Monday, DiamondJacks Hotel and Casino became the new WaterView Casino and Hotel.

Mayor George Flaggs, Alderman Michael Mayfield, hotel general manager Tony Scudiero and other prominent city leaders picked up a sledgehammer to knock a hole into a rock wall signaling the transition.

“To be a part of this is exciting. It’s a whole new era here for this property,” Scudiero said. “It’s going be a whole transformation. A whole new casino, restaurants — everything is going to be transformed.”

The new hotel will feature a different color scheme, games, a remodeled foyer and work has already begun on the hotel and casino’s exterior.

Scudiero said the biggest upgrade for the new property is its new events center, which will be attached to the outside of the building. It will hold more than 700 people and Scudiero said it will attract big names to the property, which will be great for guests, team members and residents of Vicksburg.

Renovations are currently under way on the inside of the casino.

Construction began around 4 a.m. Monday on the second floor, where the video poker games were positioned. Carpet, paint and other signage were stripped for the remodel process.

“That will actually carry over into the hallway where the hotel is. Once that is completed, which we’re hoping takes a week, then we’re going to move downstairs,” Scudiero said.

New games have arrived and the accent lights of the machine separate themselves from the older machines. Guests can already have fun playing the new Buffalo Grand, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud and Ellen DeGeneres slot machines.

The expected completion for the hotel and casino is a floating date in May.

Foundation Gaming bought the property in October and wanted to get their own brand off the ground.

“It’s a new start. DiamondJacks had it’s own legacy, now WaterView wants its own,” Scudiero said.

With Ameristar and Riverwalk holding on to the majority of the city’s share of gamers, Scudiero has no doubt of WaterView being able to compete with the other big names in the city.

“I really thing the entertainment center will have a level playing ground when it comes to the entertainment,” he said.

Scudiero said he believes WaterView’s food choices will go up against Riverwalk and Ameristar’s menu.

“One of the things we’ll be most competitive with is the food. We just hired a brand new director of non-gaming operations,” Scudiero said. “He’s gone out and hired a great chef; they’ve turned that around in the process of making things better.

“I think the leader of this market will be us when it comes to our steakhouse.. It puts out a great product. Redone the menu in there and are doing some taste testing to see what our guests have enjoyed here over the last couple of months.”