The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe anticipates that its planned casino/hotel complex on 12 acres at the northeast corner of Highway 69 and the YavpeConnector will generate $80 million in economic impact from facilities and operations during the next 18 months.
This financial picture was drawn by the Yavapai College Regional Economic Development Center, which applied a “two-times multiplier” to the estimated $40 million in facilities costs for the complex. Job creation, increased tourism and expanded local commercewithin a 100-mile radius of Prescott make up the additional $40 million.
The project is so new that winning bid architectural and engineering firm Leo A. Daly, with offices in Las Vegas, has not even met with tribal leaders to iron out design wishes and possibilities. That activity and gaming customer input will occur over the next couple of months, triggering decisions for key elements such as casino branding, staffing, entertainment, design and conceptual drawings.
Frank Dumont of Leo A. Daly, lead architect for the project, described a timeline starting with research and design analysis now through early summer and renderings in late June. The complex will be constructed in a “speedy…manner” after groundbreaking in late fall, Dumont said. A 14 to 16 month construction window targets completion by late winter 2016.
The overall plan calls for 50,000 square feet of casino space with an attached 60 to 80 room “upscale” resort/hotel, restaurants serving various cuisines, a central video bar and flexible event space for entertainment. Envisioned as a “destination” property, the five-story facility is expected to enhance the gaming and entertainment experience for locals, as well as entice guests from outside the region.
“We are now in the process of talking with the community,” said Simon Fort, casino general manager. “We are not going to over build or under build. We are going to design to what we can handle. When we design what that will be, we will staff it.”
A regulated maximum of 566 gaming machines will be allowed. Entertainment will be “the best mix” and “beneficial to the casino and to Prescott,” Fort continued. “We’d like to have some good entertainment come, something that makes sense. We want to get it just right. That’s…why we hired Leo A. Daly and Frank. They have done this a number of times.”
A “parallel look” at the future of the tribe’s two existing casinos will be undertaken, explained Tribal Planner Peter Bourgois. Moving Bucky’s Casino from the current hotel could open that space to additional resort and convention center functions. Down the hill at Yavapai Casino, an adaptive reuse plan will be created and re-purposed opportunities sought to suit the market and the tribe’s vision.
“We are real excited about this project,” Bourgois said. “The U.S. government recognizes the tribe’s sovereign government and their inherent right to govern themselves. Through this project, the tribe is exercising their authority to make decisions on their own. The tribe for many years has been a very responsible neighbor and also at the forefront of economic development since the 1980s. They have a good track record.”
The tribe has notified the Arizona Department of Gaming, per regulations, regarding its plans. A 120-day notification to the National Indian Gaming Commission is required prior to opening.
First to hear about the tribe’s plan for the new complex were its 150+ members, followed by its shopping center merchants, residents in nearby Prescott Canyon Estates, and finally, the public.
“Financial projections are one of the incentives for the tribe to build a state-of-the-art, new, modern casino” to compete with Phoenix area casinos and Twin Arrows near Flagstaff, according to Tribal General Manager Rick Marcum. Similar projects elsewhere have produced a 10 to 20 percent increase in revenues, he said.
The surrounding area – including the tribe’s Frontier Village shopping center across Highway 69 from the new site – is expected to benefit. Marcum said that management and tenants at the shopping center have expressed support. The project should “increase customers into Frontier Village and make people want to be tenants in Frontier Village, so we see it as a good fit,” Marcum continued.
Frontier Village “has been working hard to get [the shopping center] up and active as a revitalized economic engine,” Bourgois added. “Those efforts are ongoing. We are actively pursuing other tenants and other participants in the center…[From a design standpoint,] I would certainly like to see [it] updated [with] new facilities, new uses, new facades. It costs money and it does take time to do that. We are working on it.”
Additionally, the tribe’s previously announced concept of a cultural center “is still there,” Marcum said. “This project will enhance the cultural center and the prospect of it being built. This project will create revenues that will subsidize projects such as the cultural center. This project is a revenue-generator, so it weighs in place first.”
Luis Ochoa, tribal gaming attorney, summed up the strategy: “It’s all meant to complement each other and create business for each other. Whenever I have seen a casino/hotel go up, business in the local area booms.”
Typical community questions about night lighting, traffic, hiring of local contractors, job creation and effects on residents arose during a press conference for the media and public held April 5 at the tribe’s 160-room Prescott Resort and Conference Center.
Dumont addressed “night lighting and preserving the skies” through pushing light downward and limiting its use to parking lots and sidewalks.
Questions about extended widening of Highway 69 toward Prescott Valley were referred to the Arizona Department of Transportation because that property is state-owned. The tribe widened its portion and opened the Yavpe Connector about one year ago.
As for employment, Bourgois noted that hiring practices will involve price, expertise and sensitivity “to keep as much of the construction activity as local as possible.”
Citizen Edward Birtic said, “The tourist business helps everyone. Additional income is a very important factor. Let’s look at the pluses…Why not have a spot that is bringing in the tourist business and reducing taxes and bringing in money that small businesses can always use?”
Tribal President Ernest Jones Sr. cited the professional “assets” that the tribe has engaged over the years to help its staff with planning and economic development, and how the City of Prescott and Yavapai County helped in decades past when the tribe resembled a “third world country.”
Jones acknowledged ongoing mutual support among the tribe, city, county and state. Prescott’s office of the mayor and city manager has issued a letter of congratulations and support to the tribe on the new casino/hotel complex.
“We have been here a long time, since time memorial,” Jones said. “I could go into depth telling you about how far we have come and where we have been…There may be a few naysayers, but what we do is always for the good of the community…We look at the contributions that we make through our charities…[All of this] is just a payback for how the county and city [came to our aid] in the ‘60s and early ‘70s when we were down and out as a tribe.” QCBN
By Sue Marceau
Quad Cities Business News
Leave a Reply