Metropolitan Park’s architects took a beating from the Public Design Commission last week over inadequate public space and inserting an unapproved hotel tower into their plans.
BY COLE SINANIAN
cole@queensledger.com
FLUSHING — Set to bring in $850 million in annual tax revenue with its 5,000 slot machines, 286,000-square foot Hard Rock Casino, 1,000 hotel rooms, three restaurants, a food hall and a concert venue, Steve Cohen’s Metropolitan Park Casino project in Flushing is on track to become one of Queens’ largest development projects in years.
Naturally, for a project of such scale built on a public site, the bar for public benefit is high— a bar that, according to the panel of architects, designers, and cultural representatives that make up the City’s Public Design Commission (PDC), the latest design for the casino and its surrounding park largely fails to clear.
At a PDC meeting on August 17, commissioners criticized Metropolitan Park’s design team — made up of SHoP Architects and Field Operations — for their use of dark materials, counterintuitive and cramped pedestrian infrastructure, and broad failure to account for the nonpaying members of the public who visit the park.
“The whole reason for the city of New York even allowing this to happen in this space is to provide amenities for the public, not to provide a private business,” said one commissioner.
The meeting was part of the project’s preliminary review process and did not include a vote, with the next PDC meeting scheduled for September 22.
SHoP architect Roberto Otero began the presentation with a description of the changes made to the original Master Plan as a result of public comment and the commission’s feedback. He highlighted the added setbacks to the casino to avoid imposing onto Roosevelt Avenue, improvements to the proposed daycare center — which in prior versions of the plan had been enclosed by a fence that blocked visibility into the park — and adjustments to building materials like “glazed elements,” “warm metals” and “faceted materials” that Otero said were meant to evoke an art deco style and “catch the light in very different tones.”
But it was the walkway set to straddle the casino’s front facade, dubbed the “East Colonnade,” that drew the most ire from commissioners. As one of the project’s most central public spaces, the colonnade would sit in the center of the park directly in front of the casino, attracting wandering pedestrians in search of a place to sit, and offering what Otero described as “promontory moments.”
But as they stand, the architects’ plans for the East Colonnade would be far from user-friendly, commissioners pointed out. The walkway would be bookended by restaurants and outdoor dining space, narrowing to just five feet wide as it passes the casino’s front facade — hardly enough space for two people side-by-side, not to mention strollers or wheelchairs. The facade itself, meanwhile, will be clad in dark, opaque glass— not quite an inviting backdrop for what may be some visitors’ first experience of a New York City park.
When asked if five feet was an adequate amount of space, Otero maintained that the East Colonnade was intended to provide “backstage moments” to pedestrians who stroll by and not necessarily attract them.
“We feel the route isn’t necessarily the most natural route for someone to walk through, so it feels sufficient for the anticipated amount of people,” he said.
Commissioners, however, pushed back, arguing that the public would not obey the architects’ intention.
“What you have is a giant stair that invites people to come up and look and then you look up and you can see nothing,” said one commissioner. “Saying that this is a zone or that’s a zone— that’s fine. But in fact, that’s not how human beings use space.”
Other commissioners wondered whether the needs of park-goers who did not intend to buy anything were being considered.
“I understand all the restaurants and stuff, but if people can’t afford to go into the restaurants — they’re in the park and they just want to have the experience of being there — I think as the building is not built, that all needs to be considered,” said another.
Commissioners quickly intervened when the design team began discussing plans for a third hotel tower — dubbed Tower C — when in fact the PDC had only approved the two towers laid out in the Master Plan.
“If the team wishes to have tower C approved as well, you are invited to resubmit your master plan and we can start over from the beginning,” said one commissioner, whose name tags were obscured during the meeting. “That would be the process.”
In a statement, Metropolitan Park spokesperson Karl Rickett confirmed that construction of the project had begun, and doubled down on the design.
“The project’s design reflects years of community engagement and input from our neighbors, developed with an all-New-York design team,” he wrote. “Since the approval of the master plan in 2025, we’ve worked closely with the Commission to incorporate their input to enhance the project.”
“Construction at Metropolitan Park is well underway, and design refinements continue in coordination with the Public Design Commission,” he continued.
Despite receiving approval from six Queens community boards, the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, the New York City Council, the State Senate and the State Assembly, Cohen’s project has drawn staunch local opposition since it was first proposed in 2023. Critics have described an exclusionary public engagement process and questioned the public health effects of a casino on the surrounding local community. But for Flushing native and prominent anti-casino organizer Jack Hu, the PDC’s grilling of the design team was a welcome sign that the City is taking concerns seriously.
”I was really relieved to hear that the Public Design Commission is taking their duty in stewarding what is being built on public land very seriously,” Hu said. “That they’re not just a rubber stamp for private developers to do whatever they want with that project.”
Hu and several Queens residents are suing the New York State Gaming Commission and casino developer Queens Future LLC to revoke its gaming license in a legal battle that’s dragged on over disagreements as to where it should be tried. Hu and the others allege in the lawsuit that the casino’s public engagement process was biased towards pro-casino voices and that the Gaming Commission did not adequately consider Cohen’s moral character and reputation as required by the Gaming Commission’s own rules.
“What the community is getting out of this deal is nothing compared to what they’re stealing from us,” Hu said. “We’ve been consistently cast aside, and we’re just urging the commission to really take community feedback seriously.”
