Name:Hollywood Casino - PA Gaming Ventures, LLC
Location:
700 Packer Ave., South Philadelphia’s stadium district, and
the site of an existing building that houses Packer Avenue Foods, Pennsylvania
Lottery Commission offices, and the Turf Club, an off-track betting facility
and restaurant.
Theme:
Hollywood Casino, notwithstanding its name, is centered
around identifying with “the heart of Sports Complex” by providing an “added
entertainment option to the nearly eight million annual visitors to the stadium
and its environs each year” with an attempt to “encourage out-of-town visitors
to come early or stay later when visiting the city.”
Estimated cost:
$480 million
Gaming:
Phase I: 2,050 slots, 81 table games.
Phase II: 1,000 additional slots and 40 table games.
Project size:
227,000 square foot of casino and other space, with a
500-room hotel.
The Details:
Hollywood Casino would be built in two phases. The
principals have only submitted plans for the first phase. A master plan still
being developed would allow for future expansion to include the hotel with
banquet and conference facilities. The project has a nonprofit arm that pledges
to send revenue to local schools.
The first phase calls for:
102,000 square
foot of casino floor.
935 restaurant
seats spread over the Final Cut Steakhouse, a noodle bar, a sports pub, a
casual grill and a food court.
A 180-seat
nightclub.
500 square feet of
retail space, and 125,000 square feet of “multi-use space.”
A parking garage
for 3,380 vehicles. An additional 76 vehicles would park on a surface lot.
Casino patrons
would access the site from South Darien Street and Seventh Street.
The second phase would include:
500-hotel rooms
1,000 additional
slots and 40 more table games
24,000 square feet
of meeting space.
The partners say Hollywood Casino would be in close
proximity to public transportation, and major highways, including I-76 and
I-95, to take advantage of traffic from Philadelphia, its suburbs and South
Jersey (the Walt Whitman Bridge is nearby).
Hollywood Casino is also a short walk from Lincoln Financial
Field and Citizens Bank Park. It is three-quarters of a mile from SEPTA’s
AT&T Broad Street Line station. Neighborhood opponents of the project say
it would negatively impact traffic, security and quality of life, especially if
it operates 24 hours a day as planned.
Impact:
Part of the Hollywood Casino ownership includes a nonprofit
arm that would send “millions” annually to Philadelphia’s “pensions and
schools.” The project owners estimate that translates to about $115 million
over 15 years. They say it would
generate taxable revenue of $158 million annually to Pennsylvania and $27
million to Philadelphia.
Who’s Involved:
PA Gaming Ventures, LLC is the umbrella group that owns
Hollywood Casino.
It comprises Penn National Gaming Inc. and Philadelphia
Casino Corp.
Penn National
Gaming, of Wyomissing, Berks County, owner of 21 U.S. casinos, is publicly held
and traded on NASDAQ (PENN), and is the largest regional gaming operator in the
nation. It has been called a “Best Managed Gaming Company” by Forbes.
The Philadelphia
Casino Benefit Corp. is a nonprofit that’s pledged to send its revenue to
Philadelphia pensions and schools. It has a one-person board in Joseph
Domenico, a former general manager of Bally's Atlantic City and the Showboat
Casino Hotel.
Principals in PA
Gaming Ventures investors are CEO Peter M. Carlino, John Finamore, Kyle Martin,
Barbara Shattuck-Kohn, Jay Snowden, Mark Nicoletti, Timothy Wilmott, Jordan
Savitch, Gregg Hart, John Jacquemin, Wesley Edens, Lori Peruto, William
Clifford, Frank Donaghue, Desiree Burke, Harold Cramer, Saul Reibstein, Joseph
Ferrier and Donna Ferrier, and others.
How they’ll pay for it:
PA Gaming Venture says it will self-finance the project.
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