The Avenir is a planned hotel, casino, entertainment, and residential complex on Manhattan’s far West Side, proposed in partnership by Silverstein Properties and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment. The 1.8 million square foot project will be located on 92,000 square feet of undeveloped land at 41st Street and 11th Avenue and will comprise 1,000 luxury hotel rooms; an eight-story, 600,000 square foot gaming, entertainment, and restaurant complex at its base; more than 100 units of 100 percent, permanently affordable housing; and a 1,000-seat performance hall on its top floor.

To develop the property, the client needs to submit a competitive bid to the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board’s Request For Applications (RFA), which requires a strategic and thoughtful workforce development and community impact mitigation strategy. The client hired Karp Strategies to conduct market and existing conditions analyses, develop a workforce and MWBE engagement approach, and support targeted stakeholder outreach, leveraging the firm’s knowledge of City policies and priorities, and socioeconomic neighborhood considerations. In partnership with Camoin Associates, the project team performed workforce and economic impact analysis and modeling to assess the projected outcomes of the proposed development, including direct, indirect, and induced job numbers and spending in the surrounding municipalities.

The data and information collected through these qualitative and quantitative research processes directly inform the client’s workforce development and community outreach strategy for the bid. Karp Strategies worked collaboratively with the client to ensure a deeper understanding of the local context, craft a compelling narrative submission for the RFA, and inform project-related commitments and investments that directly meet community needs.