It was an idea too good to be true—a Vegas-like smorgasbord of tawdry delights just 20 subway stops, give or take, from Manhattan—and now this darn Great Depression of ours has sunk it, for now.
Delaware North, the Buffalo-based company that won the right to redevelop Queens' Aqueduct racetrack near JFK into a glitzy "racino" with gambling, hotels, dining and various forms of entertainment, has dropped out of the deal.
Construction was supposed to kick off in early 2009, with the racino being completed in phases over five years. The company says it can pay its $370 million bill to the state, just not in the near future.
The state intends to put the Aqueduct contract back out there for another round of bidding, but the previous competition was in a different time in a different world, so don't book that bachelor party just yet.
