SL Green CEO Marc Holliday will be awarded a $10 million cash bonus if he can bring a casino to Times Square, the company disclosed in a New Year’s Eve regulatory filing.
The payout dangled before Holliday underscores the massive business opportunity that a casino presents for Manhattan’s largest office landlord. It also indicates the high degree of uncertainty that SL Green will get permission from the state to convert a 54-story tower at 1515 Broadway into a casino hotel.
Groups including Actors Equity, Laborers’ Local 79, and developer RFR have voiced their support for the Times Square casino bid put together by SL Green with Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Opponents include the Broadway League, which represents theater producers, and the owner of a Midtown office building who last month said he thought a casino would deter companies from renting Class A office space in the area.
In addition, at least 10 rivals including The Related Cos., Silverstein Properties, Bally’s, Miriam Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen have their own casino bids. Applications are due in June, and state officials are expected to decide who gets the three downstate casino licenses by December.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. CBRE has forecast that a casino in the five boroughs could generate $2 billion in annual revenue and $600 million in operating income. It’s not clear how much the license would cost but in 2019 a Las Vegas Sands official offered $1 billion for the right to build a New York City casino, State Sen. Joseph Addabbo told Crain’s.
If a casino is approved for Times Square and hits certain performance targets, Holliday’s $10 million jackpot would meaningfully add to his personal bottom line. He was paid a total of $18.5 million in 2023, with nearly $16 million in shares instead of cash. He hasn’t been awarded a cash bonus of any sort since 2015, regulatory filings show.
In a statement, an SL Green spokesman said: “SL Green is a New York City company that succeeds when this city succeeds, and Caesars Palace Times Square would be a massive win for the city, for Times Square, and for our company and its shareholders.”
