Wynn Boston Harbor

Background and owners (1800s-2010s)

In 2015, Wynn Resorts purchased 33 acres of land along the Mystic River in Everett, Massachusetts, announcing plans to build the resort-casino Wynn Everett on the plot. With the project later renamed Wynn Boston Harbor, around 30 of those acres had previously been set aside for industrial use and were inaccessible to the public. A section of the plot had been known as White Island in the 1800s, with the island later becoming part of the mainland as backfill expanded the shoreline along the Mystic River. Prior to any backfill, as early as 1804 a dye house had been built on the land, which was later occupied by Cochrane Chemical Company.

Using a corner of White Island, in 1854 the Mystic River Bridge was built across the river. New England Chemical started a plant on the site in 1868, before promptly going out of business in 1872. That year Cochrane Chemical Company purchased a portion of the plot adjacent to New England Chemical's former factory, with the Cochrane factory experiencing heavy use during World War I. The land was acquired by Merrimac Chemical Company in 1917. It became an industrial center used by Monsanto starting in 1929, with Monsanto selling the parcel to Boston Edison in 1983. Boston Edison retained the land until 1995, when the land and easements were purchased by O'Donnell Sand & Gravel. Afterwards ownership of the parcel was ceded to Rosen Construction Ventures in Florida. The site was subsequently primed for development, undergoing several other changes in ownership.

Casino proposal process (2011-2014)

In 2011, the government of Massachusetts enacted the Expanded Gaming Act, which permitted Las Vegas-style casino gaming in the state and established three territories, each of which could contain one licensed casino. The plot in Everett fell into the territory that also included the greater Boston area. A number of companies developed and pitched casino projects to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission subsequent to the Expanded Gaming Act, with Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts selecting the Everett plot as its proposed location. Wynn Resorts brought in Robert J. DeSalvio to lead the Wynn Boston Harbor development process in March 2014, with DeSalvio to become the casino's president if the company won a license. DeSalvio had recently served as president of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and executive vice president of both Sands Atlantic City and Foxwoods Resort Casino. As of June 2014, Wynn Resorts was drafting their Final Environmental Impact Report, a final step in the proposal process. Voters in Massachusetts voted against a measure to repeal the casino law in July 2014, which maintained the legality of opening three casinos in the state.

Everett license awarded (2014)

In September 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted 3 to 1 to approve Wynn Resorts’ proposed $1.6 billion casino in Everett, and the license was formally approved with a 4 to 0 vote the next day. It was the singular casino license awarded in the eastern gaming region of Massachusetts, winning out over a $1.1 billion casino proposal by Mohegan Sun to rebuild the Suffolks Down racetrack in Revere near Boston. According to the Associated Press, the decision "came after Wynn conceded to a number of significant requests commissioners made, including proposing alternative designs for its 27-story glass hotel tower." Also, Wynn Resorts "agreed to pay millions more toward long-term plans to address traffic through Sullivan Square in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood." Part of the environmental cleanup plan for the area involved building a living ecosystem on the shoreline. Other aspects of the approved 26 acre proposal involved several thousand full-time jobs with salary averaging at $56,000. Wynn Resorts estimated that Wynn Boston Harbor would bring in $260 million in annual tax revenue to the state of Massachusetts.

Wynn Resorts was awarded an official gaming license from the state to "develop and construct an integrated resort" in Everett in November 2014. The Wynn Boston Harbor Resort development was estimated to cost a total of $1.7 billion, with a projected 2018 opening. The license met with mixed reactions from local politicians. The Mayor of Everett Carlo DeMaria declared the decision "a tremendous day" for the city of Everett, going on that "I could not be any happier. We will no longer be the butt end of Boston, we'll be the entrance to the city of Everett." In contrast, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh called Wynn Resorts' offer to Boston "unacceptable," and in January 2015, the cities of Revere, Somerville, and Boston all filed separate lawsuits against the gaming commission over the license, citing reasons such as traffic congestion. Wynn Boston Harbor's rival Mohegan Sun also sued the commission, demanding a do-over of the casino license competition.

Land purchase and remediation (2015)

On January 2, 2015, Wynn Resorts spent $35 million purchasing 33 acres of land along the Mystic River in Everett, announcing plans to develop "an integrated resort containing a hotel, restaurants, casino, spa, premium retail offerings, meeting and convention space and a waterfront harborwalk." The sale severed the parcel's connections to the previous owners, who had overseen its use by Monsanto and other chemical companies. Wynn Resorts unveiled Wynn Boston Harbor's new design to state regulators on January 15, 2015, displaying a bronze glass hotel tower with 24 floors and two large indoor gardens, among other features. The hotel included 600 rooms, or about 100 more than originally proposed. Other new changes included a meeting and convention space in place of a previously planned nightclub along the retail esplanade. Wynn Resorts and the city of Everett were preparing for construction hires by the middle of May 2015, with DeSalvio stating at a job fair that "even though we’re a number of months away (from construction), we wanted to hit the ground running and get started."

In August 2015, Wynn Resorts released a new rendering of the harborwalk, which will connect the resort with the neighboring Gateway Center Park. Towards the end of August, Wynn Boston Harbor received an environmental certificate from the state of Massachusetts after a three-year process to meet the guidelines of the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act (MEPA). On September 10, Wynn Resorts rolled in equipment and workers to begin site preparation and pre-construction activities. Wynn Boston Harbor received final unanimous approval from the City of Everett Planning Board on September 28, 2015. The vote allowed Wynn to apply for building permits. Site remediation officially started in the third week of October, with Charter Contracting Company, LLC hired to conduct the initial four-month cleanup process. Wynn Resorts paid the $30 million estimated remediation costs directly, as compared to using public funds. By November 10, 2015, Wynn Resorts announced it had "awarded more than $3 million in contracts to certified veteran-owned businesses" in the resort's design phase, equaling 6.2% of the entire design-phase expense.

Employment and Boston "treaty" (2015-2016)

Wynn Resorts described the project as progressing on schedule by early 2016, with Wynn Boston Harbor described as "the largest private single-phase construction project in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Wynn Resorts stated that the construction process would create 4,000 union trade jobs "that cover 10 million total work hours," with 4,000 permanent operational jobs to be created for the 2018 opening. On January 19, Suffolk Construction Company was announced as the general contractor. Beyond several casinos, Suffolk had previously constructed projects such as the Mandarin Oriental, Liberty Hotel, and the Boston Opera House.

After Boston led an "aggressive legal effort" to earn status as the Wynn project's host community, a November 2015 dismissal of Boston's lawsuit resulted in personal negotiations between Wynn and Boston mayor Walsh. A "treaty" between Steve Wynn and Walsh was officially approved by state gambling regulators in February 2016, with Boston entering into a Surrounding Community Agreement with Wynn. Afterwards, Boston's legal council announced that "from this point forward, Wynn’s success is the city of Boston’s success and vice versa, and we look forward to our new relationship."

Delay and pre-construction (2016)

In February 2016, Somerville filed an administrative appeal questioning Wynn Boston Harbor's 2015 environmental permit from the Department of Environmental Protection, with the press reporting that the appeal could potentially delay Wynn Boston Harbor for a year. Somerville had four other legal challenges pending against the project at the time, including a legal appeal "challenging the state’s issuance of a key environmental permit [to Wynn Boston Harbor]," which had temporarily stalled remediation the month previous. Although Curtatone defended the legal basis of his appeal in an op-ed, a Wynn Resorts spokesperson stated that the February appeal demonstrated Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone's "disrespect for the exhaustive work done by many state agencies in issuing this permit," accusing Curtatone of putting "personal political ambition” above job creation.

By February 2016, construction on Wynn Boston Harbor was scheduled to start in April. On February 24, however, construction was put on hold pending the Somerville appeal. The construction hold, according to Wynn Resorts, halted the hiring of up to 4,000 people and would "cost Massachusetts $55 million every month the project is delayed," equaling about "$660 million a year in economic benefits for the state," including $170 million in payroll and $248 million to operate the casino. DeSalvio stated to the press that despite the delay the project was otherwise unaffected, with the building to be started "as soon as possible." Steve Wynn revealed details about the project, including the working name of Wynn Boston Harbor, in March 2016. Revealing a 100 square foot model of the resort, Wynn asserted they were aiming for a July groundbreaking, with the cost of the project upped from $1.7 to $2 billion.

Construction began in earnest after the City of Somerville dropped its appeal in August 2016.

Design and architecture

The $2 billion Wynn Boston Harbor resort and casino is projected to be completed in 2019. According to the Wynn Boston Harbor website, the 33-acre development is "the largest private single-phase construction project in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." With construction by Suffolk Construction Company and design by Wynn Resorts, the bronze-toned glass tower will have 24 above-ground floors and top out at 292.73 feet. With 629 rooms, the building will house a hotel and gaming area as well as two large indoor gardens, while the lobby will feature a 2,000-pound sculpture of Popeye by artist Jeff Koons, which Steve Wynn purchased at auction for $28.2 million specifically for the Wynn Boston Harbor location.

There will be 3,400 parking spots. The 629 luxury hotel rooms in the main Wynn Boston Harbor tower will be of three types: the multi-room "parlor suites," the "panoramic suites" with panoramic views of the Boston skyline, and the five star "deluxe resort" rooms. With an average area of 630 square feet, Wynn Resorts claims the deluxe rooms will have the "largest standard hotel room size in Boston."

Interior attractions and venues

The resort will feature a number of venues, retail outlets, and other attractions beyond a hotel, including a casino, six restaurants, a sports bar, a spa, and space for meetings and weddings. As with other Wynn Resorts developments such as Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Boston Harbor will include a strip of luxury retailers in the Shops at Wynn area. The gaming areas of the development will include both poker tables, slot machines, and other table games.

Harborwalk and exterior attractions

The development will feature the harborwalk, which will include a public park and boardwalk situated between the Wynn Boston Harbor skyscraper and the waterfront of the Mystic River. The boardwalk will open the waterfront to public use for the first time in over a century. In August 2015, Wynn Resorts stated that it intended the harborwalk to be “Boston’s most magnificent outdoor gathering spot.” Public amenities will include a picnic park, paths for bikers and pedestrians, viewing decks, waterfront restaurants and retail, a performance lawn, floral displays, and boat docks.

Transportation

The resort borders the City of Boston and is approximately five miles from Boston’s Logan International Airport, Back Bay, North End, the financial district, and Seaport. In 2014, Wynn Boston Harbor announced plans for a year-round water transportation system to take guests and employees to areas across Boston Harbor, using "low-profile European style boats." The casino also announced plans for a water taxi service to bring individual guests to anywhere in Boston Harbor, and a public boat dock for private boats. The harborwalk will include a ferry stop with connections to Long Wharf and the World Trade Center in South Boston. The harborwalk and trails will connect pedestrians with the neighboring Gateway Center Park, and Wynn Boston Harbor has also proposed contributing funds for a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge across the Mystic River. Wynn Resorts also agreed to subsidize the Orange Line that crosses over the river from nearby Somerville to Everett.