'Right now the casino campus is spectacular and the other side of the street is lacking.'
'The grand scheme is to create a cohesive district,' said Sheehan. He said a strategy for the area around the casino has been in the works for about a year. ' The conditions right now are beyond the capability of the private sector to resolve on its own and so government intervention is warrented' said Tim Sheehan, the city's chief development officer.
Across Main Street from the casino stand a block of mostly empty commercial buildings with padlocks on the front doors and “for sale” signs in the windows. In fact, officials with the city’s office of Planning and Economic Development acknowledge blight has actually worsened in the area where the $1 billion casino complex opened in August 2018.
Officials in Springfield, Massachusetts have produced a plan they hope will spark development around the MGM casino.Ī $5 million loan fund will be created, along with other incentives, in a bid by the city to spur redevelopment in the area surrounding the casino, where anticipated economic spin-offs have not occurred.
