Gaming and tourism giant Genting has won a bid to build a new hotel in Miami with the presumption that it will also house a casino.
The 36-story hotel is to be built above an Omni bus station with Genting to be granted a 90-year lease of the air it will occupy, according to the Miami Herald. The deal includes Genting paying US$16 million to upgrade the bus station – including installing air conditioning – as well as paying Miami-Dade US$10 million in cash. The project would also incorporate a grand public plaza and retail boulevard to improve public areas in the precinct.
Local commissioners would need to provide additional approval to add a casino although it is expected they will do just that, with Commissioner Joe Martinez commenting, “I am willing to live with a casino there because it is coming.”
The current plan includes 300 hotel rooms and 20 floors of residential at a cost of around US$200 million, however Genting has also been lobbying to build a massive 5,000 room integrated resort, Resorts World Miami, on 30 acres of adjoining land it purchased for in 2011 for around US$285 million. Winning such approvals, including the operation of a casino, would require a number of local law changes but could also provide Miami-Dade with much needed funding.
