Encore Boston Opens in Everett

Since 2015, Wynn Resorts has purchased 33 acres of land along the Mystic River in Everett, and the excitement grew in Eastern Massachusetts with the historic vote legalizing a gambling casino on this plot of land. The project was later renamed Encore Harbor Resorts when Steve Wynn was removed from the chairmanship and C.E.O. of the corporate ownership.

Thirty of those acres had previously been set aside for industrial use and were inaccessible to the public. A section of the plot had been known as White Island in the 1800s, with the island later becoming part of the mainland as backfill expanded the shoreline along the Mystic River. Prior to any backfill, as early as 1804 a dye house had been built on the land, which was later occupied by Cochrane Chemical Company.

The total cost of the cleanup was sixty eight million dollars, twice as much over the thirty million dollars expected, but after 18 months of work and nearly a million tons of soil removed, Encore Resorts has finished the cleanup of the environmental contamination at the site of its resort casino.

This week’s opening brought a lot of excitement. The Casino will also feature a new Restaurant called “Fratelli’s” as a joint venture of nationally noted restaurateurs Frank DePasquale and Nick Verano of Boston’s North End. The restaurant at Everett’s forthcoming resort casino bring a combined 45-plus years’ experience to the table—and “an authentic and colorful flavor of the North End.”

DePasquale has also owned a number of North End properties for more than 30 years, and currently operates Bricco, Quattro, Mare Oyster Bar, among others. Varano is best-known for his Strega restaurants, which started in the North End 15 years ago. He also owns Nico Ristorante, and three Caffé Strega locations around metro Boston. This is DePasquale and Varano’s first restaurant venture, they previously partnered in the “Ocean Club” nightclub in Quincy’s Marina Bay.

The Everett location is only 15 minutes from Downtown Boston easily accessible on I-93. The economic impact will be thousands of steady decent paying service jobs and suppliers, and property values should peak as housing demands increase.

Encore has spent 2.5 billion dollars on this huge resort that looks like an architectural mixture straight out of Florida and the Southwest in its style and creamy color exterior pastels and palm trees. We will be soon flocking to view and enjoy our own little piece of Vegas hoping to hit the big jackpot to make our dreams come true.