Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Wynn bails; snake eyes for Foxwoods?

Steve Wynn, the casino developer who planned to take control of the floundering Foxwoods casino project, dropped out of his deal with local investors yesterday.

Mayor Michael Nutter addresses the media at 30th Street Station Thursday after casino mogul Steve Wynn (inset) pulled out of the Foxwoods project. The reason remains vague and Nutter said he was "stunned" by Wynn's decision. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)
Mayor Michael Nutter addresses the media at 30th Street Station Thursday after casino mogul Steve Wynn (inset) pulled out of the Foxwoods project. The reason remains vague and Nutter said he was "stunned" by Wynn's decision. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)Read more

STEVE WYNN, the billionaire casino developer who planned to take control of the floundering Foxwoods casino project in South Philly, dropped out of his deal with local investors yesterday.

That could spell the end for the state casino license issued for a weed-strewn, 16-acre lot on the banks of the Delaware River along Columbus Boulevard.

Wynn, who with local investors submitted a financial agreement last week to the state Gaming Control Board and distributed sketches this week of his planned casino, issued a stunningly brief statement that he has "terminated all agreements and negotiations" to take over the long-stalled project.

"We are fascinated by the legalization of full gaming in Pennsylvania and stimulated by the opportunity that it presents for Wynn Resorts, but this particular project did not, in the end, present an opportunity that was appropriate for our company," Wynn's statement concluded.

Wynn last month said he would bid for the Foxwoods license if the board revoked it, citing the state General Assembly's approval in January of table games such as blackjack and poker for casinos. As initially approved in 2004, casinos were to have only slot machines.

Wynn's last-minute move could spur the revocation of the license.

Steve Cozen, an attorney for the local investors who brought Wynn into the project, said the investors learned of his decision from a news release and received no explanation or other information.

"We are shocked and amazed," Cozen said. "We're trying to find out what is behind it and what if anything can be done about it."

Mayor Nutter, who met with Wynn in City Hall Monday, said he was stunned when the developer's attorney told him the news yesterday. Nutter said he suggested Monday that Wynn research the many statements Nutter has made about problems with the South Philly location but that he had offered to help make the project work.

Nutter, who last year called the site "wrong for Philadelphia," said Wynn's attorney assured him yesterday that his decision "had nothing to do with the city of Philadelphia or their interaction with us."

The Gaming Control Board has been on the verge of revoking the license, issued in 2006 to a group of politically connected investors who partnered with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut to win the right to open one of two casinos in the city.

The investors - including Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider, developer Ron Rubin and New Jersey sports-team owner Lewis Katz - have an April 21 board hearing to explain why their casino license should not be revoked. Those investors have scrambled for nearly two years to push the project forward.

Facing pressure from City Council and Nutter about the South Philly site, the investors agreed in September 2008 to move to Center City. That move stalled, prompting the board to order investors in August to go back to their original location, on Columbus Boulevard between Reed and Tasker streets.

The board, which granted a two-year extension to open the casino, also issued deadlines for the investors to provide financing and construction details or face revocation of their license. Cozen successfully lobbied to have a second potential extension for the casino to open, until December 2012, included in the table-games law.

The board started fining the investors $2,000 per day after they missed a Dec. 1 deadline to provide details. The investors paid $186,000 in fines on March 3 but they continue to accumulate, reaching another $74,000 today.

The local investors planned in 2006 to have the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which runs two Connecticut casinos under the Foxwoods brand, run the new casino here. The tribe has been wracked with financial troubles in the last year.

The partners paid $64.7 million for the South Philly site in 2005 and $50 million for the casino license in 2007.

Wynn told the board last month that he would take a 51 percent stake in the casino, putting up 40 percent of the projected $600 million for construction. The local investors would have a 35 percent share and the tribe 14 percent.

That transaction needed the approval of the board.

City Councilman Frank DiCicco, saddled with two casinos in his district and many unhappy constituents, said Wynn's local representatives called yesterday to announce his decision.

"They said it had nothing to do with the cooperation from the local authorities, meaning the mayor or me," DiCicco said. "Apparently, it's an internal issue."

Nearby neighborhood groups were rejoicing yesterday at news of Wynn's pull-out and speculation that it could end plans for a casino in their midst.

"If it's a bad location for Steve Wynn, who the hell is it a good location for?" asked Pennsport Civic Association President Tom Otto. "Whoever woke him up, God bless him. I'm just so relieved."

Queen Village Neighbors Association president Jeff Rush said he was ecstatic, praising Wynn while slamming the investors.

"I give kudos to Steve Wynn, who is enough of a professional to know when to walk away," Rush said. "Because that gang just really couldn't shoot straight."

Staff writer David Gambacorta contributed to this report.