
Project Details
Location
City of Richmond, Virginia
Skills
Strategic Advisory, Project Feasibility, Casino Assessment, Impact Assessment, Contract Negotiations
Project Description

Convergence Strategy Group worked with the City of Richmond’s Department of Economic Development to determine the market potential for a casino resort operation in the city, assess potential community impacts, assist the City’s evaluation panel in their review of RFP bid responses, and to help the City negotiate optimal partnership terms with the development group ultimately selected, One Entertainment.
The scope of our work included:
- Gaming market assessment for a casino resort at three alternative locations in the city, including the one ultimately selected for the project development.
- Projection of gaming revenues, patronage and non-gaming expenditures
- Consideration of the implication on demand (as well as the tax implications) of an expanded Rosie’s HRT facility north of Richmond from a small venue into a large-scale resort, as has been proposed
- Assumptions regarding the necessary hotel room count to accommodate demand, based on the gravity model source of patrons
- Development of a financial pro forma to demonstrate potential payment levels to the local government, while still providing a reasonable level of return to the operator
- Economic impact assessment, demonstrating potential impacts on employment and various local taxes
- Municipal services impact assessment, including assessment of potential crime impacts
- Assisting the City with the evaluation of six casino developers’/operators’ RFP responses
- Involved three months of weekly (or greater frequency) meetings with the Evaluation Panel to create a scoring matrix to be used to rank and compare bids and highlight what the strengths, weaknesses and challenges were of each
- Provided historical performance data for developers’ projects elsewhere in the U.S. to demonstrate how they perform relative to their markets, and to determine what existing projects may provide best insight into the scale and quality of their proposed Richmond development
- Assisting Economic Development leaders in educating City Councilmembers in understanding what the project benefits will be, and to respond to related questions regarding impacts
- Assisting the City with contract negotiations with their selected casino operator
- Collaborated with industry colleagues at the Jones Walker law firm and City officials to craft a development agreement between Richmond and One Entertainment.