Detroit riverfront gets just one casino

Source: Lansing State Journal
DETROIT - Despite larger-scale plans, only one of Detroit’s three casinos will move to the city’s riverfront, Mayor Dennis Archer announced.

The city and the casinos reached the tentative agreement Thursday, after earlier secret discussions in Las Vegas.

Archer said his original $2 billion plan on riverfront land east of downtown had to be scrapped because the city couldn’t negotiate reasonable prices for some of the land. That means just the MGM Grand casino - currently located on the edge of downtown - will move to part of the 57 acres the city had attempted to acquire. Archer wasn’t sure how much of that land will be used.

“I had hoped to have everything clustered,” Archer said. “I was optimistic that we could acquire the property, (but) at what cost? We have bent over backwards and left no stone unturned to negotiate fair purchase agreements with everyone...There are some landowners with whom we could not reach final terms at reasonable prices.”

The mayor did not say why the MGM Grand was the only one relocating. It was the city’s first casino, opening in July 1999.

Most landowners had agreed to sell, attorneys for the landowners said. But the options on purchasing the property were due to expire today.

At its new location, MGM will build 800 hotel rooms and two conference centers. Developers hope to begin construction this spring, said Greg Bowens, the mayor’s spokesman.
Source: Lansing State Journal