No, I am not talking about the half-demolished Filene’s project.

Rather, Vornado is poised to score big across town over at Suffolk Downs, where it is a key investor behind plans to convert the old racetrack into a gambling and entertainment palace.

Backed by Caesars Entertainment, one of the world’s largest casino companies, Suffolk Downs owners are poised to hit the jackpot as an expanded gambling bill sails through the State House.

The Senate is expected to debate the casino bill next week, with final passage and a signing by Gov. Deval Patrick likely next month.

Meanwhile, Suffolk’s ownership group, which includes Vornado as well as a high-powered group of Hub and Big Apple businessmen, has positioned itself as a leading contender for one of the trio of casino licenses that would be auctioned off once gambling legislation passes.

Is is any wonder now that Vornado is now playing along with City Hall as new development czar Peter Meade tries to resurrect long-dormant plans to redevelop Filene’s?

After all, the happy talk between the two sides of late is a big change from the blistering war of words we saw just last year between an irate Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Vornado’s outspoken chief, Steve Roth.

Yes, Mr. BRA director, anything you want sir, is the only thing Roth should be saying right now with a casino windfall at stake over in East Boston.

Boston Properties has in single-handed fashion kept the Greater Boston office market alive over the past few years.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission is now rattling its saber, with the first steps toward what may be much tighter scrutiny of real estate investment trusts like BXP.

The SEC has begun exploring whether to start regulating REITs as investment companies. And that, in turn, could make it much harder for these crucial real estate industry players to pull off the highly leveraged deals that have been their bread and butter

Boston Properties and other big players saw their stock prices take a hit when the SEC made its big announcement earlier this month.

All of this is pretty bad news for anyone with more than a passing interest in the Greater Boston real estate market.

As other commercial real estate investors hid out in their bunkers, BXP went on a buying spree, snapping the Hancock Tower and the Bay Colony office complex in Waltham.

On the development front, Boston Properties opened one of the first new office towers in years, the new Russia Wharf skyrise right on Boston Harbor.

And guess what? The SEC’s newfound interest in REITs could potentially pose another setback for the long-suffering Filene’s project.

Vornado, the Big Apple REIT that owns the half demolished Filene’s block, may also have to prepare for a closer relationship with the SEC.

It comes just as Boston officials signal they are ready to talk again with Vornado about new ways to get the stalled project moving again.

It looks like the filthy oil rich Gulf States are finally shedding their crazy real estate ways.

Back during the bubble years, investors and governments in the tiny but impossibly rich Arab principalities poured their money into all sorts of wild projects.

I remember writing a couple years back about Boston architectural firms who, amid the onset of the Great Recession in the fall of 2008, managed to find a temporary haven in the then still booming Gulf States.

As builders were going belly up at home, a developer in Dubai was putting money into a horizontal skyscraper that stretched a quarter mile along the ground and was named, “Limitless.”

Apparently, having claim to the tallest tower in the world wasn’t good enough.

But given the realities of the Arab Spring, Gulf State rulers are suddenly getting more practical with their real estate plans.

Bahrain, for example, is drawing up plans to build tens of thousands of affordable housing units.

We’ll see how long this shift lasts – sounds all very progressive.

Still, I enjoyed reading about all those crazy projects.