Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 28)

Insider Report: Gaming continued from page 26 Atlantic City’s 12th casino, the $2-billion Revel development, is scheduled to open in 2010 with as many as 3,900 guest rooms. One of the city’s original casino hotels, the Sands, was demolished in November to make room for a $1.5-billion resort by Pinnacle Entertainment, to debut in 2011 or 2012. And then, there’s the $5-billion MGM Grand Atlantic City, slated to be the largest project the city has ever seen when it opens in 2012, with more than 3,000 guest rooms, the largest casino ﬂoor in town, and 500,000 sf of retail. Existing casinos are getting in on the game, as well. The Borgata, Trump Taj Mahal, and Harrah’s Atlantic City are all building second hotel towers this year, adding more than 2,500 hotel rooms in all. And, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen with the Tropicana, now up for sale after the New Jersey Casino Control Commission stripped its owners of their license in December. —Irene Korn Event Report Thriving in Tunica in the Wake of Change Gulf Coast group, forced to move its meeting after Katrina, ﬁnds new home In 2006, Betty Cammack, executive director of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors of Mississippi, didn’t take her annual meeting to Tunica by choice. The planner expected NAIFAM to return to the Grand Biloxi Casino Hotel & Spa in Gulfport, MS, for the eighth consecutive year, but Hurricane Katrina changed everything. “Katrina blew our property away,”said Cammack. “I never had been to Tunica but didn’t have a choice.” Fortunately, the group and the city were a good match, NAIFAM returned in 2007, and it will go back to Tunica this June. “There is no place nicer place in the state,” Cammack said of Tunica. She has been booking the NAIFAM event at the Grand Casino Resort Tunica (which is becoming a Harrah’s property in May). “Our group loves the beach, but we found that Tunica has even more to offer than Gulfport,” said Cammack.“With the Grand, we have a freestanding convention center [offering 45,000 sf of meeting space] with a large hotel just steps away.” Tunica also offers more opportunities for off-site events than most beach destinations, according to Cammack. NAIFAM particularly likes Tunica RiverPark, which overlooks the Mississippi River and is about 10 miles from the casino area. It offers a modern wildlife and aquatic museum and outdoor event spaces, which make it ideal for the group’s 200attendee event. —Fred Gebhart Connecticut’s Megaresorts Getting Even Larger This year will see big property additions by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun The two resorts that put American Indian gaming on the map are back for more, both expanding from merely huge to full-out destination resorts. At Foxwoods, in Mashantucket, CT, the MGM Grand at Foxwoods is slated to open in May as a standalone hotel, separate from the existing Foxwoods Resort & Casino but connected by a pedestrian concourse. The $700-million, 30-story property will feature 825 guest rooms, a 21,000-sf spa, live entertainment in the 4,000-sf Performance Theater, a casino, celebrity-chef restaurants, an outdoor swimming pool, high-end retail, and more. The new property also will add 115,000 sf of meeting and convention space to the resort’s existing 55,000 sf of space. Among the new spaces will be a 50,000-sf ballroom—said to become the largest in the The MGM Grand at Foxwoods will add guest rooms, a spa, retail, and more this May. Northeast—and two outdoor garden areas for receptions. Also by May, Foxwoods is expected to complete a $55million enhancement to its existing culinary and retail offerings, adding two David Burke dining establishments and shopping outlets and redesigning its public spaces. Over at Mohegan Sun, in Uncasville, CT, Project Horizon is on track, with the last beam of steel placed atop the new 64,000-sf Casino of the Wind at the beginning of January. Expected to open this fall, the new casino will house gaming space, a Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, and additional dining and retail. Casino of the Wind is just one component of the $740million Project Horizon. The ﬁrst portion opened last summer: Sunset Square, an Asian-themed gaming experience in the Casino of the Earth. Still to come are a 1,500-seat House of Blues music hall and a 43-story, 1,000-room hotel tower that will include 300 House of Blues-themed guest rooms. A corridor of new retail space and restaurants will connect the new tower to the existing resort. All told, the expansion at Mohegan Sun will add more than 1.4 million sf to the resort when it is completed in 2010. —Irene Korn 28 MeetingNews January 28, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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