$600M Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia cleared for 2018 construction

Dive Brief:

Construction of the $600 million Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia project in South Philadelphia is set to begin in 2018, according to Curbed Philadelphia.
The Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. development will include 2,000 slot machines, 125 gaming tables, more than 200 hotel rooms and a 2,600-square-foot parking garage. The casino-hotel property will be located near Philadelphia's major sports stadiums, which has led project officials to bill it as "the first comprehensive gaming, resort, entertainment and sports destination in the United States."
The project, expected to open in 2020, was stalled because of a state restriction on owners having an interest in more than one casino. A potential competitor filed suit to stop the development from moving forward on that basis, but Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf repealed the law last week, scuttling the legal challenge.

Dive Insight:

Cordish, along with MLB's Texas Rangers, is also behind the $250 million Texas Live! entertainment complex, which will be adjacent to the baseball team's new home at the $1.1 billion Globe Life Field.

Construction is underway on both projects, with the Rangers' stadium breaking ground in late September, and crews beginning work on the initial $100 million phase of Texas Live! on Nov. 1. That phase includes convention and meeting space, a 350-room hotel, 200,000 square feet of dining and entertainment venues and an outdoor pavilion. When both Texas Live! and the new stadium are open, game-day guests at the entertainment venue will have a limited view of the Rangers field.

Construction is underway on a $100 million expansion of another Cordish property, this one at the Maryland Live! casino complex in Hanover, MD. Tutor Perini was to complete a 17-story, 310-room, high-end hotel and event center there by the end of this year, but that date has been pushed back to spring of 2018, according to The Washington Post.

As for the event and convention center, Anne Arundel County earlier this month approved a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) measure last week that will save Cordish $36 million in taxes over the next 30 years. Those savings are expected to allow the developer to expand its facility from a seating capacity of 1,400 to 4,000. The county's auditor said the deal will cost the county $7 million, meaning Anne Arundel County will need to capitalize on the convention center to make up for any projected tax losses.