KG Urban Enterprises, a New York development company went all-in when they decided to send in a proposal to construct a $500 million casino on the New Bedford, Massachusetts waterfront. The company spent a lot of time and money in design costs, research, preparation and site options and was confident that their proposal would get approved. Foxwoods?of Mashantucket, Connecticut recently agreed to operate the new casino.
However, New Bedford mayor Jon Mitchell did not appear too impressed with the proposal and has asked the developers to review and make amendments to the proposal. The mayor was apparently not very happy with the design and wants KG Urban Enterprises to send in a new proposal for reconsideration along with making more concessions in its proposal. One of the things the Mayor requested was relocating the casino as he did not want it to be located on the waterfront.
KG Urban Enterprises was not very happy with the feedback as they believe the best place for their casino is on the waterfront. The?managing director?for KG Urban Enterprises, Andrew Stern said “We are not moving our waterfront casino off the waterfront, and we are not having Jon Mitchell and Sasaki master plan the site. You don’t want a wall of buildings right up against the city — that’s not good urban planning”
The Mayor remains firm that the waterfront is not the best place to construct a casino and says that he cannot approve the proposal in the best interests of the city. KG Urban Enterprises have plans to send their design staff to meet with city planners so they can explain their decision making process and hopefully get the mayor to change his mind.