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SPRINGFIELD — If someone were making a movie about Ameristar's nearly billion-dollar proposal to turn a former East Springfield industrial site into a world-class casino resort, they might want to title it "38 Days Later."

That's how long it took the Las Vegas casino company to pull the plug on plans for a $910 million entertainment, hotel and gambling complex at the former Westinghouse Electric site on Page Boulevard.

From Oct. 23 – when Ameristar officials first outlined their proposal to 200 people packed into a white tent pitched on the naked, 40-acre site where the luxury complex would have risen – to Nov. 30, a number of things conspired to persuade the project's proponent to drop out of the three-way race to build a casino in the City of Homes.

Now, with just MGM and Penn National competing for a single casino license for Western Massachusetts, the sequel to "38 Days Later" might be called "And Then There Were Two."

"I'm really disappointed," said Peter Patel, manager of Page Convenience, located just west of the Westinghouse site.

"I feel like a casino coming here, it's good for business. It's going to be the right way (to improve the local economy), not the wrong way," Patel said Sunday, two days after Ameristar scuttled its plans.

And those plans were rather grand: A 150,000-square-foot gaming space with 3,300 slot machines and 110 game tables; a 500-room luxury hotel with 50 suites; a 4,300-vehicle parking garage; multiple restaurants and retail establishments; swimming pools; and a spa and fitness center. And all just off Interstate 291 in a corner of Springfield that doesn't often get a lot of attention.

Patel said his customers have been gloomy ever since Ameristar broke the bad news. "They're still like, 'Oh, this is bad because the casino is not coming,' " he said.

Just up the road at Fettes Wine & Spirits, manager Jim Hagberg said most of his customers at the Page Boulevard package store are disappointed East Springfield is no longer in the running for a $900-million makeover.

"I believe that everybody in this neighborhood was up for it," said Hagberg, 43, a Hungry Hill native who now lives in Agawam. "If it doesn't go here, what are they going to do with a big empty lot?"

That's a good question, and one that Ameristar officials have yet to answer. The company, in a statement Friday, said it has not determined what it will do with the former Westinghouse site, which it purchased just over a year ago for $16 million.

A little over a month ago, Ameristar CEO Gordon Kanofsky had been promising "more of everything" in terms of the size and scope of the proposal, the revenue it would produce, and the number of jobs it would bring to Springfield. "Simply put, Ameristar's proposal is the winner," Kanofsky said. As it turns out, the shelf life for that "winning" proposal was less than six weeks.

"It's the mayor's thing," Hagberg said. "He'd rather see a casino downtown. But what about the people up here?"

One of those people, Milca Robles, 36, of Monrovia Street, said a casino would have been a shot in the arm for her working-class neighborhood, where most people have to take long bus rides to jobs in other parts of the city. "It would have been good, because this is a big neighborhood," she said. "I think it would have been great for jobs for people up in this area."

For Ward 2 Councilman Michael A. Fenton, who represents the neighborhood on the Springfield City Council, the 40-acre site is still a potential gold mine. Fenton has a glass-half-full view of Ameristar's decision to pass over Springfield. "The site is poised now for a really successful development of some sort," he said. "What we've learned now is that the site won't be a casino. I haven't been a supporter of a casino there, necessarily."

Fenton added, "I'm disappointed that there will be less competition for the casino license in Springfield. ... Our focus will now be the future use of that parcel. I, myself, and the neighborhood will continue to look forward to working with Ameristar."

Fenton said most neighborhood residents were "cautiously optimistic" about the chances of a casino coming to East Springfield, a sprawling neighborhood of residential, commercial and industrial properties. "From an East Springfield perspective, I'm not tremendously disappointed that it's not coming. I think there will be a good use for that property in the future," he said.

The possibility of bringing a Route 9-style shopping corridor, replete with "high-quality stores," to East Springfield is an option Fenton said he would embrace. "A commercial shopping center is something that could be in the mix," he said.

A major concern of a casino coming to the neighborhood was traffic, with Ameristar proposing to finance a $58 million road and overpass project to create primary access to the site from Interstate 291. Whatever commercial projects that do eventually arise in post-casino East Springfield will likely have to address that same concern.

"Obviously, the city is very disappointed in Ameristar's decision to withdraw from the competition to locate a world-class resort casino in Springfield," Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said Friday. "Ameristar made a strong proposal for an exciting project that would have given our voters a clear choice as to the type of location that would best serve the city."

But even with only two casino companies still seeking to establish footholds along the northern and southern ends of the city's downtown district, the mayor said he's confident the proposals by Penn National and MGM would create "robust competition" for a project to revitalize Springfield by creating thousands of local jobs and sustainable economic benefits for the city, region and state.

Ameristar officials said costs, various requirements, and the local selection process were factors in its decision to not move forward with the proposal. Ameristar had faced a Dec. 14 city deadline to pay local and state application fees totaling $650,000.

Troy Stremming, a vice president for the company, said Ameristar was concerned that Sarno would not negotiate an agreement, thus excluding Ameristar's name from a local ballot vote to advance the company to the next level of competition. Ameristar would have needed an agreement with the city and enough local votes in order for its proposal to make it to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which is responsible for awarding the sole resort casino license for Western Massachusetts.

Stremming said Ameristar initially believed the state's casino law would permit viable and appropriate casino plans to be on the ballot, but the law gives local officials, such as Sarno, authority to oversee the selection process as they see fit.

Stremming said Ameristar officials reached the conclusion that their proposal would not make it onto the local ballot based on various comments by city officials, including the mayor's initial stand that he would choose only one company to place on the ballot. Sarno later said he would make a fair and objective decision by placing more than one company on the ballot.

"If someone was going to tell me I was not going to be on the ballot, I would have made the decision a long time ago," Stremming said. "No one has said anything like that."

The remaining two casino companies will make public presentations on Dec. 11 at 5 p.m. at CityStage, One Columbus Center. The presentations will be followed by a public question-and-answer period. Doors for the event open at 4:30 p.m. Free parking will be available in the adjacent Columbus Center garage.

Outside Springfield, Mohegan Sun has proposed a casino for Palmer on land bordering Route 32 with immediate access to Interstate 90. That plan, long in the works, is being proposed against a backdrop of layoffs at the Connecticut casino.