A long-awaited new hotel and casino is coming to South Philly. Live! Hotel and Casino will be the second casino granted a gaming license, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. It is a beautiful $425 million, 200,000-square-foot casino located at 900 Packer Ave., close to the sports complex. This is going to be just the second casino, along with SugarHouse Casino, in the city of Philadelphia. According to the principals, they envision Live! as “one of the major gaming, resort and entertainment destinations in the eastern United States, combining integrated casino, hotel and entertainment facilities.”
Meet Who Made Philly Live! Happen
Three other companies had bid, along with Stadium Casino LLC, to bring a casino to different areas around Philly. The first was Tower Entertainment LLC (The Provence) with a proposed location at 400 N. Broad St.. The second was Market East Associates LP (Market 8 Casino) at 8th and Market streets. The final accepted bid was that of PHL Local Gaming LLC (Casino Revolution) with their location at 3333 S. Front St.
It was not easy for Stadium Casino LLC to win the bid for a gaming license in South Philly. Multiple people were involved in the purchase, including two other companies, Greenwood Racing Inc. and Cordish Companies. Cordish is based out of Baltimore and owns multiple entertainment establishments across the country, including Maryland Live! and XFINITY Live! Greenwood Racing owns Parx Casino, which generates the highest casino revenue in the state.
What’s Inside Philly Live!?
All together the property is a $425 million, 200,000-square-foot casino with a 220-room hotel. The hotel is going to be a renovated Holiday Inn, already on property, which includes a pool, spa and fitness facilities. Its main features are a 100,000-square-foot gaming floor that will be open 24 hours a day. It will have 2,000 slot machines and 125 table games, including ninety-two banking games and thirty-three poker tables for all to enjoy.
Eating will not be a problem for all types of tastes. There are six restaurants throughout. There is everything from high-end food options with celebrity chefs to a food court everyone can enjoy.
It also includes a very large entertainment venue, which will be more than 10,000 square-feet plus 6,500 square-feet of private event space. It all is highlighted by a 1,000-person music venue with a rooftop to keep the party alive.
Is Philly Live! Good For Philadelphia?
The city always needs something new. According to Joe Weinberg, “The stadium district attracts over eight million visitors a year with 300 events per year. It would be a tremendous driver of traffic for the gaming facility.” There will be many different opinions on this. I would assume most people would have no problem with this, unless you are a neighboring casino, of course. If you are from the city, you may think it is a great idea, driving more tax revenue to the city to help create more development throughout. It will bring more people from out of state to check it out, stay in the city for a longer period of time and spend more money. On the other hand, though, you may find it frustrating. It undoubtedly will bring more traffic to a city that doesn’t need additional congestion.
Live! has the opportunity to bring jobs to the city. It has been estimated the new hotel casino will generate more than 1,200 jobs for casino employees and create another 3,000 construction jobs. This should be music to the ears of some neighboring areas in the region, such as Atlantic City. They have experienced tons of layoffs this year alone. The closing of Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza has made thousands jobless and looking for work.
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