Roll the Dice: Encore!

From Dave Brigham:

The folks at Wynn Resorts, after more than a year delay in their legal game of craps with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are gonna get that new pair of shoes after all. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission ruled earlier this week that the Las Vegas-based gambling juggernaut can retain its license to run the Encore Boston Harbor Casino, which has been under construction just over the Boston line in Everett for the last few years.

"The ruling follows a protracted investigation that began after the Wall Street Journal in January 2018 detailed sexual misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn, which he denied, and three days of hearings in early April," according to the Globe article linked above. Wynn Resorts was assessed a $35 million fine for the actions of executives who covered up sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn, who left the helm of the company in light of the controversy.

In 2011, the Massachusetts legislature voted to allow three casinos and a slots parlor to be built in the state. In 2014, voters rejected a casino repeal ballot measure. The slots parlor, Plainridge Park Casino, opened in Plainville in 2015. The MGM Springfield, a full-service casino and entertainment complex, opened last year.

Voters in the hardscrabble city of Everett, just across the Mystic River from Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, in 2013 approved a proposal by Wynn Resorts to build a casino in their midst. The gaming commission awarded the sole Boston-area casino license to Wynn in 2014. The other contenders were located in Milford, Mass., about 35 miles from Boston, and in East Boston/Revere at the now-defunct Suffolk Downs horse track (see June 30, 2018, "Losing Bet at Suffolk Downs").

I visited Everett in 2013 to take pictures of, and get a feel for, the neighborhood near the site of the proposed casino (see June 25 2013, "Roll the Dice"). What I found on that visit was a blue-collar neighborhood with plenty of gas/oil distribution sites, a massive power plant, small industry buildings, state and city government operations (Boston Water & Sewer, Mass. Water Resources Authority, MBTA bus yard), small restaurants and shops, houses and apartment buildings packed cheek-by-jowl, and rundown building and vacant lots.

Formerly a Monsanto Chemical facility, the site where the casino has risen needed a massive cleanup before construction could begin. The resort includes a 27-story hotel with 671 rooms and suites in a bronze glass tower, according to the resort's web site. The project will also include restaurants and lounges, as well as retail, spa and salon options, per the web site. Additionally, there will be a year-round public waterfront park. Encore Boston Harbor is slated to open in June.

Concurrent with building the casino complex, Wynn Resorts began buying up land across Broadway from its site, with an eye toward developing hotels, restaurants, retail sites and office buildings. Other buildings and sites in this area have been sold to other parties. Last fall I returned to the area to see what's changed since my 2013 visit and speculate what's likely to happen in the future.

As with my 2013 trip, I parked near this cool old building with a great ghost sign (which serves as the background photo on this blog):

The former Metropolitan Lithograph Publishing Company building is now home to a Hard Knocks martial arts studio, home and garden company Greene Installation, and other small businesses. It was recently acquired by United Properties, a Malden-based property management and development company. I haven't been able to determine if United Properties has made public its plans for this site.

Here are two other shots of this immediate area.

The top photo shows a warehouse that may or may not still belong to Kontron S & T Group, a German company in the embedded computing technology field. Whatever that means. The second photo shows some of an ExxonMobil oil tank farm, which is embroiled in a lawsuit. The Conservation Law Foundation sued ExxonMobil in 2016, alleging that the company endangers communities along the Mystic River by leaving its tank farm vulnerable to storms and rising seas (in May 2017, Wynn Resorts completed its removal of contaminated soil from its casino site and the abutting Mystic River).

Now let's look at two buildings that, back during my 2013 review, were in rough shape.

The top photo shows a former ExxonMobil office building at 30 Beacham Street. As you can see, it's in the midst of renovation. Developer United Properties last summer announced a plan to maintain some of this building and construct floors of luxury housing on top. To read about that project, check this link and scroll down to the article, "Exxon building buyer to propose luxury apartments on Bow Street." In my post from 2013, this building had several broken windows and a "for lease by owner" sign on it. This building, with its developer's commitment to façadism, will stand as a constant reminder of the odd marriage between a working-class neighborhood and a glitzy, high-stakes casino.

The bottom photo shows the side of one of Tigar Refrigeration's buildings, which dates to 1910, I believe. Situated across a side street from the former ExxonMobil property, Tigar appears to be out of business. This property looked largely the same back in 2013. There are several buildings here, and I'm guessing the cleanup and demolition costs will be considerable. I'm curious to see what happens here in the coming years.

(The back of the Tigar Refrigeration complex.)

Directly across Beacham Street from these two buildings is a parking lot filled with trucks, including these harbingers of summer. How long before this lot gets built up?

To get an idea of what type of changes are coming to this area, check out this apartment complex.

Located on the former site of a Charleston Chew factory, The Batch Yard is a 328-unit luxury apartment development located perhaps a quarter-mile from the casino complex, on the same side of Broadway/Route 99. The factory stood vacant for nearly three decades, according to The Batch Yard's web site, before being torn down in advance of redevelopment. The apartment complex opened in 2014. I imagine rents there will increase soon.

Here's a promotional video for The Batch Yard. Keep your eyes peeled for the massive Charleston Chew sign on the roof deck:

Here's a video by RSG Contracting of the former factory prior to demolition:

Directly across the street from The Batch Yard is the Timeless Ink tattoo parlor.

Located in the former Phyllis' Diner, the ink shop has been around since 2011, as far as I can determine. Will business spike at Timeless Ink with casino business? Or will the site fall victim to redevelopment? That's the question about nearly every property in the area.

Let's continue moving east along Broadway, toward Encore.

This is Perfect Grinding Auto Body. Again, I'm not sure if it's still open. If it is, it may not be for long.

Located two doors down from the auto body shop, Cha Cha Cha Taqueria might be open. Hard to tell with small shops like these with basic web sites and Facebook pages that aren't updated very often. Another eatery, Mike's Roast Beef, has remained open despite all manner of road and sidewalk construction in the area in advance of the casino's opening. I suspect this place will move out before too long.

Ciro's Auto Repair (below), which was located next to Mike's Roast Beef, has closed. In business for 38 years as of shutting this site in 2018, the auto body shop may move to a new location, per its Facebook page. In May 2018, this property and a vacant lot next door were acquired by Wynn Resorts for $4.25 million, per this web site. What will the gaming firm develop here? Retail? Offices? Hotel?

Below is the view from the former Ciro's parking lot, past the Honda dealership on the right, and the Fortune Garden Chinese restaurant on the left. That sleek, copper-colored building roughly in the middle of the picture is the casino. It looms over everything here, because everything here is human-scaled. For now....

Continuing down Broadway toward the casino we come across yet another business that's been uprooted.

After 57 years, Malden Auto Body moved from this location to, well, it makes sense: Malden. I believe the adjacent auto sales business has also closed. I don't know for sure who bought this property, but I'm willing to gamble that it was Wynn Resorts.

Here's a shot taken from Bow Street, behind Malden Auto Body, with the casino just across Broadway in the background.

Finally, I got right across from the Encore.

This is the view from Dexter Street, looking across Broadway at the casino. On the right is the Minichiello Brothers scrap metal company, which, as far as I can tell, is still in business here. I realize that most people who stay at the casino hotel won't take the time to look out their window, but I like the fact that when some of them do, they'll see this place.

Continuing southwest along Route 99, which turns from Broadway into Alford Street as you enter Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, I passed a massive power plant before getting to a bridge over the Mystic River.

The Mystic Generating Station, operated by Exelon Corp., dates to the early 20th century, and burns some petroleum, but mostly natural gas. Again, I get a kick out of this place, with it smoke stacks, industrial behemoth buildings, barb wire fencing and turbines looming over the $2 billion Encore casino. And did I mention the smell of gas and oil that hovers over this area?

In a recent column in the Globe, business writer Jon Chesto speculates that Exelon might sell the site someday, making it a "prime candidate for redevelopment." That's not impossible to imagine, I suppose, considering that a former power plant in South Boson is slated for a massive reworking over the next several years (see January 12, 2019, "Power Move in South Boston").

The Alford Street Bridge has this nice plaque, which informs gamblers and non-gamblers alike that Blessing of the Bay, one of the first ships built in America, launched near here on the Mystic River in 1631.

As I mentioned earlier, there is an ExxonMobil gas tank farm between the Encore and Admirals Hill in Chelsea, which features the Naval Hospital Historic District, and which can most likely be seen from the casino. I wrote about Admirals Hill several years ago (see September 16, 2013, "On the (Chelsea) Waterfront").

Wynn Resorts has been buying up land around the casino, as I said above, with a plan to spend approximately $90 million eventually. Surely hotels, retail shops, restaurants, office and residential buildings will rise in the neighborhood before too long. “As a prudent developer, we have a responsibility to invest in the overall success of our host community and play a meaningful role in what will be built around our $2.4 billion resort,” Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Boston Harbor, said in a statement quoted by the Boston Globe. “That means, in the short term, we will proceed with demolition and add landscaping to make the entry to our resort spectacular. In the long term, we will work closely with the city of Everett to bring even more vitality and prosperity” to the area.

The city has helped some residents find new homes, and it seems as if most of the businesses that sold to Wynn have relocated elsewhere in Everett, or in nearby towns.

There will still be pockets of the old Everett here and there, I'm sure. Will James E. Kilduff Corporation, a purveyor of "top quality produce," be able to hang on here?

I don't know exactly what the building in the background is. I believe it's part of the aforementioned power plant.

Now, to those properties Wynn is buying. One is at 51 Mystic Street, just up the road from the Kilduff produce company. According to this Boston Globe article from two years ago, Wynn paid $650,000 in June 2016 for this house, which was next to an auto collision center and across from an industrial building with a parking lot filled with trucks. The house was assessed at $311,000 that year.

Here's what the lot looks like now:

You can see the casino in the background. Wynn also purchased a warehouse on Mystic Street for $300,000, slightly less than twice its assessed value, and an adjacent parking lot and storage building for $5.65 million. The assessed value on that property was $737,200. At least some folks are making money off this casino!

40 Mystic Street was a multi-family house located next to another collision center. It sold for $975,000, more than $600,000 above its assessed value.

In the photo above, the yellow excavator in the background is roughly where 40 Mystic Street was. I shot this from the corner of Robin and Mystic streets, where the aforementioned industrial building with a parking lot filled with trucks once stood. I'm not sure whether Wynn also bought that property.

Wynn also vacuumed up a bunch of properties along Lynde Street and Bow Street. If I'd known about the Globe's article on Wynn's purchases, I would've taken pictures of each of them. As it turns out, though, I got a picture of a property along Lynde that abuts the casino operator's new properties.

Beautiful, isn't it? Who knows, maybe Wynn has purchased this lot by now. Yes, that's the Encore looming in the background.

Right across the street from this property is Logan Grate, which makes steel rolling doors, fire escapes, railings, fences and more.

Will this company still be here in a year?

While several houses in this area have been torn down, and others may yet be, I found one that I believe has been totally overhauled since my initial visit in 2013.

Above is a house I saw back then. I know the house was along a north-south road, and I'm fairly sure it was on Robin Street, which separates this neighborhood from a Sprague Energy fuel tank complex. On my return trip, I didn't see a house that looked like this. But I did see a rehabbed or newly built house on the corner of Lynde and Robin streets. Here's a Google image:

Realtor.com says this house was built in 2013. So somebody made the right choice to put this place up just in time to take advantage of increasing rents.

Another place that I shot back in 2013 was the G & T Lounge.

Located along Bow Street just a stone's throw from the casino, G & T was one of several properties along this street that Wynn acquired in September 2015 for just under $3 million. This dive bar was torn down and the site now awaits its fate as a lady-in-waiting for the Encore.

Another shop along Bow Street, Angelo's Barber Shop, was open when I visited last fall, but according to Yelp it has closed.

This spot is just one block off Broadway. My speculation? This place will be torn down or rehabbed in a major way, as will many locations like it in the neighborhood. Another such location on Bow Street is at No. 88.

Known as Bow Street Market, Los Compadres Market and Sanchez's Market at various times, this place also appeared to be closed when I visited. It's located next to a shuttered auto body shop, which means that, you guessed it, there will be bulldozers here soon.

With so many places already knocked down, on the wrecking-ball roster or with such fates hanging over their heads, what sort of places might survive and thrive in the new regime brought into the neighborhood by those fancy pants from Vegas?

Maybe a craft hard cider maker catering to hipsters? Well, that would be a good answer, except Artifact Cider Project moved out of this space a stone's throw from the aforementioned Tigar Refrigeration right around the time that I shot that lovely photo, unbeknownst to me. There is, however, a a brewery and tap room, Down the Road Beer, located in the same complex. Located a short distance from the former ExxonMobil office that's being redeveloped, and about a 10-minute walk from the casino, this place seems ideally suited to grow its business in the near future.

I don't know whether I'll ever visit the casino, but I will certainly visit this area again in the coming months to see how things are changing yet again. And to sample some beers.

To learn more than you could ever possibly need to know about this area -- known as the Lower Broadway District -- check out this urban renewal plan from four years ago.

Well, there you have it. Thanks for taking a gamble and reading this entire post!