"It would simply be impossible to move ahead with the project without this sort of assistance," he said.
Cappelli quote taken from article below
Mega-resort with gambling planned in Borscht Belt
By MICHAEL HILL | Associated Press Writer
June 7, 2008
, N.Y. - As work crews smash apart the Concord Hotel _ the biggest of the old, empty Borscht Belt resorts _ developer Louis Cappelli surveys the rubble and sees a new shot at glory for the Catskills.
Over the rumble of demolition, Cappelli talks about a $1 billion resort here with gambling, golf, shopping, a spa, a water park and horse racing. He sees Vegas, the Hamptons without the traffic, something that will finally lift this old tourist haven northwest of New York City from its long torpor.
"This is like the Disney World of the north," he says.
People here began dreaming about casinos in the Catskills soon after station wagons full of families stopped coming decades ago. But they could never land one.
So Cappelli came up with Plan B: Move a nearby harness track and its video lottery terminals to the site of a mega-resort. No craps. No cards. But Cappelli, a big-thinking developer sometimes called "the Donald Trump of Westchester," said the gambling will help attract tourists from the metropolitan area and revive the Catskills.
"I believe that single-handedly this project could evolve into one of the great revitalization opportunities that the state has ever experienced in its history," he said.
Locals officials _ used to gambling deals that never come through _ have embraced the deal forwarded by Cappelli and track owner Empire Resorts. But there is still a catch: the deal depends on financial help from Albany _ and there is no firm commitment from the Capitol as the legislative session winds down this month.
The Concord, with some 1,200 rooms, was a Catskills mainstay in the days when the area was packed with summer tourists, many of them Jewish families up from New York City.
Tourism declined by the '70s with the rise of cheap air fares and air conditioning. Locals looked to casinos to fill the void, but were unable to amend the state constitution to legalize them. In more recent years, developers teamed up with faraway Indian tribes in hopes of building casinos that could compete with the tourist magnets in neighboring Connecticut and Atlantic City.
But the casino pursuit played out like a long game of three-card monte: The winning card never came up. The death blow to local Indian casinos came this year when federal officials rejected two proposals here because they would be hundreds of miles away from tribal lands.
The new Catskills gambling plan involves Monticello Raceway, a shopworn harness track three miles down the road from the Concord. The raceway _ once a would-be casino site _ is among the eight New York harness tracks given permission several years ago to install video lottery terminals. The flashy machines look and act like video slot machines. But payouts are controlled centrally by New York's lottery, making them legal video lottery terminals, or VLTs.
The machines were promoted by state lawmakers as a way to generate additional education funding. Results have been uneven. Empire's Charles Degliomini, walking the floor one morning amid a smattering of white-haired VLT players, said Monticello's VLT revenue is declining.
Cappelli and Degliomini believe they could turn it around by placing VLTs in the glitzy destination resort, where gambling would be one form of entertainment among many. Cappelli imagines Mom and Dad leaving the kids with a nanny after a day of family fun to hit the VLTs.
"This would be a family attraction, and then on top of that you have the VLTs," said local Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, a supporter.
To make the investment work, Cappelli said he needs a financial incentive from Albany. He and Empire are lobbying lawmakers in Albany to slice the percentage of net revenues from VLTs they will have to turn over to the state roughly in half to 25 percent, or to provide a commensurate investment tax credit.
Cappelli argues that New York will make more money even with a reduced cut because the VLTs will take in so much more money. He proposes making the incentives dependent on thresholds, like doubling education aid from the VLTs, creating 2,000 permanent jobs and sparking economic benefits of $100 million.
"It would simply be impossible to move ahead with the project without this sort of assistance," he said.
The Legislature is due to end its annual session June 23. Cappelli said he needs an agreement among Gov. David Paterson, the Assembly and the Senate before then.
It's not clear if that will happen.
Democrat Gunther and the local state Sen. John Bonacic, a Republican, both support the project and are in the majority of their respective houses. A spokesman for Paterson said the administration is evaluating the proposal and is committed to helping the Catskills. But Morgan Hook noted that the state is enduring difficult financial times and that "any discussions that are going on are going on with that as a backdrop."
Cappelli said he received a "warm reception" in Albany this week and is optimistic. Back in Sullivan County, after so many false starts over the years, some residents won't believe it until VLTs are plugged in at the new site.
"I don't think it's going to happen," 10-year area resident Ebony Jackson said at a strip mall near the Concord property,
One person who remains confident is Town of Thompson supervisor Anthony Cellini, a veteran of past casino campaigns. He said pieces are already falling into place for a Catskill revival. The Bethel Woods concert venue at the site of the original Woodstock concert just opened a museum. And a private auto race track is opening this summer.
It's been many years, but Cellini is thinking about a new tourist heyday for the old Borscht Belt.
"This could bring us back to that stature once again," he said.
AI
