Appearing before about 2,000 construction workers sitting full on steak tips and on the future gaming floor, Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox breathed confidence into all listening about the future of Wynn in Everett.
Taking the podium, he said that the current site is just the beginning of what they want to do in Everett and Boston. It was a big departure from the talk of a sale and purported negotiations to spin off the project to “protect” shareholders’ risk.
“This site where we’re building today – I was the first employee from Wynn to set foot on this ground,” he said. “I immediately went to the mayor’s office and he had grand vision of what this area could become. We bought into it immediately. This is just phase one for what we’re planning. We’re thinking of turning this entire district, working with partners, to make this an entertainment resort district over the next decade. If you like working for Wynn, this is just the beginning.”
Giving a bit of a pep talk, Maddox told the workers on the site – who were upbeat and seemingly unaffected by the many rumors and discussion that have been circulating for the last month – that they would move ahead.
“We are dedicated to get through this process we’re in right now,” he said. “We’re going to be open and transparent. But we know what we do. We build the best integrated resorts in the business. When I say ‘we,’ I don’t mean Wynn and I don’t mean Suffolk. I mean you, the trades that are building this facility…I’ve been involved in multiple large scale, multi-billion-dollar integrated resorts in China and Las Vegas and other places in the United States. I can tell you without a doubt this is the best quality I’ve ever seen, the best run job site I’ve ever seen, and the attention to detail is unbelievable. I tell John Fish all the time that I can’t believe how well this project is going and how well it’s being run and the attention to detail.”
He said they are getting ready for the last 12-month push to get the job done and begin hiring the 4,000 employees that will run the resort.
“It’s going to get crazy,” he said. “We’re going to go from 50 to 4,000 employees to run this building over the next year.”
The comments came at the official topping off ceremony, where the company and Suffolk Construction celebrated the milestone – which is going as high as the building is going. From here on out, they will only be working on closing up the outside and not going any higher.