Edgewater Casino to relocate closer to BC Place
Edgewater Casino is firming up plans to move from False Creek to BC Place, two years after a major expansion in that location was nixed by city council.
The move was announced on a newly created website of Paragon Gaming, which runs the casino, and BC Pavilion Corp., known as PavCo, which owns the stadium and adjacent land.
Site10a. com refers to the casino’s future site, immediately west of the stadium at Expo Boulevard and Smithe Street.
It’s expected Crown corporation PavCo will take in $ 3 million in revenue from the new lease agreement with the casino, half the revenue from the 2011 proposal for a mega- casino that was unanimously rejected by the mayor and council in 2011.
At that time, amid public outcry, council blocked the proposed $ 500- million expansion, which would have doubled the casino’s capacity, but said Paragon could move across the street with its existing operation of 600 slot machines and 75 gambling tables.
In January, B. C. Lottery Corporation president Michael Graydon told The Vancouver Sun the gambling regulator was close to revealing plans for a new Edgewater Casino near BC Place, maintaining the location was “ideal.”
Paragon spokeswoman Tamara Hicks said Wednesday the current facility was only intended to be a temporary venue as part of Expo 86 and is slated for redevelopment by the landowner.
As for the mixed commercial and hotel development that was part of the initial proposal and demanded by council in the relocation agreement in 2011, it’s not clear how that will proceed.
“We are in discussions with various potential partners,” Hicks wrote in an email Wednesday, but did not elaborate on who those partners might be.
While no firm timeline was available from Paragon, it’s likely the new casino could open in less than three years. The company has applied to the City of Vancouver to extend the operating permit for its location at the Plaza of Nations until Dec. 31, 2016. The current permit expires at the end of this month.
That application will go before the municipal development permit board on Monday.
BCLC has final approval on the development plans.