Sugarhouse Casino plan approved
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission has approved a new development plan for the Sugarhouse casino slated to be built along the Delaware riverfront. Community leaders and anti-casino activists had lobbied the Commission to turn down the plan…citing concerns about parking and the casino's proximity to neighborhoods.
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The casino was already approved but the plans needed to be tweaked. In the revised proposal there are 50 more slot machines, the casino floor is moved to ground level, and the parking garage will be delayed until after the interim casino opens.
Tom Witt is the lawyer representing Sugarhouse Casino. He said the changes make sense.
Witt: By moving the garage from the interim phase to the first phase, we create the possibility of making up for some of the time which has been lost and moving up substantially the date when we'll have the jobs and the revenues – the permanent jobs and revenues that the casino's gonna bring.
Construction is expected to begin on the interim casino this summer.