MGM Springfield cost creeping

Massachusetts resort casino still scheduled to open in September 2018

MGM Springfield’s price tag is nearing $1 billion.

The Massachusetts resort casino that Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International is building within 10 miles of the Connecticut border is on schedule for a September 2018 opening, company executives told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday in Boston.

The total estimated cost of the project now ranges from $989.1 million to $995.9 million, including contingency ranging from $35 million to $41.8 million, according to an MGM presentation available on the commission’s website, massgaming.com.

More than $482 million in costs have been incurred, including an $85 million licensing fee paid to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In a quarterly report for the period that ended June 30, MGM Resorts reported this week that the project has “expected development and construction cost of approximately $960 million, excluding capitalized interest and land-related costs.” That figure was up by $95 million, or 11 percent, over the $865 million included in the company’s previous quarterly report filed in May.

“This increase is consistent with construction pricing pressure of which MGM Springfield previously advised the commission,” MGM reported in its presentation to the

commission.

MGM’s most recent quarterly report says the Springfield casino will include “approximately 2,550 slots and 120 table games including poker; a 250-room hotel; 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; 44,000 square feet of meeting and event space; and a 3,500-space parking garage.”

Previous quarterly reports outlined a casino with “approximately 3,000 slots and 100 table games including poker ... and a 3,375-space parking garage.”

Wynn Resorts executives updated the commission on the status of Wynn Boston Harbor, the $2.4 billion resort casino under construction in Everett, Mass., outside Boston. It’s on schedule for a June 2019 opening.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, plan to partner on a third Connecticut casino in East Windsor, north of Hartford, to soften MGM Springfield’s impact.

DANA JENSEN/THE DAY Aspen, a seeing-eye dog, takes a short swim with Natasha Baebler, right, whom Aspen guides, and Brad Wolaver, left, of St. Louis, Mo. in Uncas Pond in Lyme on Thursday. The couple were in the area visiting Baebler’s family in Old Lyme.