Connelly's patience with North Shore land for casino finally paying off
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After 13 years of waiting, the Connelly family's decision to buy property on the North Shore is paying off.
In 1993 and '94, speculators and gambling companies descended on the Pittsburgh area looking to lock up parcels of riverfront property in anticipation that the state Legislature soon would approve riverboat gambling.
Beaver County developer Charles J. Betters teamed with billionaire Donald Trump on a possible site in South Oakland, near the Birmingham Bridge, with a price tag of $18 million.
A group of New Jersey investors put up $9 million to help the city buy the former LTV steel plant on the South Side in exchange for 53 acres there.
And John Connelly and his family, owners of the Gateway Clipper Fleet and several floating casinos in other states, spent $26.5 million to buy 13 acres along the Ohio River, between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge.
Riverboat gambling never came. The South Oakland site remains a sand and gravel company. The LTV plant has become the SouthSide Works retail and commercial complex.
But through the years, the Connelly family remained patient and held onto the North Side site. Various plans were floated, including housing or a resort-style hotel at the site, but nothing materialized until Wednesday.
That's when the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded the city's lone slots casino license to Detroit businessman Don Barden, whose company PITG Gaming LLC plans to build a $450 million gambling and entertainment complex on the Connelly site.
Mr. Barden and the Connelly family have known each other since the early 1990s, when Mr. Barden was a partner with John Connelly's grandson, Terry Wirginis, in a casino development in Gary, Ind. Mr. Wirginis now owns the Gateway Clipper Fleet and got together with Mr. Barden again last year to pursue a license on the North Side.
For months, there were rumors the Connellys would go after a casino license, but through their attorney, the family repeatedly denied that. Last December, Mr. Barden held a news conference to announce his proposal.
Since the original land purchased through a company known as MAXT Corp., the company has purchased several additional parcels for just over $5 million to boost the size of the site to 17 acres. The most recent purchases were a vacant parcel at 1321 Reedsdale St. for $3 million in August 2005 and a warehouse at 321 North Point Drive for $1.6 million in July 2006. That brings the total investment in land to $31.5 million.
Mr. Barden holds an option on the land, but it is not known how much he intends to pay for it.
First Published December 25, 2006 12:00 am
