harbach, a spokesman for the agency.

"All parties involved know the clock is ticking and progress in any direction needs to continue to move forward briskly," he said.

In addition to the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County, two other Pennsylvania casinos have utilized temporary facilities, Harbach said.

The Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Wilkes Barre also had a temporary casino in the grandstands, before adding a second, permanent structure in July 2008.

PhiladelphiaPark, meanwhile, opened a temporary site in its grandstand area in 2006 and will unveil a new full-scale facility in December, Harbach said.

The main local investors behind the Foxwoods project are developer Ron Rubin, New Jersey entrepreneur Lewis Katz, and Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider. They have assumed a more dominant role in steering the casino project in the wake of financial difficulties for the project's minority partner, the Mashantucket Pequot.

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