The empty movie theater in East Windsor will be demolished within the next six weeks, and it started with construction equipment knocking down corner on the southeastern side of the building.
The demolition is the first phase of transforming the lot into what would be Connecticut’s third casino and its first off of the tribal land.
Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown said the demolition is the first step toward protecting casino and construction jobs in Connecticut, during the demolition ceremony which closely resembled a groundbreaking.
“We have all of the tools at our command right now to start like we’re starting here today with this demolition,” Brown said from the podium.
The third casino is facing regulatory and political heeadwinds, as it currently has the most vital support it needs in Connecticut government.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has not yet authorized the third casino, which would be considered a tribal-run commercial enterprise. There are also unresolved legal questions surrounding the state’s revenue compact with the state and what impact a commercial casino would have.
In addition, there is a very strong political effort by MGM to stop the East Windsor casino, in favor of a proposal to redevelop the waterfront in Bridgeport with a new casino in the state’s largest city.
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“The Legislative Office Building looks like MGM’s corporate office,” said Rodney Butler, the chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe that operates Foxwoods, of MGM’s heightened lobbying presence in the state capitol.
MGM’s Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel, Uri Clinton, who’s been a regular face in Hartford in recent years said of the demolition, “The MMCT is no closer today to the legal approvals they require, and no closer to producing a realistic construction schedule, than they were more than a year ago when they said construction would be completed in 2018. If ever there was a textbook example of 'there’s less here than meets the eye,' this is it."
Brown and Butler said they are still going through the design phase of the casino and would look to start construction shortly after its complete, taking an estimated time of twenty months to complete.
On whether the tribes will get a favorable decision from Washington, Brown was confident, saying, “There have been much more complex cases that have ultimately landed to the good of the tribes and this one is going to land that way, as well.”
