Milford could host casino

Town officials show interest

Milford, a working-class town off Interstate 495 where the glitziest feature may be the pink granite mined from its quarry, is being reviewed as a possible resort casino site by a developer who has worked in the past with both Donald Trump and a Massachusetts Indian tribe, local officials said.

The officials, who have hosted two meetings and several phone conversations with the developer, David Nunes, say they are intrigued about the potential to boost economic fortunes and jobs in a community where the senior center already hosts monthly trips to the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut.

"He wanted to know how receptive Milford would be," said town administrator Louis J. Celozzi. "In light of the fiscal realities going on, [we were] attentive."

Nunes has told town officials that he wants to acquire up to 500 acres and would be willing to build another exit on I-495 to handle added traffic. Although Nunes would not reveal where the casino would be built, town officials say the likeliest spot is in the northeastern corner, near the Hopkinton border. He has also told them that other sites in outlying western suburbs of Boston are being explored. But whom Nunes is representing remains unknown, town officials said.

Nunes, who resides in Colorado, has ties to Boston and played a role as a developer when Philadelphia-based O'Neill Properties Group redeveloped the Watertown Arsenal complex.

Nunes has been tight-lipped about his current partner or partners, town officials said. He worked in 2006 with Trump on an unsuccessful bid to build a casino in Johnston, R.I. In Massachusetts, however, Trump has used executives from his resort development arm, Trump Entertainment, to scour the state for casino sites, which may indicate that he is not behind the Milford talks.

Several years ago, Nunes was the casino project manager for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha's Vineyard, although a spokesman for the tribe said yesterday that Nunes was not currently representing the tribe.

Another possibility is that Nunes is representing Sheldon Adelson, who has built casinos around the globe and is one of the world's richest men. Adelson, whose spokesman declined to comment, has long sought a location close to the intersection of the Massachusetts Turnpike and I-495 and previously said he wanted to build in the Marlborough area.

A spokesman for Trump did not return phone and e-mail messages yesterday. Nunes did not return messages left on his cell phone.

The buzz around Milford is yet another indication that while the casino debate at the State House has died down this year, developers across the state are continuing to seek a site in hopes that Governor Deval Patrick will refile gambling legislation in January and that the Legislature will view it more favorably than it did in 2008, when a casino bill died in the House.

Patrick's proposal would have allowed developers to bid for three resort casino licenses - one each in Western Massachusetts, Southeastern Massachusetts, and metropolitan Boston. A casino bid in Milford, which is in Worcester County, would be competing for the Western Massachusetts license.

In Western Massachusetts, the only other known project so far is in Palmer, where the Mohegan Tribe, which operates Mohegan Sun, has an exclusivity deal for 150 acres.

Other developers, including Adelson and Trump, have sought to compete for either the Western Massachusetts license or one in Greater Boston, but haven't yet announced any deals.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which wants to build in Middleborough, is the perceived front-runner for a Southeastern Massachusetts license.

The owners of Wonderland Park in Revere and Suffolk Downs in East Boston last week agreed to form a partnership, solidifying a possible bid for a Boston-area casino.

A state-commissioned study released earlier this month also fueled discussions around casinos.

The $189,000 study, by New Jersey-based Spectrum Gaming, concluded that the governor's plan would allow the state to recapture up to $700 million of the $1.1 billion that Massachusetts residents spend at casinos in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Milford, which is 30 miles southwest of Boston and about 30 miles northwest of Providence, has just under 30,000 residents and is the boyhood home of Howie Long, the NFL Hall of Fame defensive end, and Rich Gotham, president of the Boston Celtics.

"If I was planning to put a casino someplace, I don't think I would have Milford as my first choice," said Ruth Anne Bleakney, director of the senior center, which offers monthly runs to Foxwoods for $20.

"But the seniors would like it. It would be close by and they could go more often if they wanted to."

Nunes approached town officials several months ago, said Celozzi, and after several phone conversations they met about two months ago.

Nunes also met privately with the Board of Selectmen in an executive session about a month ago.

"It's still in the embryonic stages; it's pie in sky," said Brian W. Murray, a selectman. "Until I see a proposal, I don't put much stock in it."

Town officials said Nunes was planning to come back in the fall with more information.

"We're waiting to hear from him," said Celozzi. "The next move is his."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.