Progress toward breaking ground on the 0 million Live! Casino, the second approved Philadelphia city casino, is speeding up after approval of zoning for the project last week by Philadelphia City Council.
Two zoning bills for the project, owned by Baltimore-based Cordish Companies and Bensalem, Pennsylvania-based Greenwood Gaming and licensed to the partnership known as Stadium Casino, change the zoning for the project site from community commercial mixed-use to a special purpose district.
Council voted to pass the bills after a delay while they were being reviewed by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson. After the votes passed, Johnson said he had been studying the proposal to assure compliance with labor diversity pledges.
“The jobs created must pay living wages and the workers at all stages of the process including construction, professional services, operations and vending, and contracting must represent Philadelphia’s diverse demographic makeup,” Johnson said, according to 6 ABC in Philadelphia. “Additionally, I have worked with the Office of Economic Opportunity to set historic diversity goals that call for at least 50 percent minority participation in all stages of this project.”
The casino project, which will include more than 2,000 slot machines, 125 table games, a 19-story hotel and a seven-story garage, is expected to generate 3,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent casino jobs, all unionized.
Groundbreaking will not take place, however, until a lawsuit brought by Live! competitor SugarHouse is resolved, according to officials with Cordish.
