TUXEDO PARK — Genting Americas' second attempt presenting its plan for Sterling Forest Resort to the Tuxedo area Wednesday night went smoother than its first try earlier in the week, when a hostile crowd panned the upscale casino.
Colin Au, a former Empire Resorts director who serves as an advisor to Genting, detailed the plans of the project, and got a few laughs from the crowd of about 50 that sat in the pews at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, located inside Tuxedo Park's stone walls.
At Monday's meeting in the George F. Baker High School, members of the audience jeered other Genting executives, and Au sat silently in the back row of the school auditorium.
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Thursday night, he said the resort's casino would be tucked away within the complex. Genting put the casino in the basement of its resort in Singapore, and gamblers have no problem finding it, he said.
Sterling Forest Resort, specifically its proposed exclusive spa, will attract visitors from wealthy enclaves in Bergen and Westchester counties, Au said. Genting Americas expects to attract three to five million visitors a year, senior vice president Christian Goode said in response to a question Wednesday night.
The Malaysian company is one of 12 contenders vying for as many as two casino licenses in a region that includes Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties. The approximately 1 million square foot Sterling Forest Resort targets the 238-acre site off Route 17A that is now the home to the Renaissance Faire and the Tuxedo Ridge Ski Center.
Plans for the casino include the construction of interchange 15B off the New York state Thruway, a $25 million to $50 million project that will keep traffic off Route 17, Goode said.
Town Supervisor Mike Rost, who attended the meeting, said the town board may vote on supporting the project at its meeting in about two weeks.
An affiliate of Genting is the majority shareholder of Empire Resorts, which is proposing a casino at the former Concord hotel. Au said Genting fully supports those efforts, and said that resort will compliment Sterling Forest Resort.
For example, table games at Empire's resort, called Adelaar, may have lower buy-ins than those at Sterling Forest Resort.
At Wednesday's meeting, Chris Mallon of Tuxedo admitted he "put on quite a show" Monday night, when he yelled at Goode, and slammed the project for the crime and drugs he thought it would bring. He spoke out against the project again Thursday, fearing that casino-goers would jack his wife out of her car.
"This is not Atlantic City," Au responded.