https://gothamist.com/news/next-to-t...sino-thrown-in
Next to the U.N., a proposed Museum of Democracy … with a casino thrown in?
By Arun Venugopal
Apr 7, 2025
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Michael Hershman is the CEO of the Soloviev Group, a company hoping to build a casino and park where many wouldn’t expect: next to the United Nations.
But Hershman is less interested in discussing the nuts and bolts of the site – the 8,000 permanent jobs it would potentially generate, the residential towers that would overlook the East River, the casino itself – than in an attraction he said would define the $10 billion project: a Museum of Freedom and Democracy, at a time when he said democracy is under threat.
“ I just don't think some of the folks in this country are appreciative enough of what we have,” Hershman told Gothamist in an interview. “So I want to stimulate this conversation. And it's a perfect place to do it: New York City.”
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The proposed museum is just one component of the 6-acre mixed-use development, Freedom Plaza, that would stretch from 38th to 41st streets east of First Avenue, on the site of the former Con Edison power plant.
It would also include high-rise residential towers, 1,250 hotel rooms, 500 units of affordable housing and parkland. Below street level would be a 295,000-square-foot casino — the moneymaker, as it were, to fuel the aspirations of the museum.
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Freedom Plaza, with a casino that would be run by Mohegan, won support from some local residents, who said they were swayed by the plans for nearly 5 acres of green space as well as a commitment that a portion of the project’s profits would flow to the community.
However, it has drawn the ire of other locals, who said they were opposed to the presence of a casino, that too one within spitting distance of the iconic U.N. Secretariat building, and less focused on the museum.
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Vandana Nadgar, an area resident, said the Turtle Bay neighborhood was home to many “international families” associated with the U.N. and played host to the world’s leaders every September for the U.N. General Assembly.
“Our neighborhood is quiet and peaceful most of the time,” Nadgar said. “I am afraid that [a casino] might attract an unruly, loud and disruptive crowd.”
Sandra McKee, the head of Manhattan Community Board 6, said the property was privately owned and did not require zoning clearances. As such, it would not be subject to the city’s extensive Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, meaning that board members would not have the opportunity to vote on its merits. So far, McKee said, there had been little in the way of communication between the board and developers.
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Jim Burnett, the president of OJB, the landscape architecture firm contracted by the developers, said the project would include 4.8 acres of parkspace — a “ green blanket of landscape,” in his words — that would include 350 trees, including native and adaptive species.
At its highest, he said, the park would rise 45 to 50 feet over the East River, providing “dramatic” views of the entire area. In keeping with the theme of freedom, an amphitheater would be installed for programmed events and “free speech,” he said.
“It really will be a special place,” Burnett said.
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Jon Harari, the president of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, said he supported the project, in part because “ there's not that much open space where we live.”
He said Soloviev and its partners had closely engaged with his group and followed through on its suggestions, including a commitment to funnel 2% of the casino’s proceeds into community groups, which he said would amount to a minimum of $5 million annually.
“I think that that's going to be a wonderful thing for the neighborhood association to take advantage of all those resources,” Harari said.
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Hershman, the developer, took some of the criticism of the project in stride.
“ I don't know any community board that really wants to have a casino in the neighborhood,” he said, adding that the casino would be built “underground” and not be visible from First Avenue.
“ We want to maintain the character of the neighborhood. We don't wanna bring Las Vegas to the east side of Manhattan,” he said.
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Although the project is not subject to the city’s land use review process, community board members and city officials said it will require buy-in from local elected officials, some of whom would constitute a community advisory committee designed to vet each of the projects competing for a downstate casino license.
Projects need to secure two-thirds of votes of each community advisory committee to remain in contention for a license, according to the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board. The board is expected to award up to three downstate licenses by the end of 2025.
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