Stronach Group provides more information on Massachusetts racetrack proposal

The Stronach Group has filed rudimentary renderings to the Lancaster, Mass., town council of a racetrack it hopes to build outside of town. In answer to questions from the council, The Stronach Group also said it would expect to run approximately 30 dates at the track.

The Stronach Group, which owns a number of racetracks across the U.S. and several other racing-related companies, filed the documents on Thursday morning with the town council, five days in advance of a meeting scheduled for Monday night to discuss the proposal. The documents were provided by Lancaster’s town administrator, Orlando Pacheco.

Company officials have said that planning for the track is only in the “exploratory stages,” and the documents filed with the council underline the limited scope of the company’s planning so far. The documents include two bird’s eye views of the planned layout of a racetrack, barns, and parking lots on the 350-acre parcel of land being considered by the company, but no architectural details.

Similarly, a document of answers to 18 questions posed by the town’s council reflect the preliminary nature of a proposal that only became public in the last 10 days. According to Pacheco, the town council was approached by a potential buyer of the property who stated that the parcel could be leased, in part, to The Stronach Group for the construction of a racetrack, leading to the scheduling of the July 30 meeting.

In a question-and-answer document, The Stronach Group said that it expected approximately 500 horses to be stabled on the track’s backside, and that racing seasons “in a typical year” run from “late spring until late fall.” The company said it planned to offer a “minimum of 30 live race days” and expected an average attendance of 1,000 on weekdays and 2,500 on weekends, a number that suggests the construction of a small grandstand.

The Stronach Group also said it expected to conduct full-card simulcasting year round at the site, while also using the grounds of the track to host concerts and other events during the non-racing season. In addition, the company said the racetrack grounds would only take up 100 acres of the 350-acre site, with the rest considered, perhaps, for “part of an overall mixed-use development that could include retail space, commercial space, industrial space, residential units and a hotel to name a few.”

Lancaster is a small town of approximately 8,000 located 45 miles from downtown Boston. The site being considered by The Stronach Group is located north of the town adjacent to Route 70.

The proposal from The Stronach Group is expected to compete for attention with a separate plan supported by the owners of Suffolk Downs to renovate the Great Barrington Fair site in the far western edge of Massachusetts. That plan was hashed out between representatives of Suffolk, the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, and the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

The entities behind each plan are banking on favorable legislation to aid their proposals. The Massachusetts legislature is scheduled to recess on July 31. Live racing in Massachusetts has been limited to a smattering of weekend dates over the past three years after Suffolk announced it would seek a buyer for its property after being passed over for a casino license in 2014.

The July 30 meeting in Lancaster is expected to be the start of an information-gathering process conducted by the town council, according to Pacheco.