MGM Resorts International has proposed building an $800 million entertainment-retail resort in Springfield, Mass., that would have 250 hotel rooms and 89,000 square feet of gaming space, as well as 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
MGM Resorts, the third-largest U.S. hotel-casino operator behind Las Vegas Sands and Caesars Entertainment, is proposing redeveloping three city blocks totaling 10 acres along Springfield's Main Street that were damaged by a tornado last year. The company said it submitted the $400,000 application fee to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Massachusetts in late November signed a bill allowing for three gaming licenses for casino resorts -- one each in the western, eastern and southern part of the state -- and one license for a slots-only facility to be given out.
In addition to MGM Resorts,
Ameristar Casinos and Hard Rock International have since unofficially proposed luxury hotel-casino developments for the western part of the Bay State.
MGM Resorts had
previously looked at Brimfield -- about 25 miles east of Springfield -- as a possible resort site.
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