Wynn & Kraft make case for Massachusetts
Gillette Stadium – The new development would be built close by
A $1 billion casino resort across from Gillette Stadium would include a luxury hotel, gambling hall, shops, restaurants, and convention space that its developers insisted would still feel as if it “fits in the woods’’ of Foxborough.
That was the pitch from casino mogul Steve Wynn and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who made a joint appearance in Foxborough yesterday to argue that the casino would be an economic engine for the town and region.
Unlike his skyscraper-high casinos in Las Vegas, Wynn said, the Foxborough resort would contain low- to midrise buildings no taller than the 200-foot high Gillette Stadium. “What is appropriate for Las Vegas would be completely out of scale and inappropriate in Massachusetts,’’ he said.
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However, since there are few tall buildings in the surrounding area, a casino 200 feet tall would tower over the surrounding suburban landscape, which includes mostly one- and two-story retail shops and parking lots along Route 1.
Kraft had initially tried to develop an office complex for life sciences and technology companies on the property, but failed to move forward with that plan. That caused him to begin looking at other options, and he said the partnership with Wynn offers the best opportunity to create jobs.
Wynn, who owns and operates massive casinos in Las Vegas and in Macau off mainland China, said he originally approached Kraft about the idea about six months ago.
Under the new casino law in Massachusetts, developers must get approval from their host communities to build gambling facilities, and that may be one of the biggest obstacles facing the Wynn-Kraft team.
The two executives seemed intent on addressing the concerns of Foxborough’s 16,865 residents more than any other audience. Kraft and Wynn held interviews with several news organizations in a television studio inside Gillette Stadium, and the sessions with reporters were filmed by The Kraft Group, the business entity negotiating the casino proposal. A spokesman said the company intends to have the footage aired on Foxborough’s local cable channel or used in other efforts related to the project.
The two executives promised to build a facility that would generate business activity and tax dollars for the community, while protecting what they called Foxborough’s bucolic character.
“We see this as a destination resort that will attract people from all over America and all over the world that will want to come here and have conventions and have meeting spaces and have a good time,’’ Kraft said, adding that visitors would “leave a lot of revenue here that will spill over to both Foxborough and the surrounding towns.’’
The town of Foxborough has been skeptical of gambling for years, and some residents held a protest over the weekend to express concern about hosting a casino. Foxborough’s Town Meeting would need to approve any zoning changes for a casino by a two-thirds vote.
