Chip Tuttle
Title: Chief Operating Officer, Suffolk Downs
Age: 49
Experience: 28 years, including 10 at Suffolk Downs
Chip Tuttle has spent 10 years of his working life at Suffolk Downs, the last five leading the aging East Boston horseracing track’s charge to develop a high-end casino resort.
With the Steve Wynn/Robert Kraft-backed Foxboro proposal out of the running, Suffolk Downs is the lone contender for the sole Greater Boston casino license – one of three to be awarded statewide.
Tuttle, Suffolk Downs’ boyish-looking chief operating officer, first worked at Suffolk Downs from 1992 to 1997, as marketing and communications director. He left to start Conover, Tuttle, Pace, a Boston advertising/public relations firm. Five years ago, Tuttle returned to Suffolk Downs to spearhead the track’s gaming initiative.
In June, Suffolk Downs unveiled plans to develop a $1 billion resort and casino in conjunction with Caesars Entertainment on the 163-acre site. The project would include a hotel, restaurants, a casino, retail shops, entertainment areas, luxury spa facilities and – of course – horse racing.
Q: Assuming the casino is approved, how will that affect the horse racing at Suffolk Downs?
A: It should be a tremendous boost. We’re planning on enhancing the racing experience and trying to do some things to integrate racing and gaming in ways that haven’t really been done in other places around the country … We’re proposing that we build about 150,000 square feet of new gaming, restaurants and retail, and a 300-room hotel and new structured parking. But we’re also planning on renovating the existing grandstand and clubhouse, retaining the entire clubhouse for horseracing and simulcasting … And underneath the first floor of the grandstands will be another 100,000 square feet of gaming space. So, you’d have two significant gaming spaces, but one of them attached directly to the racing operation.
Q: Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has said he doesn’t want this project to be done in phases. He wants it done all at once. What’s your construction timetable?
A: We’ve always said we are going to start the construction on everything at the same time if we are able to earn a license. And that’s the construction on the existing building, the new construction and the $40 million road and infrastructure improvements we’ve committed to make. We’ll start that all at the same time. Some phases may finish sooner than others. And then, whether or not they open is really up to the mayor and the Gaming Commission and the state MEPA office as well.
Q: You’re meeting with residents regarding transportation concerns?
A: We’ve had a series of neighborhood and community meetings. We’ve gotten excellent feedback from our neighbors in Eastie, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea on what their concerns are in transportation. I think we’ve been able to incorporate that into our planning. And we’re going to try to continue to be responsive as we go through the process … We try to remind people this is not a one-shot deal. If we’re successful, this is a long-term partnership. And if we’re successful we’re as vested as anyone in the community in ensuring that people can get back and forth to the community, to the airport and to their houses in a way that’s convenient and addresses some of the longstanding regional transportation issues.
Q: Casino opponents have noted that Caesars is almost $20 billion in debt. Did Caesars approach you or did you approach them?
A: It’s a little bit of both … We had some interest, some other folks approached us. At the end of the day, we thought Caesars was the best partner for a number of reasons – their culture, their expertise and the fact they have a really strong history of partnering with people like us and being successful. We’ve got a ton of respect for [Caesars President and CEO] Gary Loveman.
Q: Does Caesars have an equity partner?
A: They have less than 5 percent equity, but they are a gaming management partner. So they will manage the gaming facility. We’re very, very confident in our ability, our wherewithal to finance this development independent of Caesars’ balance sheets. Richard Fields and Joe O’Donnell are [Suffolk Downs’] primary shareholders. They have combined about 75 percent of the equity here, and Vornado Realty Trust has about a 20 percent stake; the other 5 percent is Caesars and some individual shareholders.
Q: Suffolk Downs is the clear front-runner for the Greater Boston license. How confident are you of getting the license?
A: We have some advantages, clearly. And there are significant barriers to entry at this stage. We’ve been at this a long time. We’ve been talking about this and planning for five years. So, it’s natural that we would be in a leadership position. But we don’t take anything for granted. We know we have to set the standard for gaming development in Massachusetts and we need to develop a world-class facility that will attract visitors not only from the region, but from around the country and around the world … The competition is really external. The competition is Connecticut and Rhode Island – where they are proposing putting table games in Twin River – and New Hampshire, where the gubernatorial candidates are all talking about adding gaming at Rockingham Park.
Q: Is the market going to be too saturated?
A: I don’t think we’re at that stage yet. And clearly, there’s a market demand that will support up to three resort facilities in Massachusetts. But it’s a competitive landscape.
