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Norfolk — The operator of Waterside District — a real estate developer that wants to open a casino and has threatened to sue Norfolk to help make that happen — has been secretly backing a group urging citizens to vote down a planned casino elsewhere on the downtown waterfront.
In a post Tuesday morning on Facebook first reported by WAVY, the Vote No Norfolk Casino group announced the D.C.-based public relations firm that’s been helping them with communications is on a long-term monthly retainer with Cordish Companies.
The Baltimore-based developer owns and operates several entertainment and retail venues across the nation, including a casino in Maryland. Cordish also has two casinos in the works in Pennsylvania.
In a series of letters to the city of Norfolk early this year, Cordish threatened to sue over the city’s contract with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, which made the tribe the city’s preferred casino operator.
Cordish said the company wanted to be able to open its own casino at Waterside, a stone’s throw down the Elizabeth River from the site of the proposed Pamunkey casino.
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Until this point, the Norfolk residents involved with the Vote No Norfolk Casino effort had maintained that they didn’t know who was paying Red Banyan, a PR firm they said reached out to them this summer to offer to help.
The Vote No group wrote in the Facebook post said Red Banyan “does not work on behalf of Rush Street Gaming," the company currently seeking to build a casino in Portsmouth.
It said the services rendered by Red Banyan to the Vote No effort amounted to $2,880 in in-kind donations.
The Facebook post also announced donations to support the Vote No Casino effort from five downtown restaurants, three of which are located at Waterside.
Cordish said in a statement that it believes the deal “is not in the best interest of Norfolk or its citizens." The statement — issued through Asher Levine, the managing director of Red Banyan — also echoed complaints that the Vote No Casino group has been pushing about how the tribe was chosen to be the city’s casino operator, environmental issues at the site and the location of the proposed casino.
The Pamunkey tribe and its business partner, Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough, created their own pro-casino citizen group last year, known as All In for Norfolk Casino. The tribe’s PR firm said the Pamunkey hadn’t tried to hide the fact that it was behind the group, but the group’s site included no indication of the tribe or PR firm’s involvement.
Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com