• 24-FEB-2016

Wynn Forced To Halt Hiring & Construction On $1.7 Billion Everett Resort Due To Somerville Lawsuit

LAS VEGAS (February 24, 2016)—Wynn Everett announced today that all hiring and the start of construction on the $1.7 billion five-star Wynn Everett resort has come to an abrupt stop due to the Chapter 91 environmental appeal recently filed by Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone. The appeal by Mayor Curtatone has resulted in Wynn:

• Cancelling seven job fairs scheduled for Somerville, Everett, Boston, Malden, Medford, Chelsea and Cambridge.

• Immediately freezing all hiring for the 4,000 union construction jobs and all operational positions that Wynn was starting to fill.

• Cancelling Wynn's planned April construction groundbreaking.

While announcing the halt in hiring and construction, Wynn reaffirmed its commitment to its destination resort in Everett and vowed to vigorously fight Somerville's appeal.

"Wynn has never been more resolved or motivated to build our resort in Everett," said Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett. "Unfortunately, the appeal by Somerville's Mayor leaves us no choice but to shut down our permanent building construction down. We can't put a shovel in the ground to build until a final conclusion is reached."

Mayor Curtatone's appeal of Wynn's Chapter 91 license will also cost the Commonwealth $660 million a year/$55 million a month. The $660 million annual figure includes direct annual expenditures from Wynn: $242 million in annual taxes and fees, $170 million in payroll and $248 million in goods and services to operate and maintain the $1.7 billion five-star resort.

The delay will severely impact schoolchildren, public safety, healthcare, transportation, parks and non-profits across the state.

The appeal filed by Mayor Curtatone is based almost entirely on the claim that increased traffic from Wynn Everett will generate more than 18,000 vehicle trips a day to the region and the emission from the vehicles would cause harm to the residents of Somerville. In response, Wynn highlights the following facts:

• While Somerville claims that the 18,000 vehicle trips a day generated by Wynn will negatively impact the health of Somerville residents, Mayor Curtatone fails to mention that three Somerville projects that he strongly supports (Assembly Row, future Assembly Square expansion, Union Square Redevelopment and Northpoint/Somerville portion) will generate more than 85,994 total new vehicle trips per day—nearly 475% more cars than Wynn Everett will generate. All of these projects are within two miles from Wynn Everett.

• Wynn has spent three years and has completed 20 exhaustive environmental and traffic plans that have been thoroughly reviewed by three federal agencies, 12 state agencies, 14 municipalities and 20 local organizations. These studies demonstrate that Wynn would add the following traffic to Route 93:

o Only 0.85% (less than 1%) onto Route 93 Southbound

o Only 1.97% (less than 2%) onto Route 93 Northbound

• Wynn and Somerville participated and completed a mutually agreed upon arbitration process in 2014. Wynn won the arbitration, with Somerville getting nearly all the money that it asked for—except for an unsubstantiated $1.5 million annual payment. Somerville agreed to the settlement and has accepted and cashed the first payment by Wynn. Now, Somerville is seeking the exact same demands that were denied in 2014 by the arbitrators

Preparation and remediation of the 33-acre Wynn site along the Mystic River began in October of 2015 and was progressing on schedule. Construction of the Wynn Resort in Everett will generate 4,000 union construction jobs that cover 10 million total work hours. An additional 4,000 permanent operational jobs will be created when the resort is open.