For 24 months, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has battled to get more control over the Wynn Resorts casino development feet from the city line in Everett, more traffic relief for Charlestown residents, and more cash for the city – even filing two blistering lawsuits.

But after a judge threw out one of the city’s suits, Walsh and Wynn Thursday unveiled a compromise that ends litigation, gives Boston a little more money, and gives Wynn some financial protection if its traffic projections fail to prove accurate.

"I'm glad we put this all behind us now, and we're moving forward," Walsh said in an interview Thursday afternoon.

Wynn Resorts said they are "eager to turn the page in our relationship with the City of Boston and begin a new chapter that will culminate with a beautiful, five-star resort overlooking Boston Harbor." With cleanup of the 33-acre former abandoned chemical plant site now underway, Wynn hopes to open the $1.7 billion resort in late 2018.

The Walsh-Wynn deal calls for Wynn to pay the city $2 million a year in mitigation funds, up from $1.6 million in the original arrangement mandated by the state Gaming Commission, and now all earmarked for use in the Charlestown neighborhood. The deal also eliminates a provision under which Wynn could have faced penalties of up to $20 million if future traffic conditions fail to meet its projections. Wynn will also reimburse the city $750,000 of the $1.9 million it’s reportedly spent on lawsuits.

We asked Walsh: Was this outcome worth the fight?

"I'm not going to look back," Walsh said. "You know, I came into this thing, if I could have started from the beginning, the very beginning, to be part of the conversation when Wynn decided, the Wynn folks decided, to come in here and any other proponents, I would have liked that. But I came through halfway. So you really can't look back. We're looking forward."

"We're ecstatic," said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria. "We're thrilled to be moving forward. Not having opposition from the capital city, having Mayor Walsh working with us, is just going to be a huge bonus."

Wynn is committed to putting $25 million over 10 years into a major overhaul of multiple streets around Sullivan Square, a notorious bottleneck down Route 99 from the casino in Charlestown. It's traffic relief many who drive in the area badly want.

"Sullivan Square is pretty bad, especially during rush hour," said Carl Cherisme of Boston, who drives a limousine through the area. His strategy for Sullivan Square? "Just avoid it. That's what I try to do ... I will hope they have some type of plan, and plan and they need to show the city" that it can prevent added casino traffic from turning the area into gridlock.

DeMaria said he can't envision yet exactly what combination of fixes can make traffic flow smoothly through Sullivan Square and prevent backups that typically snarl traffic all the way down the one Interstate 93 off-ramp into the area.

"I know $25 million over 10 years," DeMaria said, "is definitely going to help."



With videographer Brian Butler