Silverstein Properties, the New York developer that was key to rebuilding lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has entered the already crowded race for a state casino license in the city.

Silverstein said it plans to develop the Avenir, a hotel, casino, entertainment, and residential complex spanning 1.8 million square feet on Manhattan’s far west side and located on 92,000 square feet of undeveloped land it owns at 41st Street and 11th Avenue, just north of the marquee Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which hosts more than 150 major events and draws 2.5 million visitors each year, Silverstein said Friday in a statement.

The Avenir will comprise two 46-story towers connected by a public sky bridge and include 1,000 luxury hotel rooms; an eight-story, 600,000-square-foot gaming, entertainment, and restaurant complex at its base; more than 100 units of 100 percent affordable housing; and a 1,000-seat performance hall, Silverstein said, adding the site is “shovel-ready upon approval.” The project is “free of complex logistical infrastructure hurdles, such as a heavily congested immediate area, the need for residential or commercial displacement, or the construction of a large support deck,” Silverstein said.

Silverstein said it’s partnering on the Avenir with Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment and affiliates, the owner and operator of Parx Casino, billed as the highest grossing casino-entertainment complex in Pennsylvania.

Silverstein, which has developed two Four Seasons hotels, said it’s also in talks with luxury hotel operators about the proposed 1,000-key luxury hotel.

The Avenir is being designed jointly by Las Vegas-based Steelman Partners, which is behind some major casino projects both in the United States and Asia, and New York-based CetraRuddy, whose project credits include One Madison Avenue, a trophy tower development of Manhattan's largest office landlord, SL Green Realty.

“Our city and state face a confluence of historic challenges right now,” Larry Silverstein, founder and chairman of Silverstein Properties, said in the statement. “These include a housing crisis, public safety challenges, budget shortfalls, and a commercial real estate market in transition. … We need to work with state and local leaders to do everything we can to make New York the best place to live, work, and visit.”

In 1984, Silverstein purchased the full square block between West 42nd and West 41st streets and 11th and 12th avenues in anticipation that the commercial redevelopment of Times Square would spur need for rental housing, the company said, adding it was one of the first to begin residential development in the neighborhood when it opened River Place, a 921-apartment tower, in 2001, and Silver Towers, a 1,359-apartment residential building in two 60-story towers, in 2010. Both buildings, including a combined 549 affordable housing units, are directly across the street from the proposed development, Silverstein said.

Silverstein’s bid adds to the list of major developers — including S.L. Green and Hudson Yards developer Related Cos. — that have rolled the dice on a casino in the city. Their interests come at a time when New York is still seeking to recover from the damages of the pandemic that has upended the commercial property market and led to record-high office vacancy rates. That has led some office developers to eye diversifying with other types of properties.

For instance, developer Soloviev Group, known for projects such as New York’s iconic 9 W. 57th St., a black glass office tower overlooking Central Park, wants to turn what’s billed as the city's largest undeveloped lot near the United Nations headquarters on the east side of Manhattan into a $3.5 billion mega mixed-use resort that comes not only with a casino and 1,000-plus-room hotel, but also two residential towers, a museum, and Manhattan’s first observation wheel. The company’s chief executive, Michael Hershman, has told CoStar News the original plan for the site involved an office tower.

Even while higher interest rates and borrowing costs have frozen and delayed projects across the country, developers are expecting financing capital will free up by the time casino projects get approved and construction work is set to begin.

“Interest rates will start to come down by the time we get to the financing and development stage,” Hershman, for instance, told CoStar. “We are ready to break ground as soon as we have the license.”

SL Green and Caesars, the biggest U.S. casino-entertainment company, have said they are seeking a gaming license in the tourist and entertainment mecca of Times Square with billionaire rapper Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, also having joined their team.

Related, for its part, has joined up with Wynn to pursue a license at Western Yards, directly next to the Javits Center convention venue, at Hudson Yards, the largest U.S. private development.

Developer Thor Equities in November unveiled a $3 billion-plus casino, hotel and entertainment proposal for Coney Island.

The Mets owner Steven Cohen is said to be contemplating a casino license in Queens near Citi Field as New York is set to build its first professional soccer-specific stadium in the borough as part of a megadevelopment.

Gaming giant Bally’s is also reportedly planning a casino, next to the Trump Organization’s public golf course at Ferry Point in the Bronx.

Further heightening the stakes is the fact that all these contenders may be competing for just one of the three downstate licenses the state is expected to issue, as the other two are expected by some in the real estate industry to go to the owners of the existing Resorts World New York slot parlor at the Aqueduct race track in Queens and to MGM Resorts’ Empire City Casino in the New York suburb of Yonkers.

The heated competition holds big promise for the winners: CBRE has estimated three full casino licenses in the New York City area could generate up to $4.8 billion of gross gaming revenue, almost triple the $1.72 billion the area generated in 2019.

“The NYC metro area is home to over 19 [million] residents with an average income per capita of nearly $80,000, making it one of the largest and most lucrative markets in the world,” CBRE said in a report last year.