FireKeepers expands with hotel, event center
This spring work will get under way on a hotel and event center expansion to the FireKeepers Casino near Battle Creek.
The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, owners of FireKeepers Casino say the hotel portion of the expansion will feature 242 rooms, an indoor pool, exercise facility, full service restaurant, and a business center.
There will be added space for gaming, and more entertainment and dining options.
A concert venue in the new event center will be able to seat more than 2,000 guests. It also will be able to be used banquets, corporate meetings, trade shows, and other events. Bingo operations will be expanded to 10,000 square feet of gaming space.
The expansion is expected to create 200 jobs long-term and 150 construction jobs. No estimate on the cost of the project was given as plans still are being finalized.
The tribe will continue to use construction partners it developed during the initial phase of the development. The $300 million casino opened in August 2009 with a 107,000-square-foot gaming floor, 90 table games and 2,680 available slot machines.
Project administration and construction will be handled by the Skillman Corporation, which handled the initial development of the casino.
Full House Resorts, which currently provides management services for all operations of FireKeepers Casino, will provide consulting services, particularly in the facility layout for the expansion.
Thalden-Boyd-Emery, a Native American firm, provided master plan services and helped obtain tribal input to develop a vision for the development and its expansion.
Construction management will be handled by Clark Constuction, the company that brought in the initial casino development project on-time and on-budget.
Completion of the expansion is expected in the summer of 2012.
“Our tribal elders and all 1,100 tribal members are proud of the economic engine that we have created in South Central Michigan,” says Homer A. Mandoka, tribal council chairman.
Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Homer A. Mandoka, Nottawa
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