Casinos, MBTA

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WYNN RESORTS IS INTERESTED in purchasing a massive MBTA repair facility adjacent to the Everett property where it is building a $2.4 billion hotel and casino, but so far has made no formal offer.

Several sources confirmed Wynn and state transportation officials have kicked around the idea of the Las Vegas casino developer purchasing the property. One source said Wynn officials have even raised the idea of paying for the relocation of the MBTA operations to a new facility elsewhere, but that could not be independently confirmed. Wynn officials say they remain interested in the MBTA property, but sources say the discussions currently seem to be on hold.

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Still, an MBTA spokesman said in January that the transit agency’s Everett property was not for sale, while a Department of Transportation spokeswoman issued a statement this week indicating the agency was not ruling anything out.

“The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MBTA are always willing to have conversations with local, public, and private entities about opportunities to improve economic, transit, and housing development in communities across the Commonwealth,” said the MassDOT spokeswoman, Jacquelyn Goddard.

A possible land deal did not come up when Gov. Charlie Baker visited Steve Wynn in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, a source said.

Wynn has not been shy about acquiring property near the company’s Everett casino-hotel development, although he hasn’t said what he intends to do with all the land. Greg John, a spokesman for Wynn Resorts, issued a statement saying the company wants to take an active role in determining what will be built around its casino-hotel. “We have not hidden our interest in the adjacent MBTA facility but have not made any specific offers,” he said.

Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria has suggested the surrounding property could be used for the construction of more hotels.

In a recent speech in Boston, Wynn said the company had spent $75 million buying up property across from the casino project along Broadway and will probably spend another $15 million on land in that area. Adding the 21-acre MBTA facility would give Wynn Resorts control of much of the land on two sides of its 33-acre casino property, with the other two sides bordered by commuter rail tracks and the Mystic River.

The MBTA and Wynn Resorts have done land deals before. In 2016, Wynn Resorts paid $6 million for a 1.75-acre sliver of land at the T’s Everett facility that Wynn needed to create an entrance to its hotel-casino property. More recently, Wynn agreed to pay $621,414 a year for 63,246 square feet of warehouse space inside the T facility; the lease for the warehouse space is for two years.

Meet the Author Bruce Mohl Editor , CommonWealth About Bruce Mohl Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester. About Bruce Mohl Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

Joe Pesaturo, a T spokesman, said the warehouse space in Everett became available when the MBTA outsourced its parts and warehouse operations. The rest of the Everett facility is used for bus and rail car maintenance. The T also fabricates parts there for the Mattapan trolley railcars, which were built originally in the mid-1940s.

DeMaria, the mayor of Everett, is perhaps the biggest promoter of a Wynn Resorts purchase of the MBTA property. A Wynn purchase would bring the property back on Everett’s tax rolls and give development in the area momentum. Sources say DeMaria has aggressively pressed both Wynn and state officials to pursue a deal.

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