Wynn Resorts Wednesday morning tried to make a $1 million payment owed to the city of Boston as compensation for the company’s Everett casino, but ended up delivering the check to the state gambling commission instead to hold in escrow after the city refused to accept it, the company said in a statement.
Wynn sent the payment two days after Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration sued the gambling commission in an effort to block Wynn’s casino project, planned for former industrial land on the Mystic River in Everett, which borders Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood.
The payment is part of a compensation package imposed on Wynn in September by the commission, after the company and the city were unable to negotiate an agreement and Walsh refused to participate in the commission’s arbitration procedures.
The full compensation package is worth $56 million, and could be higher if traffic to the resort exceeds projections.
The $1 million upfront payment, according to the casino’s licensing agreement, is to be used for Charlestown’s non-profit agencies, parks, after-school activities, senior programs, job training and cultural programs; staffing and public safety initiatives related to increased traffic; and improvements to facilitate water transportation in Boston Harbor, Wynn said.
“We believe the $56 million package for Boston, which is primarily dedicated to Charlestown traffic solutions, will be critical in solving the decades-long problems of Sullivan Square,” said Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett, in the statement. “The package is comprehensive in that it also includes vendor and employee commitments consistent with our other [compensation agreements]. This initial payment, so closely following the acquisition of our land parcel, is still another step that keeps us on track to make our 5-star resort a reality.”
Wynn also announced Monday it had closed on the 33-acre parcel in Everett where the resort will be built.