In a meeting with the mayor Wednesday at City Hall and at a private gathering with Nutter and Gov. Rendell at the Democratic National Convention in August, SugarHouse principal Neil Bluhm proposed changes in the size of buildings and parking structures to satisfy Nutter's thirst for a more urban-friendly complex.

Nutter said in an interview yesterday that his position remained unchanged: Neither SugarHouse nor the Foxwoods casino, the two slots parlors planned on the Delaware River, fits with the city's vision for its waterfront. But he said he was willing to evaluate SugarHouse's suggestions.

"I think this is their legitimate response to 'How do we make better the original site?' " Nutter said. "Our broader position is still the same."

He said moving the casino had not been discussed during the meetings.

SugarHouse chief executive Greg Carlin, who was part of Wednesday's meeting with Nutter, said in an interview yesterday: "We wanted to discuss some possible design changes that would address some of the mayor's concerns."

Carlin said SugarHouse was even considering adapting its design to the extended street grid recommended in the city's riverfront plan. He said he would get back to Nutter in "a few weeks" with more concrete proposals.

The casino's current design has been criticized as a big-box development that would not fit with what the city wants to do with the waterfront.

SugarHouse's peace offerings were made while Foxwoods was advancing a plan to move from its riverfront site in South Philadelphia to the Gallery shopping mall in Center City.

Unlike Foxwoods, SugarHouse said it had no plans to move the $670 million project from its 22 acres on Delaware Avenue at Frankford Avenue. It is fighting for city, state and federal permits to begin construction.

"We've always thought that's the best place for a casino, and we're focusing on getting it done there," Carlin said.

Bluhm, the Chicago billionaire developer and driving force behind SugarHouse, met with Nutter, Rendell and State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.) on Aug. 28 inside Rendell's room at a Marriott hotel. Rendell called the meeting on short notice after running into Bluhm, a major supporter of Barack Obama, who was in town for the Democratic convention.

Nutter said it was the first time he met Bluhm, and he stated his objections to the riverfront site. Bluhm suggested he could make some design changes and would get back to him.

Rendell has promised to convene talks with Nutter, Evans, and local legislators on moving both Foxwoods and SugarHouse.

He has been very public about the plans for the Foxwoods move to the Gallery, and Foxwoods' proposal will be the subject of a community meeting in Chinatown next week.

But in a Sept. 10 news conference announcing the proposed Foxwoods move, Rendell did not acknowledge that a meeting with SugarHouse had already taken place. Asked about when he would meet with SugarHouse, Rendell's staff said he was trying to get all the parties' schedules together.

The SugarHouse gathering in Denver was kept so quiet that Rendell's spokesman and some of the key players in the casino debate said yesterday that they knew nothing about it.

"I don't think there's anything nefarious involved," said Rendell's spokesman, Chuck Ardo, adding that he learned of the meeting when pressed by a reporter yesterday. "We have been saying all along that the meeting would take place when everybody's schedule allowed, and clearly that happened when everybody was together in Denver for the Democratic convention."

State Rep. Michael O'Brien (D., Phila.), whose district encompasses the SugarHouse site and the Gallery, said Rendell had given his word that he would be part of any meetings on SugarHouse. O'Brien was in Denver, but he was not at the meeting and said he had no idea it had happened.

"This was the promised meeting, and it's now concluded?" an astonished O'Brien said last night. "It would certainly be ill-advised, if that's what he did, considering the delicate position that the Foxwoods casino finds itself in at this moment."

O'Brien said the secretive nature of the meeting "doesn't build confidence" with the public and those who had complained about the process of selecting casino sites.

"The people were promised an open and transparent process," O'Brien said. "They deserve nothing less."

Asked why the meeting had not been discussed in public, Nutter said it "literally just came together."

"I was asked to come to a meeting," he said. "And I went."