The group has an operating pact with Micucci and Lawryk's company to run the $212 million facility, assuming the project advances. Moldenhauer says "our financing is in place" thanks to three components: cash; bank financing that he has lined up and $50 million in city revenue bonds for a planned 2,500-space parking garage.
As slots commission chair Donald Fry reminded Moldenhauer at the hearing, there is no guarantee his group will receive a gaming license. The commission is expected to make its decisions this fall. One of the next steps Fry outlined is for Moldenhauer's team to meet with the commission staff and consultants. Part of the staff's responsibility, Fry said, "is to look at things from an independent perspective."
The team behind the casino proposal The following people are key figures involved in the sole proposal to build a slots parlor in Baltimore city:
Michael Moldenhauer is a Toronto-based developer who is president of Baltimore City Entertainment Group and says he will finance the $212 million slots deal in Baltimore. Paul Micucci helped open over a dozen slots facilities in Ontario, Canada, and then launched slots in three states for Magna Entertainment Corp., the parent company of the Laurel and Pimlico racetracks. Alex Lawryk is an advertising and public relations executive from Canada, involved in the marketing side of the gaming industry since the late 1990s. Michael E. Cryor is the former chairman of the state Democratic Party who headed Baltimore's Believe campaign when Martin O'Malley was mayor of Baltimore. James Edward Britton owns Class Act Catering and provides catering at the Baltimore Convention Center among other venues. Kevin Johnson is CEO of Commercial Interiors, one of the city's largest minority-owned construction firms, specializing in general contracting and interior construction. LaRian Finney is the owner of the local firm Visionary Marketing Group, instrumental in moving the city's African-American Heritage Festival to the M&T Bank Stadium near the Inner Harbor.
