03-03-2005, 10:28 AM
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Tastykake Maker
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Formerly of Fishtown, now Charleston SC
Posts: 123
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Vegas firm options riverfront plot?
Quote:
A Las Vegas casino company has an option to buy 46 acres of waterfront property along the Delaware River in Fishtown near Penn Treaty Park.
The land is owned by companies controlled by James J. Anderson, a Bucks County construction company owner with political ties to Democrats and Republicans.
Kathy Callahan, a spokeswoman for Ameristar Casinos Inc. in Las Vegas, yesterday confirmed that the company planned to seek one of the two planned licenses for slots parlors in Philadelphia.
"We believe the Philadelphia market has outstanding potential," Callahan said. "At this point, we're in the preliminary stages of developing a plan."
Anderson signed the agreement in August with Richmond Street Development, an Ameristar subsidiary incorporated in Pennsylvania just five days before the deal was done.
The agreement, notarized in Clark County, Nev. - home of the legendary Las Vegas strip - was inked by Connie R. Wilson, Ameristar's vice president for administration. The company runs casinos in Nevada, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado and Mississippi.
The option agreement does not list a price, and Callahan yesterday said she did not have that information.
Anderson did not respond to three detailed messages left at his office this week from the Daily News.
He has been collecting land along the Delaware River since 1992, when the idea of riverboat gambling prompted a wave of real-estate options from gaming companies.
His company, James J. Anderson Construction Co., does large-scale paving jobs and stores raw materials on the land, once home of the Cramp Shipyard.
He bought the land now optioned by Ameristar in two parcels - 13.2 acres in 1992 for $165,000 from another company and the rest in 1994 from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Corp. for $45,000.
State Rep. Marie Lederer in 2003 sponsored legislation to let Anderson's two companies, Dyott Corp. and Beach Street Corp., buy water rights to the riverfront land for $100,000.
Anderson has been an active political contributor.
State records show that since 2003, he has given $20,000 to Gov. Rendell, $17,500 to state House Speaker John Perzel and $5,000 to Mayor Street.
Ameristar's chief executive officer, Craig Neilsen, has also been active in Pennsylvania politics in recent years, spreading contributions to Republicans and Democrats and their party organizations.
There has been much speculation about waterfront gambling since the state last July passed a law authorizing 61,000 slot machines in 14 venues across the state, including two slots parlors in Philadelphia.
Caesars Entertainment recently picked up a long-held option on 18 acres of Delaware riverfront in South Philadelphia for $64.7 million and is circulating preliminary plans for a slots parlor, theater and hotel.
Villanova insurance consultant Manny Stamatakis and other investors have proposed building a slots parlor in the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Paul Levy, executive director of the Center City District and a leader of Mayor Street's Gaming Advisory Task Force, this week said he has heard many rumors about land options on the Delaware for gaming operations.
"We're probably going to be surprised by some of the sites we have not heard about," Levy said. "I think there is probably a lot of activity going on below the radar screen."
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http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...l/11037738.htm
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