It was a warm and humid summer day three years ago when I
walked the entire site with a group that was thinking of putting a casino there before Wynn came along. “My”
group saw the potential in the site and was briefly intrigued with the idea of
having the "Boston casino" in Everett, but it never actually took the proposal beyond the
brainstorming stage. This theme recurs often in
my life: I get the dreamers; other
consultants get the guys itching to drop a billion-plus on a deal.
Anyway, the property on the Mystic River where a Monsanto
chemical factory once stood, and where Wynn envisages a casino, is covered with
fill -- a mixture of dirt, gravel, broken bricks and stones, and God knows what
else, which was used to encase and smooth the land when the factory was demolished. Some tall weeds have sprouted there but do not seem to be
thriving as they do in most vacant lots. These weeds actually look malnourished. The property comprises 33 acres. One acre equals roughly three-quarters of a football field. So imagine 24 to 25 football fields of sheer ugliness standing in the shadow of a power plant and a terminally congested Sullivan Square.
Then visualize that property ending at a deserted, pollution-bombarded shoreline -- a place of rotting piles, broken concrete slabs from vanished buildings, crumbling revetments, and unidentifiable debris exposed in the black, oily muck of the outgone tide. I’m surprised the Massachusetts Film Bureau hasn’t used this place as a permanent set for horror movies.
So give Steve Wynn credit.
He’s willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to decontaminate the
site so that it's suitable for building upon and occupying. And he’s willing to spare no cost to build
what he vows will be a five-star hotel and a spectacular, self-contained
mini-world, a Vegas-on-the-Mystic, a pleasure dome shamelessly dedicated to
round-the-clock wining, dining, shopping and entertainment.
Monsanto closed up shop in Everett over 20 ago. No one, with
the exception of Mr. Wynn, has come along since who has the resources, the
vision and the willingness to redevelop the site. The City of Everett has naturally embraced
the man, his Revere roots notwithstanding.
Wynn knows environmental remediation is his strong suit in
this nerve-ripping, high-stakes game of licensing Massachusetts’s first casino. He seems to delight in pulling a new “environmental
ace” from his sleeve every few days.
On August 13, there was the announcement that the project,
officially dubbed Wynn Everett, will include “a public harbor walk for
pedestrians and bicycles that will extend the length of the resort’s shoreline
and connect to a park.”
Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett, said, “We
envision our harbor walk to be brimming with activity day and night, year
round, both from a recreational and transportation perspective. Connecting (the
new harbor walk) to the (existing) Gateway Center Park means more people can
enjoy the Mystic River and access our resort without having to drive here by
car. It is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to unlock a beautiful urban waterfront that very few people today
know exists.”
On August 19, there was the announcement that Wynn Everett “will
exceed state regulatory requirements for environmental sustainability and
feature advanced green initiatives, including the use of solar power and
rainwater harvesting.”
Said DeSalvio: “The $30-million waterfront site cleanup and
transformation (of the former Monsanto site) will have an historic impact on
the entire region…The Wynn Resort in Everett will be a model of sustainability
and energy efficiency when we begin our day-to-day operations. It will bring to life Wynn’s deeply rooted
principal of being an environmentally conscious and responsible leader in every
community that we’re part of.”
Wynn’s long-range plan, I have learned, now extends beyond
the casino site proper. Sources in Everett
say that a Wynn representative recently approached the operators of the
Mystic Station power plant, which is located directly across busy Route 99 (Broadway) from
the casino site, to explore the possibility of acquiring and demolishing three old
and disused components of the facility (Mystic 4, 5 and 6) and of building a
parking garage for casino patrons in their places. The plan includes a pedestrian walkway
spanning Route 99, garage to casino.
If the final license for Wynn Everett is granted, and if
Winn ever gets to replace a part of the Mystic Station with an environmentally
friendly and visually unobjectionable parking garage, the entire appearance of
that industry-heavy part of Everett would change for the better, and dramatically so. It would be so good that the people of
Charlestown and Somerville, though they might remain opposed to the casino,
would like the new look of things from across the river despite themselves.
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