Louisiana Casino News Source: http://www.cpnonline.com
Pinnacle Plans $350M Louisiana Casino Resort
June 22, 2006
By Adam Perrotta, News Writer
Pinnacle Entertainment Co. intends to build a new $350 million casino resort in Lake Charles, La. The 400-room Sugarcane Bay (pictured) will be located adjacent to Pinnacle's L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, and will feature a new single-level riverboat casino, restaurants, retail, a tropical pool area and an island spa.
Pinnacle, which will own and operate the resort, obtained the gaming license via purchase of Harrah's Lake Charles casino, which was destroyed during hurricane Rita last year. Pending final approval by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, as well as a voter referendum, construction on the new resort will begin in 2007 with a planned opening in 2009.
Speaking with CPN today a Pinnacle spokesperson was confident that the resort would be able to draw visitors, pointing to the resiliency exhibited by other casinos in the area, including L'Auberge, which reopened just two weeks after the hurricane hit, and has experienced little drop off in business since.
The spokesperson outlined plans for the two Pinnacle properties to compliment each other and act somewhat like one contiguous resort, with visitors easily traveling back and forth between the two via an as yet undetermined physical link. L'Auberge, which opened in May 2005, will begin a 250-room expansion in August, bringing the eventual number of rooms between the two resorts to about 1,400.
In total, Pinnacle has invested about $800 million and created 4,000 jobs in its Lake Charles region properties, which draw a great deal of its visitors from the Houston metro area. According to the spokesperson, Pinnacle is considering donating the space formerly occupied by the Harrah's property for a public park.
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