The Philadelphia City Planning Commission is to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, October 6, at which city planning officials will discuss the plan for the construction of the so-called Live! Hotel and Casino in Pennsylvania’s largest city.
The complex will be located at the site of Holiday Inn in the southern part of Philadelphia. Thus, Live! Hotel and Casino will be not far from Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field, the Xfinity Live! Complex, and other locations.
The hotel and casino venue is owned by Greenwood Racing Inc., which currently runs Bensalem’s Parx Casino, and Baltimore-based Cordish Co., which operates Xfinity Live! as well as a number of other similar complexes around the US.
Live! Hotel and Casino is expected to cost $400 million. Developers explained that it would occupy a 200,000-square-foot site. Apart from the casino, the complex would also feature a 220-room hotel and a number of dining and entertainment options. Being located in near proximity to Philadelphia’s stadium district facilities, Live! Hotel and Casino is intended to complement the existing entertainment properties and to represent a “destination like no other in the country.”
Generally speaking, the resort would include 100,000-square-foot casino floor with 2,000 slot machines and 125 table games, of which 92 banking ones and 33 poker tables. A 10,000-square-foot entertainment facility and a 6,500-square-foot private event one will also be among the distinctive features of Live! Hotel and Casino.
As for the dining options offered at the resort, they will be from high-end ones to a modern diner, celebrity chef, and food court concepts.
As part of the $400-million plan, developers will renovate Holiday Inn, turning it into a 220-room boutique hotel with a pool, fitness facilities, and spa. A rooftop party deck and a music venue with room for up to 1,000 people will also be included.
Live! Hotel and Casino is expected to create up to 3,000 temporary construction jobs. Once fully operational, it would employ more than 1,240 casino workers. Developers have repeatedly pointed out that the venue would have numerous benefits for South Philadelphia as it would annually attract 4 million visitors to the 8 million who already come to the city’s stadium district every year. In addition, new gambling customers from South Jersey are expected to find the casino particularly alluring.
