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🏙️ Queens is the New Strip
Steve Cohen’s $8B Metropolitan Park: Where Carbone Meets Casino
Samuel Rogers
September 18, 2025
📍Queens, NY — Billionaire hedge fund titan and Mets owner Steve Cohen is about to flip Citi Field into the epicenter of NYC’s next economic engine. His $8B Metropolitan Park proposal—a sports-meets-hospitality juggernaut—will fuse a Hard Rock Casino, a luxury hotel, concert venues, a 30,000 sq ft food hall, green space, and a restaurant ecosystem curated by Major Food Group (MFG).
🧠 But this isn’t a hospitality play. It’s a real estate arbitrage. And it’s engineered like a portfolio—diversified, recurring, experiential.
🔍 Snapshot: Metropolitan Park
Category | Details |
|---|---|
Total Cost | $8 Billion |
Casino Partner | Hard Rock |
Hospitality Partner | Major Food Group |
Completion Goal | 2030 |
Location | Adjacent to Citi Field, Flushing |
Footprint | 50+ acres |
Green Space | 20 acres + |
Food Hall | 30,000 sq ft / 20+ vendors |
Projected Annual Footfall | 12M+ |
🧩 WHO’S MAKING MOVES
Player | Role | Power Move |
|---|---|---|
Steve Cohen | Developer, Mets Owner | Monetizing sports real estate 365 days/year |
Major Food Group | Culinary Lead | Luxury dining + mass-appeal food hall |
Hard Rock | Gaming Partner | Casino bid adds +$1B revenue potential |
Queens Night Market Vendors | Cultural tie-in | Local inclusion = political equity |
State Gaming Commission | Regulatory gatekeeper | Only 3 casino licenses remain |
📊 Revenue Flywheel (Modeled)
Stream | Est. Annual Revenue |
|---|---|
🎰 Casino | $700M–$1.1B |
🏨 Hotel + Events | $150M–$300M |
🍽️ Dining (MFG + Vendors) | $120M–$200M |
🎶 Concerts & Entertainment | $80M–$150M |
🧱 Real Estate Leasing | $100M–$200M |
👉 Total TAM (2026+): $1.15B–$1.95B per year
with upside from land appreciation, naming rights, and sports-season synergies.
💡 The Battery 2.0 — But Bigger
Comparison: Sports-Adjacent Developments
Project | Spend | Anchor | Annual Visitors | Revenue Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Battery (ATL) | $1.5B | Braves | 9M | +50% team valuation |
LA Live | $2.5B | Lakers/Kings | 5.6M | +$250M sponsor uplift |
Metropolitan Park | $8B | Mets | 12M (projected) | TBD — scale x3 |
Cohen’s build dwarfs every peer project—by budget, density, culinary ambition, and market scale.
🧠 Strategic Insight: Why Queens?
✅ Most Diverse Borough in America
✅ Transit Hub: 7 subway line, LIRR, LaGuardia Airport access
✅ Underserved by Premium Hospitality
✅ 35K+ average Mets game attendance = captive audience
✅ Cultural & Culinary Footprint: Queens Night Market + immigrant-owned vendor density
This isn’t just about foot traffic. It’s untapped adjacency value.
🍝 Major Food Group: Why They Matter
Metric | Value |
|---|---|
Carbone Miami Revenue (2023 est.) | $35M |
Club ZZ’s Membership Fee | $15K/year |
MFG Markets | NY, Miami, Vegas, Dallas, Singapore |
F&B Unit Economics | $1,000+ check avg. in flagship NYC venues |
MFG brings margin, media buzz, and Michelin-level culture. Their food hall will bridge $5 bao buns with $500 porterhouses.
🧨 Risks
Risk | Exposure | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
🧾 No casino license | -40–50% revenue | Strong Plan B: Events + MFG retail + Mets year-round draw |
🧱 Political delays | ULURP + local resistance | Cohen already launched community outreach & vendor inclusion |
🏙️ Overdevelopment pushback | Traffic + zoning concerns | 20 acres of green space buffers NIMBYs + builds public support |
🧠 Why This Matters (Blunt Take)
This is the blueprint for franchise-as-platform economics.
🧾 Recurring Revenue beyond ticket sales
🏗️ Hard Real Estate Value Creation through urban hospitality
🎯 Brand Fusion of MFG’s clout + Cohen’s capital + Queens’ culture
Cohen isn’t just building a hospitality hub—he’s building Wall Street meets Vegas meets Citi Field.
🔮 What Comes Next
Casino License Decision (Q4 2025)
Design-Build Partners Named (TBD—watch for Related, Brookfield, or Hines)
Political Hearings + ULURP Process
Vendor Selection for Food Hall + Green Market
MFG Flagship Concepts Revealed (Is Carbone Queens next?)
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