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Rockaway Beach — Residents got their first chance Thursday to meet a representative from the Detroit company hoping to build a $144 million casino in this lakefront town.
Steve Lemberg of Barden Development Inc. said the company is excited "to go into an area that needs economic development, start from scratch, and use creativity and originality that will have the mark of this town."
The process is in its early stages, but a development contract would include more benefits to the town than just the 900 full-time jobs the casino would bring.
Some of the 60 residents at the meeting voiced concerns, including what would happen to City Hall, to the lakefront and to existing resorts.
Lemberg said the contract will include provisions to address those concerns.
The developer would likely provide an area for retail to be owned or leased by local residents, a new City Hall, road and lakefront improvements and a program to refurbish the 100 or so local resort rooms and build a hotel if it's needed," he said.
"This will be an open invitation for the entrepreneurs of this area who have sat here and waited for a chance to do something," Lemberg said. "This is the core that could be the beginning of that chance."
Two years ago, voters by a 56 percent margin statewide nixed an amendment that would have allowed a casino in the town of 577 on the shore of Lake Taneycomo 15 miles east of Branson.
Some attribute the defeat to being paired on the August ballot with a gay marriage amendment that may have brought out conservative voters.
In April, casino supporters decided to try again. The sole response to their request for proposals comes from Don Barden, president of Barden Development Inc.
Through its subsidiary companies, Barden owns five casinos, including a Fitzgeralds Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and Tunica, Miss; Fitzgeralds Casino in Black Hawk, Colo.; and the Majestic Star Casino and Majestic Star Casino II in Gary, Ind.
Projected annual revenue this year from the casinos is $500 million, Lemberg said.
The proposed Rockaway casino would be comparable to the casino in Tunica with about 40 table games and 1,400 slot machines, Lemberg said. They estimate an investment from $130 million to $145 million, including the cost of mounting a statewide initiative campaign.
If the development deal moves forward with a statewide campaign, opposition is waiting in the wings from the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Branson developer Peter Herschend, president of Herschend Family Entertainment, which owns Silver Dollar City and other attractions.
Both entities maintain that a nearby casino would damage Branson's family-friendly image.
Rockaway Beach was a thriving tourist attraction until the mid-1950s when the construction of Table Rock Dam created Lake Taneycomo where water coming from the deep reaches of the upper lake chills Lake Taneycomo's water to about 50 degrees year-round and ruined the beach resort business.
Since that time, business in the town has steadily declined, with numerous vacant storefronts and few tourists.
Although many people have offered advice to Rockaway Beach on renewal efforts, no developers have appeared with cash in hand to rebuild the town.
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