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Valley group shifts racino plan to North Jackson
NORTH JACKSON
A company proposing a $300 million horse racetrack with slot machines and entertainment complex in the Mahoning Valley is switching its location from Vienna to North Jackson.
The Mahoning Valley Downs proposal from the Mahoning Valley Development Group is not connected to Penn National Gaming Inc., which is interested in relocating its Raceway Park in Toledo to a 186-acre site in Austintown.
MVDG announced Friday that it signed a purchase option for about 140 acres of land on Bailey Road in North Jackson. The land, which has utility lines, is owned by Leonard Truck & Trailer, said Rick Lertzman, MVDG’s chairman. The 140 acres are next to the Leonard business, Lertzman said.
Clark Leonard, the company’s general manager, couldn’t be reached Friday by The Vindicator to comment.
MVDG had an option on about 600 acres in Vienna, adjacent to the state Route 11 exit on King Graves Road, since February.
The new proposed location for a harness track has better highway access as it’s just off Interstate 76 and close to I-80, Lertzman said.
Lertzman and his partner, Bradford Pressman, have never owned a horse-racing track and won’t reveal the names of its investors. They announced plans in January for the track with slot machines, resort, golf course, an indoor water park, and a 400-bed hotel with a 2,000-seat arena on its first floor.
The North Jackson location is near land that ex-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. had proposed last year as the site of an Indian gaming casino. The proposal never materialized because Indian casinos aren’t permitted in Ohio under state and federal law.
Penn plans to spend $200 million for the Austintown harness track after the state legalizes video slot machines at racetracks.
The General Assembly in June approved legislation, signed into law by Gov. John Kasich, making it easier for current track owners to relocate to areas without existing tracks or sites of four future Las Vegas-style gambling casinos. The legislation was designed to help Penn National move two of its facilities, including the harness track in Toledo to Austintown.
The state still needs to take action to legalize video slot machines at horse racetracks, something that could happen later this year.
The Ohio State Racing Commission will decide which track in this area would get a racing gambling license.
Lertzman acknowledged the law “is slanted toward Penn Gaming.”
But the new state law leaves “so many things up in the air. We’re going to the courts for clarity,” he said.