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Neil Bluhm, a Chicago real estate developer, will go before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Harrisburg tomorrow to revive the cash-strapped gambling hall planned for Pittsburgh's waterfront.
His mission: to convince the seven-member board that he has the money and the expertise to boost the project, and to promise he will keep the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia casino projects separate.
Bluhm seems to like casinos, and what he likes, he usually gets.
If Mayor Nutter and State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) intend to push hard to move the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos from their intended sites on the Delaware, Bluhm will be among those they will confront.
Don Barden, who runs his own gaming company out of Detroit, has been developing the Majestic Star, a $780 million casino planned for the Pittsburgh downtown area known as the North Shore. Bluhm said that two weeks ago, Barden approached Walton Street Capital L.L.C., Bluhm's private-equity fund, about investing in his project.
"We are very excited about the opportunity, and we think that Pittsburgh, like Philadelphia, is a great market," Bluhm said yesterday from Chicago. "Walton will provide the equity to complete the construction of the facility."
Barden will remain a significant equity partner.
Along with his real estate empire, Bluhm manages two casinos in Canada and owns a casino in Vicksburg, Miss.
Nutter, Fumo and others in Philadelphia oppose the placement of two large casinos along a riverfront that all agree has been undeveloped.
Fumo has threatened legislation that would deny the projects anticipated tax abatements.
Bluhm and his casino operatives say they are undeterred by the growing clamor. They have the backing of the gaming board and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for SugarHouse, their $700 million casino here.
And Bluhm has something else: time and money. With his wealth, he has been able to withstand one legal challenge after another. At a time when developers of all types are stymied by tight credit, Bluhm bankrolls his projects through his private-equity fund.
Tight capital was the cause of Barden's difficulties in Pittsburgh; construction was suspended last week after a payment to a contractor was missed.
Bluhm intends to provide $120 million in financing toward the Pittsburgh casino. Under Pennsylvania's gambling law, he can have up to a 33.3 percent equity in a second casino while being majority owner of another.
Oltmanns said Majestic Star Casino was slated to open in May 2009 with 3,000 slot machines.
Bluhm is no stranger to high-stakes projects and rubbing elbows with the powerful.
His developments have shaped Chicago's skyline: the acclaimed Four Seasons hotel on the Magnificent Mile, the Ritz-Carlton, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange building.
Bluhm lives and works at the Bloomingdale's building at 900 N. Michigan Ave. The building, which Bluhm built in 1988, includes a mall, restaurants, condos and office space.
Bluhm has been a steady contributor to Democrats with national profiles, including Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He keeps a picture of himself with former President Bill Clinton on his desk.
Since 1992, Bluhm has contributed more than $1 million to federal candidates through JMB Realty Corp. and Walton Street Capital, including $16,200 to Obama's successful 2004 U.S. Senate run, according to campaign disclosures.
For the 2008 cycle, he contributed more than $86,000 to federal Democratic candidates, including Obama.
Bluhm's accomplishments come with little swagger and no taste for the limelight. He credits his success to overcoming his family's abandonment by his father and to a "dirt-poor" upbringing on Chicago's North Side. His odd jobs helped to sustain his mother and sister.
Education became his ticket out of poverty. He attended the University of Illinois, where he earned an accounting degree in 1959, and later Northwestern University Law School.
"A major part of my life is compensating for what happened when I was young - both in terms of drive, and giving back to the community and being respected and doing the right thing," he said in interview in his Chicago office in fall 2006.
Bluhm's three children are listed as investors in the SugarHouse Casino: Andrew, 41, who runs a hedge fund; Leslie, 43, who started and runs a Chicago charity; and Meredith Bluhm-Wolf, 38, a lawyer.
"You have a phenomenal river," Bluhm said in the same interview about why he decided to pursue a casino on Philadelphia's waterfront. "Unfortunately, it hasn't been developed the way it should be."
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