Governor Andrew Cuomo burying Sullivan County casino dreams. Illustration by Gary Mayer.
After an ambitious plan to put a casino in town of Thompson in Sullivan County crashed and burned earlier this year (see image above), a new casino dream is rising in its place, according to YNN and the Daily Freeman.
This time, the Indian tribe involved is the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, and the destination is the former Concord Hotel in, yes, the town of Thompson, according to YNN:
What's left of the former Concord Hotel could rise again as a new multi-million dollar Mohegan Sun resort, now that owner and developer Louis Capelli reached a deal with the Connecticut based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.
"This is a project that is ready to be built. It's a project that can be quickly put into play and in an area that desperately needs development," said Mitchell Grossinger Etess, MTGA CEO.
Part of the magic of this potential deal is that the Mohegan CEO is a Grossinger -- Mitchell Grossinger Etess -- of the famed clan that once owned Sullivan County Grossinger's resort. According to the Hartford Business Journal, the move is part of Grossinger's dream to revitalize the Catskills:
The Catskills development would be something of a homecoming for Mohegan CEO Mitchell Grossinger Etess, who learned the hospitality business at his family's hotel in the same region. "This project, under the powerful Mohegan Sun brand, will become a catalyst for the Catskills to regain its status as a world-class resort destination," Grossinger Etess said in a press release.
In a story published today, the Sullivan County Democrat interviews Grossinger Etess about his motives for building a new casino on the bones of an old competitor:
Mitchell Grossinger Etess does see the irony in a Grossinger descendant now intimately involved in the future of the defunct Concord Resort in Kiamesha Lake.
“I told my mother about it,” he quipped in an interview with the Democrat on Thursday, speaking of his mom Elaine. “She’s OK with it.”
Evidently so is Louis Cappelli, who happens to own both the Concord and Grossinger’s hotel sites. He’s hoping Etess and the casino brand Etess oversees, Mohegan Sun, can resurrect the former “Queen of the Catskills.”
The Mohegan Tribe plans to break ground on the project in June. But we've seen this show before, and we know how it ends. Empire Resorts, which operates the Monticello Raceway, has already vowed to make sure that this latest casino dream will never be realized, the Freeman reports:
Empire said neither Concord Associates nor the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has valid New York state licenses to operate a harness race track or video gaming machines in Sullivan County. Empire also said it does not believe such licenses can be legally obtained by either Concord Associates or the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and, if necessary, will oppose licensing “by pursuing all of its available legal rights and remedies.”
