Casino & Hotel Philadelphia will create numerous construction and operations vendor opportunities for local, minority, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses, along with considerable support for local charities and non-profits. The long-delayed Philadelphia casino in the city's Stadium District hopes to open in 2020. The company behind the project says it will cost $700 million. The World's Online Gaming Authority Since 1995. The Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither Local 19 nor Cordish Companies, which owns the casino, responded to a request for. Casino & Hotel Philadelphia, the incoming entertainment destination is launching an on-site recruitment center in the next few weeks to begin hiring for nearly 2,000 jobs. Construction at the massive Live!Hotel & Casino in South Philadelphia, which continued during the shutdown based on a waiver, is now facing a closedown.It is not clear the continued project fits the terms of the exemption, according to several news organizations.

Live! Hotel and Casino Philadelphia is a planned casino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, expected to open in 2021. It is planned to have 240 hotel rooms, 2,000 slot machines, and 125 table games.^[1] It is being developed by The Cordish Companies. Cordish also operates Xfinity Live! Philadelphia nearby.^[2]

History[edit]

The casino is planned to incorporate an existing Holiday Inn hotel in the city's stadium district. The hotel was built by a group led by Bankers Securities Corp. at a cost of $7 million, and opened in 1974 as the Philadelphia Hilton Inn.^[3] In 1976, local wine distributor Armand Ceritano acquired a controlling stake in the hotel, which had operated at a steep loss and was facing foreclosure.^[4][5] Ceritano put the hotel into bankruptcy the following year and was forced out.^[6] In 1985, it was acquired by Connecticut-based Colonial Real Estate.^[7] Colonial collapsed in the early 1990s, causing the hotel to go into bankruptcy again and lose its franchise agreement with Hilton, after which it was renamed as the Philadelphia Court Hotel.^[7] In 1993, it was purchased by an investment group led by former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski, and became a Holiday Inn.^[8]

In 2004, Pennsylvania legalized casinos, authorizing up to 14 gaming licenses to be issued statewide, with two of them allocated to stand-alone casinos to be built in Philadelphia.^[9] The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded those two licenses to SugarHouse Casino and Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia, but Foxwoods failed to obtain financing for its construction, and its license was revoked in 2010.^[10][11] The license remained in limbo for two years as Foxwoods unsuccessfully appealed the decision, and legislators then debated putting the license up for statewide bid.^[12] In July 2012, the Board opened a new round of applications for the second Philadelphia casino license.^[12]

Cordish and Greenwood began evaluating sites shortly after the opening of the application process.^[13] In November 2012, they announced their proposal for a hotel-casino built around the Holiday Inn.^[13] It was one of six applications submitted to the Board.^[14] After two of the applicants withdrew, the Board selected the Cordish/Greenwood proposal as the best of the four remaining bids in November 2014.^[15][16]

The Board's decision was appealed by the other three applicants and by the competing SugarHouse Casino, who charged that the Board did not properly consider all the factors required by law.^[17] The project also faced opposition from African-American community groups because of allegations of racial discrimination at other Cordish properties;^[18][19] those concerns were largely defused after Cordish signed a community benefits agreement promising that much of the casino's hiring and contracting would go to minorities.^[20][21]

The project remained stalled in court for three years, because of claims that it would run afoul of a state law prohibiting any casino owner from owning more than a one-third interest in another casino within the state; Greenwood principal Bob Manoukian already owned a majority share of the Parx Casino, and he and his sons together would own a half interest in the Live! casino.^[22][23] The issue became moot in October 2017 when the state enacted a gaming expansion law that lifted the prohibition of multiple casino ownership.^[23] The lawsuit was promptly dropped, and Cordish stated that construction would begin in 2018, with completion planned for 2020.^[23] The planned opening date was delayed to early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[24]

Cordish and Greenwood closed on their purchase of the site in January 2018 for $37 million.^[25] Some demolition work at the site was performed later that year.^[26] In November 2018, Cordish announced that it would buy out Greenwood's interests, taking full ownership of the project.^[26] They also stated that the hotel tower would be demolished instead of renovated; as the project had evolved, they had decided that the tower's position at the center of the site would conflict with plans for an expansive casino floor.^[27]

On October 30, 2019, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved a sports betting license for the casino. Online sports betting is planned to be offered before the casino opens in 2021.^[28]

References[edit]

1. ^'Philadelphia's second casino passes major hurdle, SugarHouse drops appeal: Report'. Philadelphia Business Journal. November 2, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
2. ^Lloyd, Linda (November 2, 2017). 'Big win for a 2nd Philly casino: SugarHouse drops its objections'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
3. ^Oscar B. Teller (April 14, 1974). 'Mayor to open new hotel'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via Newspapers.com.
4. ^'Hilton sold to Ceritano'. Philadelphia Inquirer. December 31, 1976 – via Newspapers.com.
5. ^Andrea Knox (July 24, 1977). 'The wine man tries to charm the wolves'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via Newspapers.com.
6. ^Dick Pothier (September 30, 1977). 'Ceritano is barred from hotel'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ ^abRose DeWolf (March 31, 1993). 'QB plays hardball with hotel's staff'. Philadelphia Daily News – via NewsBank.
8. ^Tom Belden (May 28, 1993). 'Hotel near the Vet to be a Holiday Inn'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via NewsBank.
9. ^'Pennsylvania's newly minted slots law'. Philadelphia Daily News. July 6, 2004 – via NewsBank.
10. ^Jeff Shields; Angela Couloumbis (December 21, 2006). 'On the waterfront: Foxwoods and SugarHouse win city slots licenses'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via NewsBank.
11. ^Donald Wittkowski (December 16, 2010). 'Gambling panel revokes license for proposed Foxwoods casino project in Philadelphia'. Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
12. ^ ^abSuzette Parmley; Troy Graham (July 11, 2012). 'Philadelphia gets to keep its casino license'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
13. ^ ^abSuzette Parmley (November 2, 2012). 'Group eyes casino-hotel at sports complex's Holiday Inn'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
14. ^Jennifer Lin (November 16, 2012). 'Sixth group applies for license to open Phila. casino'. Philadelphia Inquirer – via NewsBank.
15. ^Harold Brubaker (November 18, 2014). 'For 2d Phila. casino license, expect a quick meeting'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
16. ^Sean Carlin; Marc Levy (November 18, 2014). 'Stadium-district casino wins new Philly license'. Washington Times. AP. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
17. ^Jeff Gelles (December 19, 2014). 'Challenge in works on second casino license'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
18. ^Mensah M. Dean (November 11, 2015). 'African-American leaders to air concerns about casino company'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
19. ^Mensah M. Dean (October 15, 2015). 'Casino company cultivating black friends in high places following claims of racism'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
20. ^Harold Brubaker (November 13, 2015). 'Casino developers win support of five community groups'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
21. ^Ayana Jones (November 14, 2015). 'City sweetens hand in deal with casino developers'. Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
22. ^Harold Brubaker (November 30, 2016). 'South Philly casino still stalled in court -- two years after award'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
23. ^ ^abcLinda Loyd (November 2, 2017). 'Big win for a 2nd Philly casino: SugarHouse drops its objections'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
24. ^Darrow, Chuck (August 28, 2020). 'The Casino File: Live! Philadelphia opening delayed until 2021, but its owner's PA push is underway - plus Bally's news and an Ocean win'. BettorsInsider. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
25. ^Natalie Kostelni (March 2, 2018). 'Live! Hotel and Casino site traded for more than $35M'. Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
26. ^ ^abAndrew Maykuth (November 21, 2018). 'Cordish acquires 100% control of Philly stadium casino project'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
27. ^Andrew Maykuth (November 28, 2018). 'Long-delayed Philly stadium casino sets 2020 target for start-up'. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
28. ^Maykuth, Andrew (October 30, 2019). 'Philly's Stadium Casino won't be open for a year. But it'll start taking online sports bets soon'. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 3, 2019.

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As the coronavirus spread across the region last month and Gov. Tom Wolf ordered a halt to all but life-sustaining business, construction workers on the site of the new Live! Hotel & Casino in South Philadelphia fretted that the general contractor wasn’t doing enough to protect them from being infected.

Gilbane Building Company, having obtained a waiver from the state, continued work on the $700 million casino, one of the most expensive projects in the city. Hundreds of workers traveled to the site on Packer Avenue near Citizens Bank Park — some from as far away as New York and Maryland.

Then a worker who had been on the job for two days in mid-March tested positive for COVID-19.

“Yesterday afternoon we were notified that a taper that worked on the Live! Hotel & Casino project tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” Gilbane project executive Dan Kelley wrote in a March 26 email, listing people who might have had contact with the infected man.

Some workers responded by walking off the site, convinced that Gilbane was not taking the coronavirus seriously.

On Monday, sheet metal workers left after their union head said they were “in danger” because the company was ignoring Centers for Disease Control and Prevention precautions.

Philadelphia Live Casino Construction

“We were like, ‘We’re not working here,’” said a construction worker who asked not to be identified because he feared retaliation. “Most of our guys felt this was bull crap. Some of these guys don’t care, but this spreads like wildfire.”

Then on Tuesday morning, workers were told in another email from Kelley that a first-shift medic who oriented new hires and did drug screening had tested positive for the virus. The medic had worked on site between March 11 and March 25, according to the email. Kelley advised those who’ve had contact with him to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Gilbane, an international development company, said it had been allowed to push ahead with construction by obtaining a waiver from the Wolf administration to continue operating. But the administration has given few details about how the waiver process works and has refused repeated requests to provide a list of which businesses applied to reopen, what they said their life-sustaining business is, and why they were approved or denied.

As of Monday, Gilbane said it was planning to keep building. But state officials now say the waiver is being misused.

“An exemption was granted to Gilbane Construction, but that exemption does not allow for casino construction,” Casey Smith, a spokesperson for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said Monday, replying to questions from the Inquirer and Spotlight PA.

The waiver was granted to Gilbane only for those “projects that pose [a] public safety hazard' and need more work to safely close down, “health care construction,” and, in one case, completing a much-needed Philadelphia school, Smith said.

“Per guidance, when a company receives an exemption in response to a request in which it specifically identified a particular element of the business as essential to health care or another life-sustaining operation, that exemption only relates to those specified life-sustaining activities,” Smith said.

Gilbane declined this week to answer questions about how many workers at the casino site tested positive or negative for COVID-19 or how it obtained the exemption to the state shutdown.

Nor did Cordish Cos., the Baltimore-based casino operator and developer that took control of the project developer, Stadium Casino LLC, in November 2018.

“In the case of the casino project, the building is still exposed to the elements and requires critical enclosure and infrastructure work to be completed before construction work can be safely paused,” Cordish said in a statement Monday. “The safety of all workers on the casino job and all construction jobs in the region is paramount.”

Gary Masino, president of Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19, sent a letter to his members Monday informing them that they were being pulled from the casino site, as well as two other Philadelphia job sites — The Philadelphia Art Museum and the city’s police administration building — because union leadership felt general contractors there were “not complying with the CDC regulations and preventative precautions” regarding the coronavirus.

“We felt that the workers on those projects were in danger,” Masino wrote.

But Cordish said the company has adopted protocols consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, including social-distancing requirements, handwashing stations, and staggered shifts to limit the number of workers on site together.

Those rules haven’t always been followed, workers say.

In an April 1 email to his employees, a subcontractor said he had been informed that day that a casino site worker had previously tested positive for COVID-19, but that workers were to return to the site on Monday after it was deemed safe.

“PPE (personal protective equipment) is extremely scarce as most understand at this point and we will continue to refine and change our program based on this,” wrote Michael Jackson, vice president of Philadelphia D&M, which specializes in framing, drywall, and carpentry. “We look forward to finishing this project with the vigor we started with, all the while keeping YOU, our employees and multiemployer trade partners as safe as we can in our current climate.”

Pittsburgh Casino Construction

Attached to the email were company “infection control procedures for projects where social distancing is not feasible,” as well as a flier from the general contractor titled “Gilbane Cares.”

The Gilbane flier said workers should not be on site if they feel sick, have a fever or breathing issues, have traveled outside of government travel restrictions, or have been in contact with someone suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19.

“If you answer NO to all of the above, please come to work,” it states.

Philadelphia Casino Construction

Gilbane in a statement said: “The casino, when completed, will bring thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of new taxes to Philadelphia and the Commonwealth, at a time when both will be critically needed. While other gaming companies have cut tens of thousands of jobs in the Commonwealth and shelved planned investments, we are continuing to invest $1 billion in the region to create these new jobs and taxes.”

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) is pushing a bill that appears to be on the fast-track for a vote in the chamber that would reopen all public and private construction activities in the state, as long as they can adhere to social distancing and other CDC-recommended mitigation practices.

Democrats in the chamber have decried the measure, saying it plays to politics and special interests, and have called it a threat to public health.

Lauren Cox, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said the city was not involved in Gilbane obtaining a waiver from the state.

Pennsylvania State Police and other law enforcement agencies can cite businesses that stay open despite not providing a life-sustaining service or products, but the agency has handed out only warnings, 205 of them as of Tuesday, except for a few citations to businesses selling liquor.

“The posture has largely been to educate, to inform, to demonstrate to the business, perhaps through virtue of a copy of the governor’s order, what the criteria are,” Lt. Col. Scott Price, the State Police’s deputy commissioner of operations, said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

Stadium Casino Philadelphia Construction

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