Casino Officials: Boston and Wynn Will Be Unstoppable in Tight Market

Wynn’s chief representative in Boston told the media and Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) members last week that – despite industry saturation concerns in the Northeast – the combination of Boston and Wynn will be unstoppable.

“This is an incredible opportunity in one of the most amazing cities in the world,” said Robert DeSalvio – senior vice president of development for Wynn. “The fact that we have a unique opportunity for a Wynn-type project in Boston makes this very different from anything you’ve seen before. We know the story with the other states. There’s been a lot of competitive pressures, but when you add up the combination of what Wynn does with its five-star resort development in a city like Boston – it’s unstoppable…We think the market is very robust and we think the projections are very doable.”

DeSalvio told the media last week that the company is looking at a three-year build out in one phase, though environmental remediation will kick off the work.

He predicted a late 2017 opening for the  overall project.

“All of that is providing that we obtain the necessary permits and we’ll be working on that as diligently as possible,” he said. “The remediation process will begin early on and will be completed at the front end of the phase. We expect that to roughly be a six-month process.”

In terms of traffic, DeSalvio said they will certainly hold to getting their short-term fixes in place by the opening of the project – though any long-term fixes would be ongoing after the doors open.

“As far as traffic is concerned, we committed early on that the short-term fixes will be completed before the casino opens,” he said. “Of course the long-term phase has been in the works for many years. We are waiting on the City (of Boston) and the community to finalize its plan and we’ll have a seat at that table. It’s obviously a longer term project, but that short-term work we have to do in Sullivan Square will be done before the casino opens.”