ALBANY — After half a century of waiting, Sullivan County appears poised to get that casino.

The $630 million Montreign casino, part of the billion-dollar Adelaar resort planned for the southeast corner of the old Concord property in Monticello, earned the NYS Gaming Facility Location Board's recommendation Wednesday as the only casino that should be licensed by the NYS Gaming Commission in the Catskills/Hudson Valley region.

Mohegan Sun's proposal, along with the Nevele in Ulster County and a range of competitors in Orange County, were not chosen, clearing the way for Monticello Casino and Raceway operator Empire Resorts and Adelaar developer EPR Properties to undertake the largest of several construction options envisioned - an 18-story hotel with an 86,300-square-foot casino, 391-room hotel, indoor waterpark, golf course, restaurants, stores and a residential area.

Other nearby casinos would have shrunken the scope, said Empire/EPR officials previously.

“We have sought to select those properties that would maximize the prospects of economic success,” explained Location Board Chairman Kevin Law during the intensely-awaited presentation in Albany.

The Montreign casino application scored with the Location Board on its “unique potential” to revitalize the Catskills, especially with a projected 1,209 full-time and 96 part-time jobs culled from the local workforce - plus Montreign's focus on hiring minorities and its cooperation with area unions.

Board members called the proposal “larger, more varied and potentially more interesting” than competitors, and they recognized that any casino in Orange County would “cannibalize” a Sullivan County project.

They did acknowledge that Montreign will unavoidably impact operations at the existing Monticello Casino and Raceway, whose horseracing track will not be moved to Adelaar when it opens.

But they added that Montreign has the best chance of success due in part to a “reasonable and credible financing structure,” and that while Mohegan Sun's next-door-neighbor proposal was “compelling,” Montreign's is “more comprehensive and well-measured.”

Wednesday's recommendation, if followed by the Gaming Commission next year, will likely open the door to making the Adelaar/Montreign resort a major destination in the Northeast when it opens in 2016/17.

“I am one happy man!” exclaimed Sullivan County Legislator Ira Steingart minutes after the presentation. “We did it!”

Steingart led an effort that included hundreds of manhours preparing documents, coordinating public comment campaigns, and spending more than $100,000 on ads, lobbying and strategizing for casinos in the county.

“We worked very hard to get our message across,” he acknowledged. “We did a great job - we really did.”

Although he wished Mohegan Sun at the Concord had been recommended too, he said the owner of that property, Louis Cappelli's Concord Associates, has a chance to build a complementary hotel within walking distance of Montreign/Adelaar.

“Sullivan County is going to need rooms,” Steingart predicted.

“It's really going to happen,” promised an ecstatic Roberta Byron-Lockwood, president of the Sullivan County Visitors Association. “I am just thrilled!”

“So many people have worked long and hard for generations to achieve this goal. Today is the first day of Sullivan County's rebirth as a first-class resort destination,” remarked Thompson Town Supervisor Bill Rieber, leader of the township in which Montreign will be built. “We can look forward to fair living wages and benefits for our residents and the financial ability to rebuild our infrastructure and to improve our schools.

“I congratulate and thank everyone who had even the smallest part in making this happen,” he added. “I thank the Commission for dealing with the siting process in a very professional manner, and I thank Gov. Cuomo for remembering Sullivan County for what it once was and having the vision and faith to know that we can bring it back.”

“For everyone who is anti-fracking and pro-casino, today, December 17, 2014, is a good day with the Governor's announcement and the Gaming Commission's location announcement,” stated County Legislator Cora Edwards. “We still have a lot of work ahead to get our workforce ‘job-ready,' and the time before the license is granted will go very quickly, and we want to be prepared.”

“I believe that this scenario will start the trend of people in the metropolitan region and worldwide vacationing and visiting upstate New York once again, as they did for generations,” anticipated County Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson. “It will revive a long-dormant tourism and hospitality industry and completely revitalize the economic future of the entire upstate region.

“By choosing Montreign/

Adelaar at this juncture,” he continued, “the Governor and the Gaming Commission have recognized the best possible outcome for this process. Montreign and Adelaar are significant developments unto themselves but together create the most significant destination resort scenario that New York State has ever imagined. It will be everything that anyone would have hoped for and more.”

“It's a great day for Empire Resorts, the resilient residents of Sullivan County, and our co-developer EPR Properties,” said Emanuel Pearlman, Empire Resort's board chairman. “Today's decision by the Board is an important next step as we finalize our plans to attract tourism to upstate New York and create thousands of good-paying jobs as well as new revenue for local businesses.

“... After receiving all final regulatory approvals,” he concluded, “we will break ground as soon as possible on what will truly be a Catskills destination reborn.”

Also landing license recommendations Wednesday were the Lago proposal in Tyre (Finger Lakes/Southern Tier region) and the Rivers proposal in Schenectady (Capital/Saratoga region). Though a fourth casino license was contemplated, no recommendation was announced for such.

“The Board has determined that a second competing new gaming facility in any of the regions (including the Catskills) would make it significantly more difficult for any new gaming facility to succeed in that region,” said Law.

Mohegan Sun and Cappelli had worked hard to be that fourth licensee, so Wednesday's announcement was not good news for them.

“We are disappointed that the Facilities Location Board has chosen to overlook Mohegan Sun's long track record of success in the Northeast, high level of brand recognition, unique outward-facing business model, and speed-to-market advantage among the bidders for a casino license,” said Mohegan Sun spokesperson Michael Sherry. “Most of all, we're disappointed that we have not been recommended to play a role in an endeavor so close to our hearts: the revitalization of the Catskills and returning jobs and economic growth to this historic region of New York.

“While today's decision was certainly disappointing, Mohegan Sun Connecticut continues to be the best and highest-grossing resort casino in the Western Hemisphere, and we will continue to pursue these types of opportunities as they arise.”

Meanwhile, the three recommended licensees will now undergo comprehensive background checks and “suitability reviews” before the Gaming Commission issues licenses.

Once the licenses are awarded and construction begins, NYS Senator John Bonacic predicted it will be a game-changer.

“There have been many false starts on the broken road leading to this moment,” he said. “... And now that moment is here, with this resort destination facility, which will drive investment and job creation, not only in Sullivan County, but also surrounding counties for generations to come.

“This gaming facility will ... by 2019 provide $103 million in annual tax revenue for education, property tax relief, and aid to local governments,” he added. “...With the beauty of our geography, four seasons of outdoor recreational opportunities, and now the approval of this destination resort, I firmly believe that the best days of the Catskills are yet to come.”