Wynn Resorts has closed on a $35 million deal to buy the 33-acre Everett casino site.
Update: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has announced the city will sue the state gaming commission for approving Wynn Resorts’ Everett casino proposal.
Here’s the full complaint filed by Mayor Walsh:
Boston Complaint on Wynn Casino Approval
Mayor Walsh is asking Suffolk Superior Court to toss out the commission’s vote of a approval for Wynn and declare Boston has a right to vote on the casino, the Globe reports, citing a copy of the lawsuit it obtained.
The mayor says in a statement:
We have spent an enormous amount of time and sustained effort on the casino issue over the past year since this is something that impacts every single one of our residents. We have understood from day one the complexity of this issue as it relates to the City and it has always been our belief that Boston is a host community. Our priority is to protect the people of Boston and ensure the safety of our neighborhoods. It is clear to us that this is the best way to move forward for Charlestown, the City of Boston and the entire Commonwealth.
The only legal way to access the Everett casino site would be through Charlestown – Horizon Way, specifically. The likelihood of heavy traffic to the Everett casino, through Boston, would back up traffic in and around Rutherford Avenue and Sullivan Square, to locations already hampered by traffic congestion, a press release from the Mayor’s Office states.
State law only allowed one Greater Boston casino license. Revere, which would have hosted the area’s casino had Mohegan Sun’s proposal been approved, and Somerville have already sued the commission for its decision.
Earlier: The completed deal, first reported by the Boston Herald Monday morning, severs the Everett site’s ties to previous owners, three of whom were indicted last October by a federal grand jury on charges that they defrauded Steve Wynn, hiding from him the fact that a convicted felon and known Mafia associate was also an owner.
Wynn was awarded the lone Greater Boston casino license in November and given three months to finalize its purchase.
Said Wynn Everett president Robert DeSalvio, as reported by the Herald: “The acquisition of the property keeps us on schedule and moving closer to construction… Today, we hit the ‘go’ button and we’re not stopping until a spectacular Wynn Resort with a new waterfront public park for all to access and enjoy is completed.”
The parcel sits along a bank of the Mystic River. Developers Dustin DeNunzio and Anthony Gattineri – two former owners of the site indicted on wire fraud and other charges for allegedly attempting to cover up convicted felon Charles Lightbody’s stake in property – earlier developed a Monsanto chemical plant on the Everett casino site.
Wynn’s proposal to build a $1.6 billion Everett resort was chosen by a 3-1 vote by the state Gaming Commission, in September, edging Mohegan Sun’s bid to bring a casino to Suffolk Downs. The vote forced the Revere racetrack to shutdown its business operations shortly after.
