The former location of Lord & Taylor in The Mall at Rockingham Park would become home to a $160 million casino. (Courtesy of HBG Design)
A casino proposed at the former Lord & Taylor space at The Mall at Rockingham at Park would bring hundreds of jobs to the community, millions of dollars to local charities and an increase to tax revenue.
If approved, the $160 million, three-story Live! Casino will feature over 900 historical racing machines, more than 40 gaming tables, including poker, restaurants, a movie theater, event space, a sports lounge, golf simulators and retail shops strewn between two floors while the third will be used for back-of-house office space.
Joe Faro, owner of Tuscan Villlage, and Sal Lupoli, owner of Lupoli Companies, the second-largest developer in Massachusetts, have entered into a partnership with Baltimore-based Cordish Companies to build a charitable gaming hall and entertainment venue on the abandoned lot adjacent to Tuscan Village, according to development plans filed with the town.
Faro and Lupoli will present the project to the Planning Board on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. where they plan to ask the board for a conditional use permit to reduce the number of required parking spaces. Plan documents submitted reassure board members that the mall has ample parking and a “robust roadway network.”
Developers plan to demolish the indoor space, which has been vacant since 2020, and remodel the existing 158,550 square feet to accommodate the casino and entertainment venue. The first phase of the project is expected to open in 2025.
The project will be developed in phases and the first phase is expected to open next year.
Additionally, the casino is expected to bring in $31 million in tax revenue, generate $128 million in annual economic stimulus to the region and, over the course of 10 years, provide $121.1 million in funding for charitable organizations in Salem and the surrounding areas.
The casino would support job growth, drive tourism and provide opportunities for local, minority, women and veteran-owned businesses, the proposal read.
A traffic study on the property concluded that the proposed facility would have minimal impact on the existing roads, including the intersections of Rockingham Park Boulevard and Mall Road, Mall Road at Rockingham Park Boulevard Park Flyover and mall driveway, Mall Road at Artisan Drive and mall driveway, Pleasant Street at mall driveway and NE Childcare Academy driveway, South Policy Street at Pleasant Street and Lowell Road, Rockingham Park Boulevard at Tuscan Boulevard and Route 28 (South Broadway) at Rockingham Park Boulevard, and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
Time periods of analysis were consistent with those chosen when analyzing Chasers Poker Room and Casino off Veterans Memorial Parkway. The traffic study did determine that traffic volumes were higher in July 2023 at the time of the most recent study than they were in the July 2017 study.
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