Casino bets on the Valley
With 18 months of construction and $240 million invested on expansion, the Potawatomi Bingo Casino is a dream catcher on a grand scale.
By JESSE GARZA
jgarza@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 22, 2008
The nearly completed $240 million expansion of Potawatomi Bingo Casino, 1721 W. Canal St., is, in a word, huge.
Staff workers prepare the new gaming area this week at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in the run-up to the opening of a new, 500,000-square-foot addition to the casino next month. The new construction will triple the floor space of the facility.
A greeting area for bus tours is part of the new construction at the casino in Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley.
Workers finish the wall colors and styles in The Buffet, a new restaurant with a seating capacity of about 400 people at Potawatomi Bingo Casino.
What the Expansion Needed
51 miles of foundation piles
7 million feet of wiring
43,000 yards of concrete
900-1,100 How many more workers it will need.
The two-year construction project is huge, from the vehicular span that connects the James E. Groppi Unity Bridge with the new 1,700-stall parking structure, to the 500,000 square feet of new floor space that will more than triple the casino's size.
The new amenities will be huge, from the two new restaurants, food court and lounge/bar area to the 1,500 new slot machines and 60 additional table games.
And the anticipation is huge among casino and construction staff working at a feverish 24-hour-a-day pace to meet the scheduled June 19 grand opening.
"We're all super excited," said casino spokesman Ryan Amundson during a media tour of the expansion this week.
"We had kind of an idea of what this was going to look like, but when we first stepped onto the casino floor and looked at what you're looking at now, it's just unfathomable."
Hundreds of workers are busy installing new slot machines and gaming stations; grinding down terrazzo floors; laying bricks; and programming banks of lights.
Visitors crossing the walkway that connects the parking structure with the two-level casino will be greeted by a 60-foot high, 140-foot long convex welcome wall with an elaborate system of dancing lights.
"We want to kind of build that energy as people come into the casino," said facilities manager David Brien.
The project employs earth-toned, natural materials such as stone, bronze and copper, along with interpretations of dream catchers and leaves for the main casino floor, said head project designer Barry Marshall, of the Memphis, Tenn.-based Hnedak Bobo Group.
Aside from the challenge posed by building the expansion on an operating building, the project also had to integrate both the original and new designs, Marshall said.
"But we also had to create a different look, a more contemporary look," he said.
"We wanted it to feel like two different environments that are also similar and compatible with each other."
What you'll see
Visitors entering the facility from W. Canal St. will come to a central circulation space midway between the existing facility and the new casino area.
According to Marshall, this area will act as a crossroads with a series of stone walls holding flat-screen video displays for casino events and other information.
The expansion is marked by several foyer-like spaces Brien calls "decision points" that connect to existing and new areas of the casino.
One of the new restaurants, Wild Earth, will offer an American menu. The other new restaurant will be the Asian-themed Ru Yi.
"We're going to feature everything from Korean to Japanese to Hmong cuisine," said Michael Tsuchihashi, the casino's food and beverage director.
Ru Yi will seat 90 diners and will be modeled after noodle restaurants found in Asia, Tsuchihashi said.
"It's not going to be interpretive Asian food," he said. "We're going to try to keep it as true as possible to the origin of the cuisine."
And the new, six-station buffet will seat about 400 people and include a private dining room. The food will be prepared in front of guests and served fresh, Tsuchihashi said.
"We'll have salad, American, Asian, Mediterranean, Latin and, of course, dessert," he said.
The casino's Dream Dance restaurant will also be housed in the new building, but the Fire Pit Sports Bar and Grill will remain at its present location, said casino spokesman Amundson.
Though many of the walls and pillars are still covered in plywood, the new gaming floor is nearly complete, including the casino's centerpiece "Bar 360."
The circular bar and lounge area will seat 125 people. It sits beneath a trellis that will feature hundreds of programmable fixed and robotic LED lights and image projectors, said project lighting designer Marty Peck of Creative Lighting Design & Engineering.
The dream catcher domes suspended above the gaming floor will also be awash in programmable LED lighting, Peck said.
"It's continuously changing kinetic art," Peck said.
"We've been working with the architects on this for three years to try to come up with these looks," he said.
"From a lighting designer's standpoint, I'm having a blast."
;D yow kenmister how many tables do u think they will put in ??They might use automated tables?60-70 spin's per hour.
I have requested automated many times but no one cares. lol I think total number of tables (0 & 00) will be eight. This place looks real nice! :thumbsup: Ken