Empire Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: NYNY) announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Joseph E. Bernstein as the Company's Chief Executive Officer. The appointment is effective immediately and runs through an initial term ending December 31, 2009, subject to an automatic one year renewal upon the completion of certain conditions.
Mr. Bernstein will lead the Company through its current restructuring phase and will implement a range of gaming strategies in the Catskills, including repositioning and improving the Monticello Casino and Raceway and pursuing the development of a Native American casino adjoining the Raceway. Additionally, under his direction, the Company will pursue the prospect of legalization of gaming in Sullivan County, and future development of the Company's 230 acres at the Raceway. Mr. Bernstein is a former Director who recently became active in reformulating the Company's long term goals and management strategy.
Empire Resorts Director Louis R. Cappelli commented, 'I am confident that Joe Bernstein, with his strong financial and legal expertise, vast development experience and specific experience with the Company, is a brilliant choice to lead a new management team and boldly take Empire Resorts to the next level."
Mr. Bernstein, a litigation attorney and real estate developer, co-founded Catskill Development LLC in 1995 to acquire the 230-acre Monticello Raceway and obtain a key federal approval that would allow a Native American Tribe to build a $600,000,000 Class III casino project. This approval was only one of three granted since 1988. Empire Resorts subsequently acquired the Raceway from Catskill Development in 2004 and continued to develop the casino project from 2005 to 2008, when it was derailed by an abrupt change of national policy for off-reservation gaming by the Bush Administration. The prospect of a withdrawal of that policy is currently under review by the Obama Administration and has the full support of Governor David Patterson, New York's two senators, congressional leaders and local communities in Sullivan County.
Along with his brother, Ralph Bernstein, a director and shareholder in the Company, Mr. Bernstein is a Founder and Managing Director of Americas Partners, a private real estate group. The Bernstein brothers founded the Americas Partners group of companies in 1981, and have since been involved in over $1 billion of property acquisitions and development in New York City. The Company's three million square feet of Manhattan office and retail projects have included Americas Tower, the 50-story office tower at 1177 Avenue of the Americas, with one million square feet, that serves as world headquarters to PriceWaterhouseCoopers; The Crown Building, a 26-story tower located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street; 40 Wall Street, a 70-story office tower; and Herald Center, a vertical retail center at Broadway and 34th Street. The brothers were also instrumental in nurturing the early growth and subsequent turnaround of the air medical operations of Air Methods Corporation (NASDAQ: AIRM), which has grown from a fleet of 25 to over 300 helicopters since 1993, and today has $500,000,000 in annual revenue.
Empire Resorts Lead Director James Simon concluded, 'Progress has already been made by the Company as we have rapidly improved cash flow, cut expenses and enhanced productivity, but it is imperative that we have a strong leader like Joe Bernstein who will aggressively pursue initiatives to address the Company's long-term future.'
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