Richmond Panel Greenlight Urban One Casino Proposal Advisory Panel Accepts The $600M Proposal
The casino advisory panel of the city of Richmond has chosen Urban One casino proposal. The Silver Spring, Maryland-based company has had its proposal chosen for consideration by the City Council and citizens. Should the council affirm the selection and the voters vote in favor of the proposal in a referendum in November, the casino will be built.
Should things go according to plan, The One casino and resort will be the first casino under Black ownership in the US.
The company Urban One currently owns and operates more than 50 radio stations across the country in addition to the One cable TV network. In making a case for this project, the company teamed up with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment. The proposed site for the casino is the 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc, close to Interstate 95.
The project will boast of 200 hotel rooms, a sportsbook, bars, restaurants, entertainment center, theater, and as much as 100,000 square feet of gaming space.
A collection of six proposals was slashed to two at the end of last month. The advisory committee, which is made up of nine members, has been working in the last few months to select the best proposal that will meet the people’s demands. The advisory team is made up of two City Council members as well as city employees. With the recent announcements, Baltimore-based Cordish Cos proposal of erecting a $600 million Live! Casino & Hotel resort is out of the running. The casino was to be built close to the city’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood. The news prompted residents to send their complaints citing high crime rate and traffic that the casino will attract. In contrast, there was less complaints in about ONE’s location.
“ONE Casino + Resort presents a tremendous opportunity to develop a resort casino project in Richmond,” Mayor Stoney said .“The project will create over 1,000 good paying jobs, generate a significant amount of new revenue for the city, and establish an additional economic engine in South Richmond. I applaud the work of the evaluation panel in their vetting of the proposals and engaging the entire city throughout this project.”
The proposal will be addressed by the council later this week. The Richmond City Councilors are expected to vote by June on whether or not they will approve the casino. Should the casino approve, the next stage will be to get a favorable vote come November from residents. If it gets an affirmation, the casino will have to meet the Virginia Lottery requirements. The state agency has the responsibility to regulate casinos and gaming in the region.
The Journey So Far
Richmond is the last of the five cities in Virginia to vote on allowing a commercial casino within its shores. This comes after the Virginia General Assembly voted last year in favor to allow five cities across Virginia to choose whether to have the casino or not. The five cities are Portsmouth, Danville, Bristol, Richmond and Danville.
Residents in Richmond are still skeptical apprehensive about the casino projects. Although no polls have been released, there is a growing reluctance among residents to build a casino. However, the major opposition was towards Live! Casino and not One casino.
“ONE is thrilled the Richmond casino selection committee has chosen the best project with the best location and best team to develop a world-class entertainment destination in Richmond’s South Side,” Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins said in a statement. “Urban One and our diverse group of local investors are fully committed to creating good-paying jobs with profit-sharing for employees, pathways to successful careers and generating significant new tax revenues that can improve Richmond’s schools and fund community programs and infrastructure.”
There is a meeting scheduled for next week for the city to discuss the project.
