Photo: Tyler A. McNeil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
For decades the land along the Mohawk River off Erie Boulevard belonged to the American Locomotive Company. ALCO built steam and diesel locomotives there and employed thousands before the plant closed in the late 1960s. The site sat mostly empty for years afterward.
The Galesi Group bought the property and planned a mixed-use development called Mohawk Harbor. When New York allowed new upstate casinos, Rush Street Gaming won a license for the site, and Rivers Casino & Resort opened in February 2017.
What is there now
Mohawk Harbor includes the casino, a hotel, apartments, offices, restaurants and a marina on the river. A bike path along the water connects to the Mohawk-Hudson trail.
Revenue and taxes
The casino pays a share of gaming revenue to the state, and part of that money comes back to Schenectady and the surrounding counties as local aid. Results have been more modest than early projections, a pattern seen at the other upstate casinos as well.
Even so, the project replaced a long-abandoned industrial site with taxable buildings and gave the city a new front door on the river.
