Province could send failed BC Place casino to Surrey
The proposed casino expansion at BC Place is facing increasing criticism from community activists in Vancouver, leaving the Province to consider moving the project to Surrey if it fails to pass Vancouver City Council next month.
The 1,500 slot, 150 table casino, operated by Paragon Gaming, is designed to be a major regional attraction for locals and tourists alike. The casino is accompanied by two hotels, six restaurants, a spa, and 30,000 square feet of conference and banquet space. The LEED Gold development would send the BC Government $6 annually in a 70 year agreement, paying for majority of the BC Place roof replacement project. The new casino complex is expected to bring in $23 million annually to the City of Vancouver.
An article in the Globe and Mail notes that, according to Paragon Gaming President Michael Graydon, “the corporation would likely go to other municipalities that have been asking for casinos, including Port Moody and Surrey.”
Surrey currently has one casino – Fraser Downs in Cloverdale. The City’s gaming policy restricts casino expansions to regional or provincial scale projects that would provide tourism benefits, such as the River Rock Casino in Richmond. A former proposal had included a casino complex in the now cancelled Berezan 70-storey tower development near King George Station. Another proposal on the table, by developer Bob Cheema, would see a casino and convention centre built near Hwy 99 in South Surrey.
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If this was to come to Surrey, I’d prefer it to be to the Berezan lands in Central City area. Cheema’s proposal near the US border was in the middle of nowhere, furthering urban sprawl and doing nothing to help build up Central City as a destination location where people would want to go to.
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I completely agree with you on this. Surrey needs to stop putting everything not in central. We need to make central a destination with lots to do. Parts of me are starting to slowly disagree with watts more and more these days. They seem to be turning a blind eye on put things to do where they should go and thats central. I mean yes we want to be far but when it comes to Vancouver most things are all downtown vancouver. we should be copying and everything most things in Surrey city centre.
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The only issue, I think, would be space. I may be wrong on this, but I don’t know of any space near Central big enough to feasibly build a casino on.
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The berezan development was on the whole lot beside king george skytrains station. That whol area has more then enough space once all the old buildings would have been removed.
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