NYC Agrees to Deal With Queens Casino Group Despite Receiving a Lawsuit Last Week

New York City agreed to a deal with New York Mets owner and casino license bidder Steve Cohen despite a recent legal challenge.

The city announced on Monday it had agreed to terms with Cohen, who, along with Hard Rock, wants to build an $8 billion casino and entertainment complex next to Citi Field in Queens. This comes just days after the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) submitted a lawsuit against NYC, claiming it failed to uphold a lease agreement that it claims should’ve made the “Metropolitan Park” casino complex subordinate to the USTA’s facility. 

The argument hinged around a "superiority clause” that was included in the organization’s lease.

A landmark agreement

According to reports, the agreement was not negotiated with input from the USTA.

Both New York City and representatives of the casino project say that the new accord meets the obligations laid out by a court order from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Nancy Bannon that had effectively paused the casino project’s pursuit of an operator’s license. The USTA is still awaiting a decision on its lawsuit.

“We are thankful that the court honored our request and that the City has complied by adding the required language to its lease with Queens Future, which now acknowledges protections during the three weeks of the US Open,” Brendan McIntyre, a spokesperson for the USTA, told Queens Eagle. “We look forward to welcoming the casino as our newest neighbor in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.” 

The agreement also represented a significant milestone for Metropolitan Park, which is one of three casino projects that are under a final review by the Gaming Facility Location Board.

The GFLB has the power to license all three projects, which have already faced several votes and were required to meet a variety of standards before they advanced to the review. 

“We have successfully signed our pre-development agreement with the city,” said Karl Rickett, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Park, in a statement. “This moves forward Metropolitan Park as a comprehensive transformation of the area that embraces the existing sports attractions to create a world-class sports and entertainment destination in the heart of Queens. This is a positive step forward for the local community and fans.”

Compliant with the Superiority Clause

McIntyre and Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ office, both said that arrangement complies with the rights awarded to the USTA through the Superiority Clause.

The USTA’s lawsuit effectively said that the Superiority Clause granted the USTA precedence over non-New York Mets events in Queens during the weeks of the U.S. Open, a standard that hadn’t been reflected by either the mayor’s office or the Metropolitan Park team.

Metropolitan Park was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but Judge Bannon granted a temporary restraining order to the USTA that prevented the city from negotiating a lease with the casino complex that didn’t reflect the terms of the Superiority Clause.

With that settled, Metropolitan Park is back in the race, alongside Bally’s Bronx and Resorts World New York City, to land an operators’ license. 

A total of eight projects made it to the penultimate stage a couple of months ago, which required each project to go before votes at six-member Community Advisory Committees (CAC). Only four passed those votes, and MGM Empire City dropped out of the running shortly after it was approved by the CAC.