Wynn Resorts Renames Everett Casino Project

Wynn Resorts chairman Steve Wynn recently announced that the company will have a groundbreaking ceremony for its controversial casino project in Everett, Massachusetts.

The event is scheduled to take place on July 1 despite the legal challenge filed by the city of Somerville which has appealed against an important environmental permit that has been issued to Wynn Resorts.

Wynn Resorts also confirmed that the project which was initially termed as the Wynn Everett casino will now be renamed as the Wynn Boston Harbor casino.

Wynn Everett president Robert DeSalvio had earlier ordered all activities related to the Everett project including the sites environmental clean-up to be suspended with immediate effect. The company also decided to stop all its recruitment activities as a result of the new lawsuit filed by the city of Somerville.

Boston Herald

However Steve Wynn appeared to be more positive and stated in a recent interview that he did not think the appeal was a roadblock as the new lawsuit raised no significant issue. The legal appeal, which is the fifth challenge by the city of Somerville opposes the granting of a vital environmental certificate that is necessary for the company to start construction.

In a statement, Steve Wynn said,

I don’t know why the mayor of Somerville is picking on us. This is more an irritation.

According to state officials, the appeal process could take anywhere from six months to a year, but Wynn expressed confidence that construction would start by July 1.

Following the groundbreaking ceremony, the casino billionaire has given a timeframe of 28 to 30 months for the completion and opening of the casino resort. Wynn Resorts has now invested $300 million into the project and if everything goes as per plan expects the casino to be open to the public by early 2019.

In addition to the new name, Wynn also revealed a new design for the proposed casino and said that the project would cost around $2 billion by the time it opens. The initial estimation for the Wynn Everett casino was fixed at around $1.7 billion but with the new changes, Wynn Resorts expects the project to exceed $2 billion. The new plan includes special features like a constantly changing 28-foot floral sculpture at the lobby and a statue of Popeye, the cartoon character to be placed between the two main escalators in the lobby. Wynn said that the statue had been bought by him at an auction for $27 million.