Bally’s Bronx Casino Plan Revived

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In recent weeks, it appeared the cards were firmly stacked against Bally’s and its pursuit of a casino in the Bronx. But Mayor Eric Adams had an ace up his sleeve and the City Council is prepared to watch how the rest of the game unfolds.

The casino plan at Ferry Point Park in Throggs Neck received a second shot at success after the City Council didn’t attempt to override the mayor’s critical veto of the body’s previous rejection of the pitch, Crain’s reported. A 10-day clock for the council to act lapsed without action on Monday.

The surprise move comes after the council’s initial 29-9 vote against the Bally’s proposal, most of the legislative body in lockstep with local councilmember Kristy Marmorato.

That July 14 vote centered on a zoning approval Bally’s needed to for its $4 billion proposal, since an applicable portion of the site is on city-owned land. The zoning changes include demapping the site as city parkland and granting a designation to allow a mixed-use development.

But in a video interview Wednesday with The Real Deal’s Publisher Amir Korangy on July 30, Adams confirmed that he would veto the City Council’s vote. The City Council needed a two-thirds vote to override the mayor’s veto, a bar higher than the initial vote.

Bally’s has not commented on the latest development, but Marmarato in a statement last week expressed deep disappointment and promised to keep “fighting this proposal at every stage.”

This is only the fifth time since 1989 that the mayor has vetoed council rejections of land-use applications. Of the four previous instances, only once — in 1992 — did the council fail to override the veto.

Zoning changes need to be approved before the end of next month, the deadline for a six-member Community Advisory Committee to vote on the proposal. That vote will determine which casino proposals head to the state Gaming Facility Location Board, which ultimately decides the applications to receive the three downstate casino licenses up for grabs from the state.

“We’re not going to expend public capital, time and energy on a thing where the council won’t have the final say,” a council official told the outlet.

— Holden Walter-Warner