Edgewater Casino Relocation to BC Place
Edgewater Casino has plans to relocate to BC Place. The Vancouver casino is currently located at False Creek. The potential move has been announced just two years after the city council did not give permission for a major casino expansion.
Edgewater Casino Relocation Announced
The announcement regarding the Edgewater Casino relocation move was made on a new website started by Paragon Gaming. The announcement was made by BC Pavilion Corp., better known as PavCo, and by the operator that runs the casino, Paragon Gaming. PavCo is the owner of the stadium slated for the relocation, along with the adjacent land. PavCo. and Paragon Gaming have signed a lease that gives PavCo. A $3 million rental income per year.
The 2011 proposal for a mega-casino, involving a $500-million expansion, was unanimously rejected by the mayor and the city council. If the proposal had been accepted, Edgewater would have doubled the size of its casino operation. The mayor and city council gave the casino permission to move its existing casino operation with 75 gaming tables and 600 slot machines, to a location just across the street.
Not everything has been finalised for the agreement. Tamara Hicks, a Paragon Gaming spokesperson, wrote about the proposed casino relocation in an email earlier this week: "We are in discussions with various potential partners." She did not, however, give any additional information regarding who the partners might be.
It is projected that Paragon has plans to open the new casino in under three years, since it has applied to extend the operating permit for the Edgewater Casino in its current location at the Plaza of Nations, until the end of 2016. The current operating permit will expire at the end of July. The city of Vancouver's municipal development board will meet to make this decision on Monday.
Objections to Edgewater Casino Relocation to BC Place
Those who objected to the previous $500-million expansion that was on the cards two years ago, have noted that the current proposal for the Edgewater Casino operation is simply a slightly scaled down version of a similar expansion.
The main objections to the relocation of this popular casino comes from the Vancouver not Vegas group. The group has noted that even if the expansion is smaller than what was proposed two years ago, it will still be the biggest casino destination in Western Canada.
Sandy Garossino, from Vancouver not Vegas, has said that the size of the casino is not the main reason for their objection, rather the location is. Garossino said: "No major city in North America, apart from Las Vegas, has a major casino in the midst of a residential area. Paragon should be location in a semi-industrial neighbourhood."
