The board unanimously accepted the State Environmental Quality Review on allowing video lottery terminals in shopping centers, as well as approving the zoning change that will allow Resorts World to place its electronic gaming casino in the Newburgh Mall.

Newburgh Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio approved the repurposing of the mall, noting that the “Newburgh Mall is struggling to attract occupants…this will be the first and only such licensed facility in Newburgh and in Orange County.”

Piaquadio noted that an Off-Track Betting parlor in the MidValley Mall had been operating for years without incident, "as had another gambling facility at Orange Lake that was active from the 1800s through the 1950s, also without incident.”

Genting Malaysia, parent company of Resorts World Catskills in Sullivan County, had been scouting a location for an electronic gaming parlor for nearly two years, bypassing the former Nepera Chemical Co. property in the village of Harriman for the Newburgh Mall, which is on Route 300 at the crossroads of Interstates 87 and 84.

Built in 1980, the 388,000-square-foot mall has struggled as newer, smaller shopping centers with nationally known anchors lured business away. Sears remains an anchor, but several of the mall’s 49 retail spaces are dark; Jennifer Furniture, anchoring its northern end, is closing its doors as plans for Resorts World Hudson Valley move forward.

Resorts World Catskills has proposed a 90,000-square-foot gaming/entertainment destination to the Town of Newburgh Planning Board.  It expects to spend $32 million on the new gambling parlor that will include 1,300 electronic slots and Resort World’s signature lounge, Bar 360. Once it obtains its approvals, it will relocate the machines that were formerly used at Monticello Raceway.

Resort World Hudson Valley’s video gaming casino is expected to cost $32 million and will create at least 200 construction jobs and an additional 229 temporary jobs as it gears up for its opening.

When completed, Resorts World Hudson Valley is expected to create 215 jobs that include dozens of Hotel Trade Council Union slots that pay an average of $72,000 a year in salary and benefits.

“That would mean a total of almost $15.5 million in annual wages here in the town of Newburgh,” said Megan Taylor, Resorts World Vice President for Government Affairs, during the negotiations.

The 17 vacant storefronts in the mall will offer incentives to bring in new tenants.  It also means $3 million in yearly fees that will be split between the Town of Newburgh and Orange County.

No date has been announced as to when the rehab from retail to electronic gaming will be commenced at press time; since Genting, Resorts World Catskills and Monticello Raceway have been negotiating the opening of an electronic gaming parlor since 2018, expect to see the new casino make its debut in record time.

By Kathy Roberts