Mayor Rizzo Announces the Signing of a Host Community Agreement with Suffolk Downs & Caesars Entertainment
August 29, 2013
I am pleased to announce that the City of Revere, and the developers at Suffolk Downs, has come to terms on a host community agreement that we signed today. The mitigation agreement will protect the interests of the residents and business owners of Revere by improving traffic conditions, increasing public safety and green space, as well as creating much needed jobs and infrastructure improvements.
We took a very measured approach and weighed the opinions, and ideas, of the community throughout this process. The prospect of a resort style casino at Suffolk Downs will surely create jobs and lead to further investment within our city. The Host community agreement will act to protect the city’s interests and ensure that we have the resources needed in the future. The citizens of Revere, through an election, will be the final deciding voice on the prospect of a resort style casino. My feeling is that when the citizens of Revere see this agreement, they will support the committee host agreement overwhelmingly.
I believe that the Revere host community agreement is an extraordinary deal that will help make the transformation of Revere a reality.
- The host community agreement reach today is worth over 200 million dollars over the life of the agreement.
- Give residents unprecedented opportunities for employment with 2,500 construction and 4,000 permanent jobs
- And one of the most important elements of this agreement is that Revere residents have preference for the good paying quality jobs that this development will create.
Under the agreement a Suffolk Downs resort casino will spend a minimum of 100 million on the purchase of goods and services at Revere businesses.
- Provide the city with a significant new revenue stream – estimated at $15M when fully operational – that number will grow as the facility grows (1.5% of revenue) making it by far the largest taxpayer in the city; In fact the top ten largest taxpayers in the city do not add up to the yearly amount received under this agreement.
I would like to thank the people at Suffolk Downs and Caesars, particularly Richard Fields and Chip Tuttle, for being such a great partners in the negotiation process as well as a great partner to the City in the many years of the running of Suffolk Downs. I also want to thank Joe Guziewicz from Caesars Entertainment who will help make this a world class facility. I would also like to thank John Festa and the Economic Development Team who worked diligently in making this become a reality. I also want to take this opportunity to thank our leaders from state government including Speaker Bob Deleo and State Representative Kathi Reinstein. They could not be here with us tonight, but their efforts and dedication to their constituents have helped make this a reality.
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