MGM Springfield

Last updated
MGM Springfield
MGMSpringfieldLogo.svg
MGM Springfield - Main Street-2.jpg
The MGM Springfield Main Street Block
Location Springfield, Massachusetts
Address One MGM Way, Springfield, MA 01103
Opening dateAugust 24, 2018 [1]
ThemeHistory of Springfield
No. of rooms250 [2]
Total gaming space125,000 sq ft (11,600 m2)
Signature attractionsMassmutual Center (currently operated by MGM)

Outdoor Concert Area

Regal Cinemas
Notable restaurantsWahlBurgers

Costa

Chandler Steakhouse

Taps Sportsbar
Owner Vici Properties
Operating license holder MGM Resorts International
Coordinates 42°5′56.77″N72°35′13.32″W / 42.0991028°N 72.5870333°W / 42.0991028; -72.5870333
Website mgmspringfield.com

MGM Springfield is a hotel and casino complex situated in the heart of Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Opening on August 24, 2018 in a block of buildings that are historically or culturally influential to Springfield, it became the first resort casino in the Commonwealth. [1] It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. [3] It was temporarily closed on March 14, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened to the public on July 13, 2020, after nearly 4 months of being closed, with safety precautions and reduced capacity in place. Chris Kelley is the current President and COO of the MGM Springfield.

Contents

History

Proposals

MGM Springfield was one of three proposals in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts for the Western Massachusetts casino license. Casinos were also proposed for Holyoke, Palmer, and West Springfield. On December 2, 2012, MGM Springfield and Penn National Gaming's Springfield proposal became the remaining two proposals for Springfield when Ameristar withdrew its Springfield proposal for the former Westinghouse site. [4]

On April 30, 2013, Mayor Dominic Sarno selected MGM Springfield as the winning proposal for the City of Springfield, defeating the Penn National proposal for the north end of the city, and on July 16 Springfield voters approved the casino application, making MGM Springfield the state's first proposal to win voter approval in its host community. MGM was then in a three-way race with Hard Rock's West Springfield proposal and Mohegan Sun's Palmer proposal. On September 11, 2013, West Springfield voters voted to block the Hard Rock proposal, leaving only MGM and Mohegan Sun in the race for the license. MGM Springfield won the bid for the Western Massachusetts license on November 6, 2013, when Palmer voters blocked the Mohegan Sun proposal, leaving MGM Springfield as the only Western Massachusetts proposal to win voter approval. (Had either Hard Rock or Mohegan Sun won voter approval, the state's gaming commission would have had to make the final decision.) [4]

MGM officially received the license on June 13, 2014. It joined two other license winners: Penn National, which was awarded the slot parlor license, and Wynn Massachusetts, which was awarded the Eastern Massachusetts Region A casino license. As of November 6, 2014, it received its Region B license [4] and is expected to open in 2018. [5]

On November 4, 2014, a referendum attempting to ban casinos in the state failed. [6] The plan for the construction of the casino at the time would have required the demolition of some buildings in downtown, including the partial demolition of the former United Electric Co. Building on the National Register of Historic Places. [7]

MGM design

The South End Market, built out of the former United Electric Building, is one example of ways the casino complex was integrated into the city's historical landscape SpringfieldMA FormerUECFacadeOnSpringfieldMGM2.jpg
The South End Market, built out of the former United Electric Building, is one example of ways the casino complex was integrated into the city's historical landscape

On September 22, 2015, MGM unveiled a redesigned site plan for the project, abandoning the 25-story glass-facade hotel on State Street in favor of a 6-story hotel on Main Street. The changes also included the reduction of the parking garage by one floor and the market-rate apartments being moved off-site. [8]

MGM has pledged to create about 3,000 permanent jobs to benefit the local community. The company announced that it would have various job descriptions available, including security officer, assistant executive housekeeper, food and beverage manager, host person, 21 dealer, concierge, assistant front desk manager, front desk clerk, and housekeeper, a spokeswoman gave as some examples. [9]

MGM Springfield opened to the public on August 24, 2018. The $960,000,000 project is built in an area that sustained significant damage by a tornado that struck Springfield on June 1, 2011. [10] The 2-million-square-foot (190,000 m2) complex contains a gaming area surrounded by a parking garage, hotel, spa, movie theater, restaurants, and shops. The 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) casino features 2,550 slots, 120 table games, a high-limit room, and a poker room with 23 tables. [11]

In 2021, MGM Resorts agreed to sell the land and buildings of MGM Springfield to MGM Growth Properties for $400 million. MGM Resorts would lease back the property and continue to operate it, paying initial rent of $30 million per year. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGM Resorts International</span> Hotel and entertainment company

MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Park MGM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circus Circus Las Vegas</span> Hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip

Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It features circus and trapeze acts, as well as carnival games, at its Carnival Midway. The resort also includes the Adventuredome, an indoor amusement park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxwoods Resort Casino</span> Hotel and casino complex

Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of 9,000,000 sq ft (840,000 m2). The casinos have more than 250 gaming tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker, and have more than 5,500 slot machines. The casinos also have several restaurants, among them a Hard Rock Cafe. It has been developed since changes in state and federal laws in the late 20th century enabled Native American gaming on the sovereign reservations of federally recognized tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameristar Casinos</span> Casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada

Ameristar Casinos, Inc. was a casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. It was acquired by Pinnacle Entertainment in 2013. The company had eight properties in seven markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohegan Sun</span> American hotel and casino in Connecticut

Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on 240 acres (97 ha) of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has 364,000 square feet of gambling space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Casino at Greektown</span> Casino and hotel in the United States

Hollywood Casino at Greektown, formerly Greektown Casino-Hotel, is a casino hotel in the Greektown neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Entertainment</span> American gambling company

Penn Entertainment, Inc., formerly Penn National Gaming, is an American entertainment company and operator of integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gambling. It operates 43 properties in 20 states, under brands including Hollywood Casino, Ameristar, and Boomtown. It also offers sports betting in 15 jurisdictions and online casino gaming in 5, under brands such as ESPN BET and theScore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Sierra Resort</span> Casino hotel in Nevada, United States

Grand Sierra Resort is a hotel and casino located approximately three miles east of Downtown Reno, Nevada. The hotel has 1,990 guest rooms and suites, 27 floors, 12 restaurants, including Charlie Palmer Steak by celebrity chef Charlie Palmer, and a casino with 80,000 sq ft of space. GSR has a movie theater, a Race & Sports Book, nightclubs including LEX Nightclub, a 25,000 sq ft venue with a swimming pool, lake golf driving range, a two screen cinema, an RV park and a recently opened ice rink. It is owned and operated by Southern California based investment group headed by The Meruelo Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartford–Springfield</span> Conurbation in the United States

The greater Hartford–Springfield area is an urban region and surrounding suburban areas that encompasses both north-central Connecticut and the southern Connecticut River Valley in western Massachusetts; its major city centers are Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohegan Pennsylvania</span> Casino and racetrack in Pennsylvania, US

Mohegan Pennsylvania is a racino located in Plains Township on the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The casino features over 2,300 slots, live tables for blackjack, roulette and poker, and a sportsbook offering sports betting. The facility opened in 1965 as Pocono Downs, a harness racing track, which continues as an attraction at the complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plainridge Park Casino</span> Massachusetts racetrack (1999–), casino (2015–)

Plainridge Park Casino is a harness racing track and slot machine parlor in Plainville, Massachusetts. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. It opened in 1999 as Plainridge Racecource, changing to its present name in 2015 when it became a racino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domenic Sarno</span> American politician (born 1963)

Domenic J. Sarno is the current mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts. First elected in 2007, Sarno has won re-election five times since and is a member of the Democratic Party. Winning election to a fifth term overall in 2023 and the third four-year term, he is the longest-serving mayor in Springfield's history.

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino properties, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. It was formed in November 2013 as a corporate spin-off from Penn National Gaming. The company owns 60 casino properties, all of which are leased to other companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Westinghouse Company</span>

The New England Westinghouse Company is a former division of Westinghouse Electric. It was founded in 1915 in East Springfield, Massachusetts. Its primary purpose was to fulfill a contract to produce 1.8 million Mosin–Nagant rifles for Czar Nicholas II of Russia during World War I. In order to produce the rifles, they purchased the J Stevens Arms & Tool Company in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts on 1 July 1916 and acquired all its holdings which included firearms and tool manufacturing facilities, and the Stevens-Duryea automobile factory. They sold the tool manufacturing portion of Stevens and shut down production of Stevens-Duryea automobiles and civilian firearms. The remaining Stevens firearms facility was renamed the J Stevens Arms Company and its machinery was retooled to meet the Mosin–Nagant contract. After some 770,000 rifles had been produced, the Czar was deposed in March 1917. Nonetheless, the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. still under the direction of Provisional Government Ambassador Boris Bakhmeteff, made financial arrangements with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department on 20 December 1917 for National City Bank to make payments of $325,000 to the Remington Company for rifles and $2,075,000 to J.P. Morgan in connection with a Westinghouse arms contract.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encore Boston Harbor</span> Resort and casino in Everett, Massachusetts

Encore Boston Harbor is a luxury resort and casino located in Everett, Massachusetts. It is owned by Realty Income and operated by Wynn Resorts. The resort is in a commercial-industrial area on the Mystic River, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from downtown Boston. Its development rehabilitated a 33-acre parcel of land previously used for industrial purposes. It opened on June 23, 2019, at a total cost of $2.6 billion. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed an integrated resort with a hotel, a harborwalk, restaurants, a casino, spa, retail outlets, and meeting and convention space. Public amenities of the year-round harborwalk include a picnic park, paths for bikers and pedestrians, viewing decks, waterfront dining and retail, a performance lawn, floral displays, boat docks, and public art.

Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of Massachusetts include casinos, sports betting, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, the Massachusetts Lottery, and charitable gaming. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates commercial operations under state jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGM National Harbor</span> Casino in National Harbor, Maryland

MGM National Harbor is a casino hotel in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. It opened on December 8, 2016, and cost $1.4 billion. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International.

Vici Properties Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino and entertainment properties, based in New York City. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment Corporation as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. It owns 54 casinos, hotels, and racetracks, 4 golf courses, and 38 bowling alleys around the United States and Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 "MGM Springfield reveals $960 million resort casino to open earlier than expected (photos, video)".
  2. ↑ "MGM Springfield". www.mgmspringfield.com.
  3. ↑ Robbins, Carolyn (November 5, 2014). "MGM Springfield moves to next phase, accepting license, soil testing in South End". The Republican . Springfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  4. 1 2 3 MGM, Springfield. "MGM Resorts International Accepts Massachusetts Casino License". MGM Springfield Official Website. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Burnett, Andrew. "A New Type of Casino". Pokertube. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Williams, Michelle (June 27, 2014). "MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis reflects on SJC's decision on gaming law repeal efforts". The Republican . Springfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  7. ↑ Rizzuto, Robert (June 5, 2014). "Endangered properties in Springfield's South End relating to MGM's proposed $800 million casino". The Republican . Springfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  8. ↑ "MGM Springfield drops 25-story hotel tower from casino design plan, relocates hotel to Main Street". Masslive.com. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  9. ↑ Goonan Peter (July 5, 2013). "MGM Resorts schedules job workshops and diversity vendor fair for Springfield casino jobs, biddable goods". Masslive.com. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  10. ↑ Amarante, Joe (September 6, 2018). "Modestly sized MGM Springfield rises from ruins of 2011 tornado". nhregister.com. New Haven Register. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  11. ↑ "MGM Springfield: Description from the Licensee". massgaming.com. Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  12. ↑ Jim Kinney (May 11, 2021). "MGM sells Springfield property to real estate trust MGM Growth Properties; no impact expected on day-to-day casino operations". MassLive. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.