Suffolk Downs revealed plans today for a $1 billion Caesars casino resort at its historic racetrack in East Boston.
Project leaders are dubbing the new development a “world class resort and casino” that will include a hotel, 10 restaurants, a casino gaming complex, retail shops, entertainment areas, luxury spa facilities, and of course, horse racing.
The 200,000 square-foot gaming space would include about 5,000 slot machines, 200 table games and a World Series of Poker room.
“This facility will add to the appeal of visitation in Boston,” said Gary Loveman, Chairman, CEO and President of Caesars Entertainment, and Suffolk Downs gaming management partner for the development. “We’ll bring the 45 million American adults that are already customers of ours around the country and around the world to Boston.”
The 163-acre track, which has been running live horses racing for 77 years, is about 10 minutes from downtown Boston and about three miles from Logan Airport.
If voters in East Boston and Revere approve the project, the resort will generate 2,500 construction jobs and over 4,000 resort jobs for Boston-area residents, officials said.
Developers also touted the positive effects the resort could have on the local economy.
“Remember that when you bring an excess of 10 or 15 thousand people to an area every single day over a long period of time the effects on local business can be really dramatic,” Loveman said.
When asked what impact the project would have on local traffic, specifically Route 1A, which one member of the media called “a traffic nightmare,” Chip Tuttle, Suffolk Downs CEO, said part of the $1 billion investment would include $40 million for local road and infrastructure improvements.
Specific details on those improvements, he said, will be released within days.
Despite a strong turnout of supporters at the unveiling today, the project undoubtedly leaves some Boston residents irked that they will not be able to weigh in at the ballot.
“I think the folks in East Boston would be concerned that the city as a whole might have a different outcome than East Boston on its own,” Tuttle said.
To view more information on this project view the video below:
