Having crushed his opposition in the Boston area, Steve Wynn can afford to be magnanimous — as he was in a flying visit to Beantown to mend fences and bask in 
the glow of victory … and to give a wide-ranging interview to the Boston Globe‘s Mark Arsenault. Now that he’s won the casino license, Wynn is humoring the Massachusetts Gaming Commission‘s desire to see alternate designs for the Everett hotel tower. While I wouldn’t go as far as the commissioner who called the design “atrocious,” it’s pretty uninspired by Wynn standards (less attractive than the Mohegan Sun design, in truth), not harmonizing with the retail esplanade … which in itself looks like a leftover from one of Wynn’s multiple Philadelphia projects.
Even Wynn agrees about the hotel now. “The judge was right,” he said of Commissioner James McHugh, who faulted the design for a lack of imagination. In the process Wynn also extended an olive branch to his only opponent on the MGC. “I want to hear what the judge says about the color … I’m giving everyone [on the commission] a chance to give their opinions, since we are partners.”
Channeling Stewie Griffin, Wynn said the new hotel would be “a sexy high rise … 
a slinky version of Las Vegas.” Thanks to the casino, it will be “The first real grand hotel built in decades. The high cost of construction and the price people are willing to pay for a room with hotels.com and Expedia just don’t match up anymore,” but gambling will be the secret weapon that makes Wynn’s largesse possible.
Wynn had luck going his way, too. The Globe reports that both Hainan Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways are incepting nonstop Hong Kong– and Peking-to-Boston flights. No more ferrying high rollers to the casino by corporate jet. Exulted Wynn, “Now we’re talking about nonstops to Logan Airport, 12 minutes from my hotel … It’s as if to say God is on our side,” he added with a laugh.
As for defeated Mohegan Sun, he predicted a dark future: “We’re going to take their best customers. It was a tough day for them; they needed this deal very badly.” However, Wynn was prepared to invest more, pay higher salaries and pay more to his construction crews and, compared to Mohegan Sun’s pinchpenny approach, that carried the day.
Although Boston Mayor Martin “McCheese” Walsh has done nothing but spit bullets at Wynn, the latter professed a willingness to turn the other cheek: “I’m going to go make friends with the mayor. I’ve got to be his guy. We’re spending a billion-six here — if it’s a nickel, it’s a billion-six. I’m his best incoming businessman, this company, and I can’t function without him. It has got to be a relationship that’s constructive and positive. And why not?”
For the time being, Wynn Resorts is remaining neutral in the Massachusetts casino-repeal referendum, although Wynn admitted to some doubts on the issue. (He could also be the scapegoat if the referendum passes and Wynn sat on the fence.) However, he supports the referendum per se. “The idea that the citizens of Massachusetts are actually going to speak on the subject makes life simpler.”
Spoken like somebody who just won. Big-time.
