WESTFIELD – The city’s location near the intersection of Routes 90 and 91 and the availability of large tracts of land have piqued the interest of casino companies, but none have of yet committed to a Westfield project.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said the owner of property east of Barnes Regional Airport and west of East Mountain Road has been approached by a casino company interested in the land that was the proposed location for the Pavilion Mall. The property is listed on the city’s Assessor maps as being 216 acres, with the ownership listed as Westfield 1, LLC, Owens Road, LLC and Billerica Realty Associates Limited Partnership of 145 Rosemary St., Needham, Mass.
The casino company has secured a 90-day period to access the functionality of the property for a casino site and commit to a purchase agreement.
“We’re still in that 90-day period,” Knapik said. “We won’t know if there is anything to work on until that 90-day period is up in late August.
“The casino proponent is doing its due diligence, assessing the cost of the project in Westfield,” Knapik said.
The Pavilion Mall project died when the City Council balked at funding $15 million to construct a road and bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike to provide access to the retail complex. The primary access to the proposed mall would have been via Westfield Industrial Park Road and over the turnpike.
Knapik said earlier this spring that the city will provide limited infrastructure improvements for a project if a developer obtains the state and city permits to construct a casino on the 216-acre parcel, but that that investment would not include a construction of a bridge or access road to the site.
“The city will not participate in (construction) of a bridge over the turnpike,” he said. “Access to the site will be the developer’s responsibility.”
The cost of the infrastructure improvements in Westfield is still below that of other western Massachusetts sites currently under consideration, including several proposed locations in Springfield, where higher property values inflate the cost of development projects.
“Any estimate we have of the infrastructure cost in Westfield is less than $30 million,” Knapik said. “That is below the (infrastructure improvement) estimate of any other proposal in the region.”
“The next few months are going to be interesting,” Knapik said. “Springfield is a hard place to do business.”
Knapik told a group of people at his monthly coffee hour, held on May 31 at the Holiday Inn Express, that Penn National Gaming, Inc. has been negotiating with him and the owner of 280 acres of land near the Mass Turnpike. The land is bordered by East Mountain Country Club, Barnes Airport and North Road.
“Most people don’t even know it’s there,” said Knapik of the space.
Knapik said as part of his negotiations he has asked operators to also consider a downtown presence.
“One operator suggested putting its human resources department downtown and be our partner in downtown development,” he said.
When Knapik threw out a number, he said the operators “didn’t flinch.”
Knapik said the operator would be making a $500-750 million dollar investment in the city.
Another point of negotiation is the development of access to the site from the turnpike.
“I have made it clear that would be their responsibility,” Knapik said.
A casino would bring about 2,000 jobs to the area. Knapik said those jobs would range from $10 an hour housekeeping positions to $100,000 per year management and finance jobs. The downtown human resources department could create up to 200 white-collar jobs. The big plus to residents would be a conservatively estimated 30 percent permanent reduction in property taxes.
The City Council rejected a motion at its April 19 meeting to oppose any casino development in the city. At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty submitted a request for a resolution in opposition to a casino development, a motion he withdrew after discussion during which other council members said the resolution would violate the process established by the state under which communities will collectively decide the fate of casino projects.
Ward 2 Councilor James E. Brown Jr., said state law defines the process through which residents will decide on casino developments in their communities and that Flaherty’s motion violates the spirit of that process.
Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean, in whose ward the property of interest is located, called Flaherty’s motion “premature” and that he would not “abdicate my right to let any project go through the vetting process” before making a decision.
“I don’t think the council should have an opinion before that vetting process to see if any commercial development is good for the community,” Crean said. “Let the process work, let residents decide.”
