Casino Headed to Exhibition?
By Lucas on Mar 06, 2013
Usually, our blog revolves strictly around the new home industry, but when news breaks about something big headed to Toronto, we take notice. Last week, Cadillac Fairview and MGM announced their plans for a casino on the Exhibition Place grounds.
“No other property has such great potential to benefit the City and people of Toronto like Exhibition Place,” said Alan Feldman, Senior Vice-President of Public Affairs at MGM Resorts in a release. “An integrated resort is a means to achieving so much more. Torontonians have a once in a generation opportunity to seize substantial and long-term private investment that can then be used to help their City leap forward on issues they believe are most important. As part of our proposal, we’re incorporating public significant enhancements directly into the plan. What Toronto City Council decides to do with the further tens of millions of dollars in additional annual revenue, is limited only by imagination.”
Some of the benefits that Cadillac Fairview and MGM promote include 10,000 permanent jobs, millions of dollars in revenue, and more than one million new tourists for Toronto. Cadillac Fairview and MGM feel that this site has a lot of potential because of the nearby transit routes, open parking spaces, as well as its proximity to the Toronto Exhibition, which is one of the best-attended festivals of the summer.
Wayne Barwise, Executive Vice-President of Development at Cadillac Fairview, said, “Our vision of the integrated resort is one that incorporates multiple uses, to attract a broad range of visitors. That’s why we believe that Exhibition Place is the optimal location. With our proposed mix of entertainment, dining, best-in-class retail, hotel, and convention facilities for the site, this revitalization will re-establish Exhibition Place as the city’s pre-eminent, year-round entertainment destination.”
By no means is this a complete application. MGM and Cadillac Fairview will have to continue to work with decision makers in the city to ensure that some of the negative aspects that a casino can bring will be avoided here in Toronto. The plan is very far from being finalized, but it’s exciting that something of this magnitude is in the works.
