Lakes against wall for building deadline|[2/15/06]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The clock is ticking for the Mississippi Gaming Commission to grant Lakes Entertainment final approval to build Vicksburg’s fifth casino, commission director Larry Gregory said Tuesday.
Gregory said the company has until Feb. 17, 2007, to have 85 percent of the planned hotel and casino resort complete.
“We’re expecting to see them within the near future,” Gregory said.
Casinos have to go through three steps with the state gaming commission before they can begin building. Once the initial step of site approval is completed, the casinos have two years to have a majority of their project complete. Lakes Entertainment completed the first step on Feb. 17, 2005. The second step of approval of the site development plan came July 15.
The planned resort, to be built between the Mississippi River and U.S. 61 South, could include a 400-room hotel and a casino with 1,500 slot machines, 40 table games, a poker room and 7,000 feet of meeting space, Lakes Entertainment’s vice president Dick Bienapfl said in October.
Lakes Entertainment plans for its casino to be built on pilings along the Mississippi River near Meadow Lane. Initially, the project was expected to cost about $200 million.
Bienapfl was unavailable to comment on the resort’s status. Lakes has not scheduled its next appearance before the gaming commission, which meets monthly.
Mayor Laurence Leyens said Lakes Entertainment officials told him this month the Hurricane Katrina-driven rise in construction costs has forced the developers to alter the site plan.
“They’re re-engineering to see if they can lower some of the construction costs,” Leyens said. “These projects are getting real expensive.”
Bienapfl has said the resort will create 1,800 to 1,900 permanent jobs in Warren County.
Another casino, Pot of Gold Casino and Magnolia Hills Resort, is also continuing to work its way through the gaming commission system. Gregory said Pot of Gold passed the first step on July 15 and the second step on Dec. 15. It will also have to go before the gaming commission to pass step three and receive permission to begin construction.