SugarHouse Picks Up Foundation Permit

On Friday morning, SugarHouse Casino took the city up on the standing offer to come get its foundation permit.

Casino Spokeswoman Leigh Whitaker said work on the foundation would not begin immediately. “We still have a couple weeks left of obstruction removal and then we have to do rapid compaction,” she wrote in an email.

“We are very excited that we are moving forward in our development process and we look forward to working cooperatively with the City to build a dynamic project of which we can all be proud,” Greg Carlin, chief executive officer of HSP Gaming – the casino developer – said in a written statement. SugarHouse previously received a zoning permit and a rough grading permit for its Delaware Avenue site.

The foundation permit, which is the first in a series of building permits SugarHouse needs to build along Delaware Avenue, had become a prop in a battle of words and court documents between the casino and the city administration.

SugarHouse told the State Supreme Court that the city was dragging its feet and requested a Special Master to guide the process. The city told the court – and SugarHouse officials – that the permit was available. All the casino had to do was get a signature from the water department and pay the fee, and it was theirs.

Mayor Michael Nutter displayed a giant copy of the permit at a press conference where he said his administration was not delaying casinos, but, on the contrary, wanted to get them up and running as soon as possible.

SugarHouse said they had received conflicting information on the permit, but that was not the only issue, anyway.

Earlier this week, the State Supreme Court sided with SugarHouse and appointed a Special Master.

-Posted by Kellie Patrick Gates