MGM, Penn National delivering final proposals to Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Boxes and boxes of documents arrived at Springfield City Hall on Thursday morning, as the two companies interested in building a casino in the city submitted their final proposals.

Thursday at 2:00 P.M. is the deadline for submitting those completed proposals. Both MGM, which proposes to build a casino in the South End, and Penn National, which hopes to build in the North End, got their plans in before that time.

Representatives from MGM personally delivered 18 boxes of documents to the City of Springfield, while Penn National did not; sending their plans to City Hall Thursday morning via courier.

Springfield's Chief Development Officer Kevin Kennedy told 22News that he is more interested in the information in the proposals than how they got there.  

"What we're hoping is that they both come in really, really good and we say that we need to go forward with negotiations for both," Kennedy said.

City officials will now review the many pages of documents, which include details like floor plans and other construction drawings. Kennedy told 22News he plans on releasing a copy of the proposals publicly in the next week or so.

Under Springfield’s casino selection timetable, Mayor Domenic Sarno will decide by January 25 whether to negotiate an agreement with one or both casino developers; an agreement which will later be brought up to the citizens of Springfield for a vote.