Casino news source: The Desert Sun - http://www.thedesertsun.com
New hotel going up at casino
Spotlight 29 expansion part of bigger boom across valley
Debra Gruszecki
The Desert Sun
March 17, 2007
COACHELLA - The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians is on the verge of a $100 million expansion to Spotlight 29 Casino that includes a new, 200-room hotel, remodeled casino and a parking garage.
Gary Kovall, the tribe's attorney, said the project has been in the pipeline for years.
It comes at a time of major casino hotel expansion for tribes across the Coachella Valley. The project brings added construction jobs and more choices for gamblers, residents and tourists.
"The tribe has waited a long time for this,'' Kovall said. "We wanted to make sure the market was right for a destination resort at Spotlight 29. Now, we feel it is."
The Twenty-Nine Palms Band and its new chairman, Darrell Mike, will hold a ground-breaking ceremony at 11 a.m. Tuesday to showcase the project. City of Coachella officials and Mayor Eduardo Garcia are expected to attend, along with Spotlight 29 General Manager Ray DelFiandra, Kovall and a representative of the design firm the tribe hired for the project.
City officials could not be reached Friday for comment.
The Twenty-Nine Palms Band project is yet another sign of solid growth for Indian gaming casinos in the valley since 2004.
Two towering hotels were opened along Interstate 10 in 2004 on either end of the Coachella Valley - one by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Cabazon and one, called "Fantasy Springs," by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in Indio.
This year, the Palm Springs-based Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians broke ground for a hotel tower at Agua Caliente Casino near Rancho Mirage. The tribe also began its environmental impact study to raze and rebuild its Spa Resort Casino hotel in Palm Springs.
Through it all, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band has watched and waited patiently - monitoring economic conditions and population centers to decide when to move into the next phase. That time is now, Kovall said.
Gaming is big business in the valley, and contributes to the $1 billion tourism economy.
One factor in the Twenty-Nine Palms Band's decision to go ahead with hotel plans is the degree to which valley home construction has also shifted toward Indio and Coachella, with thousands of new homes built or in the pipeline.
"With this population shift, we believe there is plenty of demand for rooms now in the east end of the valley,'' Kovall said.
Conceptual renderings of the new Spotlight 29 Casino hotel will be unveiled at the groundbreaking, Kovall said.
Now in its final design phase, the hotel is not likely to be more than nine stories high, Kovall said.
Construction is expected to begin in 2008, after the final plans are approved by the tribal council and the parking structure with roughly 2,600 stalls is built.
Work on the parking span is expected to begin this year, along with modifications to the 70,000-square-foot casino.
The overall price tag could change, but is currently in the ballpark of $100 million.
The expansion represents only one cog of the tribe's economic development goals for the future, according to Kovall.
"We're interested in beginning dialogue with the city and look at the big picture,'' he said. |
|
