Reports: Ex-mayor heading group seeking casino license

Friday, March 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The 16-member group, called Paradise Valley Limited Liability Corp., plans to announce Sunday that it will pursue one of the licenses, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported.

Young, 78, who advocated legalized gambling in Detroit while serving as mayor from 1973 to 1993, is chairman of the partnership. Other members include JoAnn Watson, former president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP; Elliott Hall, a Ford Motor Co. vice-president; and Ford dealer Nathan Conyers, the brother of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit.

Paradise Valley has yet to choose a casino operator and intends to retain majority ownership of the project, said Southfield attorney Mayer Morganroth, one of the two white partners.

"This will not be a front, and the casino operator will be secondary," Morganroth told the Free Press. " ... It's an exciting group trying to do something we feel is important."

The partnership hasn't selected a location for its casino, which it plans to call Paradise Valley - after the black entertainment district that anchored the lower east side neighborhood where Young grew up until the Chrysler Freeway was built through it in the late 1950s.

Under the casino referendum that Michigan voters approved in November, two of the city's three licenses are likely to be awarded to developers that worked to put the issue on the ballot. The Paradise Valley group will be competing with other developers for the third license.

Mayor Dennis Archer, who drew criticism from Young when he initially balked at casino gambling, must recommend to the City Council which three applicants should get casino licenses.

"The mayor intends to review all proposals with an even hand," Archer spokesman Anthony Neely told the News. "If Mayor Young happens to be one of the proposed developers, his proposal will be judged equally with all others by the casino task force and ultimately by the mayor and the City Council, along with all other development proposals."