The Construction industry approved of the Hollywood Casino project, at speedway in Kansas City. On April 28th, 2010, the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway broke ground. The ceremony began at 11 a.m. and it included notable guests such as Unified Government Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon, Lesa France Kennedy, Vice Chair and CEO, International Speedway Corporation; Tim Wilmott, President/COO, Penn National Gaming; Lt. Governor Troy Findley and Kansas Lottery Executive Director Ed Van Petten. It is said to be one of the area’s biggest and will show off a race-themed design capitalizing on its address. The designers of the $386 million casino describe it as Hollywood meets NASCAR. The casino has lots of film and racing memorabilia and also video displays. It also has 100,000-square-foot gambling floor segmented into areas resembling the movie studio back lots. For the local construction industry, the 268,000-square-foot casino already is proving to be a winner.
Nonresidential building activity was down 49 percent the first quarter of this year in the Kansas City metropolitan area, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. The unemployment rate in the local building trades is estimated at more than 25 percent. The Hollywood casino project is expected to employ 1,700 construction workers.Yaeger estimated that $180 million of the casino expense would be for hard construction. Besides the casino, the project includes a five-level garage with about 1,500 parking spaces. The entire complex covers 102 acres, with enough land set aside to accommodate a future expansion that includes a hotel with up to 300 rooms.The rest of the casino cost covers design work and the considerable expense of installing gambling machines and other furnishings.
The casino will have 2,300 slot machines and 86 table games, plus upscale food and entertainment amenities. The building architecture has an art deco flavor with subtle racing influences. The casino flows from the floor area in the front to the more open entertainment area facing the track. The track side has a beer garden with a view of the speedway. An integral part of the decor is the presence of many video screens, showing movie trailers and entertainment news the casino has a banquet area that can accommodate 1,000 people. The casino is expected to employ 1,050 people after it opens in early 2012.The Hollywood Casino is one of four regional casinos authorized by the state of Kansas in 2007.Management of the facilities is contracted out, but the owner is the Kansas Lottery. The regulating agency is the state Racing and Gaming Commission. Only one of the four casinos, in Dodge City, has opened so far.
The Hollywood, for the state’s northeast quadrant, will be the second and much bigger. Jeff Boerger, the president of the Speedway Development Corp., said the casino was expected to attract 400,000 people annually and gross more than $200 million. International Speedway Corporation is a leading promoter of motorsports activities, currently promoting more than 100 racing events annually as well as numerous other motorsports-related activities. The Company owns and/or operates 13 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities, including Daytona International Speedway(R) in Florida, Alabama, Detroit, Virginia, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Arizona, Chicago, etc… Online Poker |
Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. will soon emerge from bankruptcy with less debt, a commitment to sell one casino and plans for longer-term projects that could include the first gaming floor built directly over the ocean, said the company’s chief executive. After a 14-month bankruptcy battle, the company has started to under new ownership by a group of corporate bondholders headed by Marc Lasry and his Avenue Capital Group hedge fund. They are paying $225 million for the three Trump casinos and plan to slash the company’s debt from $1.7 billion to between $325 million and $335 million. Unlike the company’s two previous bankruptcies, in the early 1990s and in 2005, this time the casinos will emerge from Chapter 11 with far less debt, Trump Entertainment CEO Mark Juliano emphasized. A federal bankruptcy judge picked the bondholders over investor Carl Icahn in a takeover fight for Trump Entertainment.
The bondholders were backed by Donald Trump, who will receive as much as a 10 percent stake in the reorganized company. The company’s post-bankruptcy turnaround strategy includes selling the underperforming Trump Marina Hotel Casino and bringing in an investment partner to help expand Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. Improvements are also planned at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. A joint venture partner for Trump Plaza would provide the financing for a new hotel tower or other upgrades. The casino has languished because the company has lacked the money for an extensive makeover. Juliano said that the sale of Trump Plaza shouldn’t happen because the depressed real estate market would prevent the company from getting an attractive price, despite the casino’s prime location. It is expected to see a lot more of Ivanka Trump in the coming months, as she becomes one of the main public faces of Trump Entertainment. Already familiar from Trump Entertainment billboards in and around Atlantic City dating from the days before she and her father quit its board amid the bankruptcy filing, the executive vice president of development & acquisitions for the Trump Organization will play a larger role in marketing Trump Entertainment as well.
Trump Marina, has suffered from its location in the Marina District, in the shadow of powerhouse competitors Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and Harrah’s Resort. Trump Entertainment hopes to unload the Marina as soon as possible. One potential buyer is Richard T. Fields. Trump Taj Mahal will continue to be the company’s flagship operation. Juliano said upgrades are planned for the Taj Mahal’s spa and high-end slots area. In the longer term, the company will consider redeveloping the Steel Pier amusement park, directly across the Boardwalk, for a casino and hotel project. Previous plans to redevelop the Trump Entertainment-owned Steel Pier into a hotel or a luxury condominium project failed because of funding shortages. New ownership, is supposed to be strengthening Trump’s finances and also help the company make upgrades to attract more convention business and wealthier overnight customers, one analyst said. Morowitz also said the company will have more money just by keeping the Trump name. He noted that Trump Entertainment would have had to spend millions of dollars for the casinos if a deal was not struck with bondholders to retain the Trump moniker. The need to reinvent them to appeal to markets that are currently rejecting them and Atlantic City is urgent, said Cory Morowitz, a New Jersey casino analyst.
