New Bedford mayor and casino developer ask regulators for more time as negotiations continue

Developers of a proposed Foxwoods casino in southeast Massachusetts have asked state regulators for more time to file application materials, a spokesman for KG Urban Enterprises said Monday.

Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, the proposed site, also signed the request from the New York-based development company, KG Urban spokesman Andrew Paven said.

Monday afternoon was the deadline for applicants seeking the state Gaming Commission's final resort casino license to file. The license is reserved for the southeast region of the state. Two other applicants are in the running.

KG Urban wants to build a resort casino on the site of a former NStar power plant on the city's waterfront. Former NBA commissioner David Stern is an adviser on the project. His son, Andrew Stern, is a managing director for KG Urban Enterprises. The company has an agreement with Connecticut-based Foxwoods to operate the proposed casino.

The company and the mayor have been in negotiations for months and the project appeared all but dead as recent as last week. Mitchell has called for significant changes to the casino's layout and design that the developers have said are a "non-starter."

Another proposal calls for a casino in Somerset and involves David Hanlon, a former president of Harrah's Atlantic City operations, and Crossroads Massachusetts, an investment group that unsuccessfully tried to bring the Foxwoods resort to Milford.

Mass Gaming & Entertainment has proposed a $650 million casino and hotel on the fairgrounds in Brockton. The company is a subsidiary of Rush Street Gaming in Chicago. Brockton residents are to vote on that proposal May 12.