It’s a high-stakes game of Flushing Hold ’em.
An obscure city panel threw a wrench into plans for a new casino at Citi Field when it on Tuesday tabled approval of the facility’s design after angry residents, including members of the Democratic Socialists of America, flooded a meeting with objections.
The nine-member Public Design Commission was supposed to only review how the new casino and its grounds were supposed to look and accommodate the public — but critics at the meeting attacked the project by Mets owner Steve Cohen over objections to gambling and how it would affect the area.
And even though those kinds of complaints were not supposed to be entertained by the board because the casino already has full state approval, the commission unanimously voted to table action on approving the designs, thus potentially delaying the project.
The $8 billion Cohen-Hard Rock Metropolitan Park casino is expected to open in 2030. It’s not clear how long the tabling of the design approval will delay the project, though reps for the casino tried to downplay the effect.
The New York State Gaming Commission last December awarded the Cohen-Hard Rock Metropolitan Park bid a license to operate a casino in Flushing Meadows/Willets Point.
The project also includes a hotel and music venue alongside the gaming center, and when completed, it will provide easier pedestrian access to the Flushing Bay waterfront.
The state legislature also passed a law repurposing the lots around the Mets ballpark — designated parkland for the World’s Fair — for commercial use. Six local Queens community boards overwhelmingly voted to back the casino project.
But a group of community activists — including members of the Democratic Socialists of America — oppose the project and testified Tuesday at the design panel’s meeting.
Alexis Kaloyanides, a member of Community Education Council 30 and an NYC-DSA member, said, “As a parent and public school advocate committed to the future generation of Queens kids, it is my responsibility to consider the societal harms that a casino will bring into our communities.”
The Guardians of Flushing Bay raised concerns about how the project will address flooding.
Several PDC members told opponents that their role is limited to approving elements of design for the project, not on whether the project should proceed. But they thanked them for raising legitimate concerns about the casino complex.
“We’ve been handed a bulk of work that says this casino has been given permission by the State and City of New York to operate in this property. Our purview is …. given where we are on the issue of gambling, how can we ensure the public right of access, use, utility, safety, and comfort within this structure,” said PDC member Merryl Tisch.
“I also want to say that in my experience working at this table, the collaboration that has taken place on design issues within this structure has been a model of everyone hearing each other and moving forward. I have confidence that this too will be the case [with the casino’s design].”
But one commission member questioned the merit of the entire project, complaining about placing a casino next to Flushing Meadows Park.
“I feel like there’s this huge elephant, and we’re talking about what kind of saddle we’re going to put on the elephant or what we’re going to feed the elephant – but the elephant is this massive gambling operation,” PDC member Kenseth Armstead said.
“We keep saying ‘resort.’ It’s a casino.”
Armstead said he wouldn’t take a kid to a park located next to a casino.
Panel members said they wanted to see changes to the main casino building’s facade, a widening of corridors and staircases.
But they also wanted to see flood mitigation plans for the structures under review.
“We can’t really think about this until we make sure that we understand what the site as a whole is doing,” PDC President Deborah Marton said. “It’s just the sequence of things that makes it so that we don’t understand the underlying conditions.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a casino booster, was annoyed when he heard the design panel postponed approval of a key portion of the design project.
“They should not hold up thousands of jobs for Queens. They can make things more difficult, but they can’t prevent the project from happening,” he said.
“That would be a dereliction of duty,” Richards said.
The casino complex is projected to generate 23,000 union jobs, 25 acres of green space, and a spruced-up 7-line train station that connects to the complex.
Richards said it’s OK for PDC to exercise their legitimate role to review the aesthetics, like the color of glass windows, but not to be obstructionists.
The Cohen-Hard Rock team downplayed the delay, saying the casino project is moving forward and that it has worked with the PDC to fine-tune the design.
“Construction at Metropolitan Park is well underway. The project’s design reflects years of community engagement and input from our neighbors, and was developed with an all-New York design team,” a Metropolitan Park spokesperson said.
“Since the master plan was approved in 2025, we’ve worked closely with the Commission, and we thank them for continuing to offer thoughtful input on this important project.”
After receiving feedback from the PDC, the Metropolitan Park team said it made several changes, including: doubling the width and space of the outdoor colonnade and its public seating, including a new overlook of the 25-acre park; adding transparent glass sections around the façade and an additional escalator at the main park-side entrance.
The Gaming Commission awarded two other casino licenses in the city.
The Genting Group’s Resorts World New York obtained a license to expand its slots parlor to offer table games next to Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park. It became the city’s first full-fledged casino in April by offering blackjack, roulette, and other table games.
Bally’s was offering a third license to open a casino on the property of President Trump’s former golf course at Ferry Point near the Whitestone Bridge — a move that could net the Trump Organization $115 million.