Once the operation was in full swing, around 5,600 tons of soil was being removed on a daily basis. Much of the resources went to removing polluted soil. When it was all said and done, the company had spent $68 million to make the site safe to host hotels and restaurants. Wynn Resorts first estimated that the clean up of the Encore Harbor site would cost $30 million. These early legal challenges would be the first of many to come through the construction process. Walsh, though the final deal was “unacceptable” and several neighboring cities filed lawsuits. While the Gaming Commission approved the deal and there seemed to be support from the public, not everyone was happy about the outcome. Eventually, Wynn Resorts was awarded the contract in large part because they had agreed to massive cleanup efforts along with long-term investments to address new traffic that would be coming into the city.

Once the Act was passed, casinos went to work creating proposals and trying to win one of these lucrative contracts. In 1983, Boston Edison bought the land and was the last industrial owner before it was bought up by Rose Construction Ventures with the goal of making it ready for development.Īround the same time that Rose Construction Ventures acquired the land, the state of Massachusetts passed the Expanded Gaming Act, which meant that Las Vegas style casinos were allowed to operate in three different designated territories. As far back as 1804, a dye house operated there and was followed by Cochrane Chemical Company, Merrimac Chemical Company and Monsanto. Over the years, the site was used by a long list of industrial companies. In fact, a large portion of the land used to be White Island, but backfill was used to connect the island to the mainland and create more shoreline. During that time, the area had been home to a variety of plants that relied heavily on chemicals, which inevitably contaminated both the surrounding land and water. The land had been zoned for industrial use and hadn’t been accessible for over 100 years. In January 2015, when Wynn Resorts first purchased the 33 acres of land along the Mystic River that is now home to the resort, it seemed like the least attractive spot to build any sort of large public or private gathering space. The Encore Boston Harbor resort and casino has an unlikely backstory. History of the Encore Boston Harbor Casino Site

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