Overview
- Opponents filed a pro se lawsuit seeking to revoke the Metropolitan Park casino license and asked for a court order to stop work on an 18-acre complex with hotel towers up to 16 and 25 stories.
- A state judge dismissed the case for being filed in the wrong county, and the petitioners moved to reargue as they prepare to keep the fight alive in other courts.
- The suit says the public process was stacked, citing a Queens Borough Hall hearing cut from three hours to two with conflicting notices that opponents say limited their chance to speak.
- The filing argues regulators ignored applicant fitness, pointing to SAC Capital’s 2014 guilty plea linked to Steve Cohen’s former firm and Hard Rock’s firing of a senior executive after an internal probe.
- The project’s backers have started early site work and say they are moving ahead, while critics note the site was stripped of park protections in 2024 and warn of gambling harms in nearby Flushing.