On Jan. 21, David M. Flaum and his son Asher made a presentation to a town board in Sullivan County about their vision for a Catskills casino that would bring 1,500 permanent jobs to one of the most economically depressed regions of upstate.
"This would be my only casino," Flaum told the Mamakating Town Board. He went on to describe an environmentally sensitive, architecturally compatible building on a site in Sullivan County. Making an argument he would repeat just two months later in Albany, he emphasized that casino development in New York is inevitable — and that it would be best not to miss your chance.
"You will get the negatives without the positives if you don't get one here," Flaum told the Town Board.
Two weeks after hearing the pitch, the Mamakating officials unanimously passed the resolution of support for Flaum's proposed casino on the site of the Shawanga Lodge, a burned-out resort he had purchased years earlier with the initial intention of building a Native American-owned gaming hall.
More recently, Flaum has revealed that he does indeed have other casino projects in mind. If he is successful on one, near the Harriman station of the Metro-North Railroad in Orange County, it would not help Mamakating dig out of depression.
The site would potentially ruin Sullivan County's chance at casino wealth because of Orange County's proximity to the New York City customers the Catskills would like to attract.
Flaum's other casino project is in Albany.
Well-known in his home in Monroe County, the 60-year-old has become a much more visible figure statewide as he attempts to capture one or more of the four casino licenses that are available in three upstate regions.
Flaum said last week that he intends to submit multiple applications for licenses to the State Gaming Commission on Wednesday, but indicated he might pass on Mamakating.
Even at the time of his pitch in the Catskills town, Flaum was patrolling Albany and Rensselaer counties for potential casino sites, and in December had approached the owners of the former Tobin First Prize center in Albany. He locked up an option on the Tobin plant just a few days before his Mamakating address.
Mamakating Supervisor Bill Herrmann said he doesn't hold Flaum's actions and words against him, despite Herrmann's thinking that Flaum was sincere when he said he would fight to get a license for a commercial casino in the town. "He's a businessman and he's not going to show all his cards," Herrmann said. "Any developer is like a used car salesman, right? ... I'm OK with that."
Flaum, once again accompanied by his son, delivered his plan for a $300 million to $400 million casino, hotel and water park near Exit 23 of the Thruway to the Albany Common Council on March 21. As in Mamakating, Flaum said he had found a great site for a casino, this time with a potential for 1,800 jobs. He asked for a vote of support, and noted that if a competitor gets a casino license across the river, Albany would get only the bad and none of the good from a new gambling business, and it would miss out on millions of dollars a year in taxes and casino revenues.
"These are decisions that are made in a second," Flaum said last week about his site choices. "When you are too ponderous, you get paralysis through the analysis. I believe things have to be done swiftly and that means putting your money where your mouth is."
He took a $100,000 option to buy the southern Albany property, which is owned by the family of U.S. Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, according to a gaming industry source.
If Flaum is able to get a gaming license — which will cost him tens of millions of dollars — developing a casino would be a giant step in his 40-year real estate career.
