Casino developer preparing for state gaming commission|[11/10/06]

Published 12:00 am Friday, November 10, 2006

Financial plans could be presented in less than six weeks to state gaming regulators if developers of the proposed Riverwalk Casino stay on track, counsel for the development group said this week.

&#8220Financing is being arranged and a large financial institution is going through its last steps,” said Jackson attorney John Maxey, adding the group hopes to have its financial house in order in time for the Dec. 21 meeting of the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

Site approval is the first of three phases for licensing casino ventures in Mississippi. The second is a more detailed site development plan. After a group is given two years to do so, it must present a financial package to the commission for approval. A license is then issued.

Email newsletter signup

Sign up for The Vicksburg Post's free newsletters

Check which newsletters you would like to receive
  • Vicksburg News: Sent daily at 5 am
  • Vicksburg Sports: Sent daily at 10 am
  • Vicksburg Living: Sent on 15th of each month

The $50 million project received its site approval in July 2005 and its development plan approved five months later. Its site approval expires July 14, 2007.

Originally proposed as Magnolia Hills Resort and Pot of Gold Casino, the project is to be built off Warrenton Road just north of Rainbow Casino. Before the trade name was changed to Riverwalk, the development was to include a hotel and a resort theme with features that would provide unique views of the Mississippi River.

Its two principals, onetime Rainbow developer and refinery owner John A. Barrett Jr. of Shawnee, Okla. and investment banker Lee Seippel of New York, were directed by the city last year to modify its parking layout. Residents of the Warrenton Road area protested parking as originally laid out well north of the casino property and closer to homeowners’ property.

Other modifications included moving at least one residential driveway and the casino bearing the cost to address any erosion that occurs to adjacent property and submitting plans to the state on environmental impact.

Maxey did not specify any other changes in store to the overall project, but indicated the developers would show &#8220the financial wherewithal” to move ahead pending a green light from the commission.

Riverwalk is one of three new casinos in the preconstruction phase for Vicksburg, which would be home to seven casinos if all are built, which is not certain.

One, planned by Minneapolis-based Lakes Entertainment, is to be built further south on pilings west of U.S. 61 South between the Mississippi River and Meadow Lane. Site approval expires Feb. 16, 2007, and there has been no movement on the site.

Calls to Lakes Entertainment offices outside Minneapolis were not returned.

Also, a 40-acre site on the former Vicksburg Chemical property in development by Mississippi Bluffs LLC was approved by the commission in July. The land is being marketed by a Denver-based developer for casino development, a professional-level golf course and space for outlet shopping.

Vicksburg has four casinos, the last of which opened in 1994.