Nov. 08, 2012--Steve Wynn wants to come back to Philadelphia and will apply for a license to build a casino and hotel on about 60 acres of waterfront land in Fishtown.

The Las Vegas casino operator confirmed in a telephone interview this morning that he will file an application with the state's Gaming Control Board to secure the city's second casino license.

He said he has an option for the parcel of land controlled by builder James Anderson on North Beach Street, just north of Penn Treaty Park.

Today, he added, Wynn Resorts will present the Nutter administration with a local impact report.

This would be the second time around for Wynn. In April 2010, Wynn came forward as a partner to salvage the Foxwoods Casino project, but eventually dropped out of that deal.

An artist rendering of the project, Wynn said, will not be ready until Tuesday. But he added that the hotel for "Wynn Philadelphia" would resemble the company's Encore hotel in the Chinese city of Macau.

The deadline for filing a casino application with the state is Nov. 15. Two other contenders already have come forward with plans, including local developer Bart Blatstein and a partnership including the company behind Parx Casino and the Cordish Cos. of Baltimore.

Wynn said he would build a 150,000 square foot casino for 900 to 1,000 slot machines and 100 table games. The hotel would have 300 rooms.

"It's such a perfect site," Wynn said. "It allows for the kind of growth and the creation of a destination resort that these local casinos haven't done before."

___

(c)2012 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services