Empire East, Okada group talks ongoing over Entertainment City devt

Talks between Empire East Land Holdings Inc. and the group of Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada over the housing component of an integrated casino and resort development in the state-run Entertainment City are ongoing, the property developer said Wednesday.

 

At this point, the developer is waiting for confirmation form Okada's Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc. if the project will proceed, Empire East president Charlemagne Yu told reporters in an interview after the company's annual stockholders' meeting.

 

“We would like to verify with the other party we are pushing through with the casino, which is the main thrust of the partner. If project will push through then we are in,” Yu noted.

 

“There was a memorandum of agreement signed in so far as residential component of the project. Empire East will not enter into casino operations,” Yu said. 

 

“Right now we are watching the developments happening on the casino side,” Yu added.

 

According to a Reuters report, Okada's Universal Entertainment supposedly funneled “at least $30 million to an ex-consultant for the Philippines gaming authority who is now at the center of a bribery investigation, according to sources and company records.”

 

“In addition to the investigation in the Philippines, the Universal payments are being probed by US gaming regulators, with the Nevada Gaming Control Board likely to call the 70-year-old billionaire to give evidence at a closed-door investigative hearing, people familiar with the matter said,” the Reuters report read.

 

Yu emphasized that that Empire East remains interested only in the residential component of the project, not the casino.

 

The P45-billion deal between Empire East and the Okada group covers the construction of more than 25 residential towers in several phases. The joint venture agreement was separate from the agreement with Robinsons Land Corp. which was recently terminated.

 

The property developer is spending P25 billion in capital expenditures over the next five years in new projects and landbanking. — VS, GMA News