Pinnacle Adds to Holdings North of Gateway Arch

ST. LOUIS-Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. says it has tied up another property north of the Gateway Arch, this one owned by a subsidiary of Isle of Capri Casinos. The site is located directly adjacent to Pinnacle’s proposed casino and luxury hotel in Laclede’s Landing and to the 297-suite Embassy Suites Hotel, which Pinnacle has previously agreed to purchase. Both the Isle and Embassy Suites transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2005.When concluded, Pinnacle will own all real estate in an 18-acre area located north of the Gateway Arch and bounded by Third Street, Carr Street, Lenore K. Sullivan Drive and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard. Pinnacle chairman/CEO Daniel Lee says the Isle of Capri Casinos property is key in that it will enable Pinnacle to design a master plan for the entire area.”For more than a year, Pinnacle Entertainment has been working closely with the City of St. Louis to invest a minimum of $258 million in an entertainment and hotel project central to the revitalization of Laclede’s Landing and Downtown St. Louis,” he says in a prepared statement. “This agreement is another important milestone.”Meanwhile, the company is also reacting to legal action filed by Columbia Sussex Corp. regarding the location of Pinnacle’s Downtown casino and seeking an injunction to block commencement of construction. “In January 2005, after careful scrutiny, the Missouri Gaming Commission concluded that the location of the proposed casino site is suitable and complies with Missouri law,” says Lee. “We stand by their decision in this matter.” With Pinnacle now controlling all of the land from Interstate 70 to the Mississippi River between Carr Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard, the casino could be relocated. But Lee says that would be a mistake because the approved site is the closest to the Convention Center and the Laclede’s Landing tourism district, which the casino would support. “Regrettably, [Columbia Sussex is] clearly trying to delay a potential competitor of the bankrupt President Casino on Laclede’s Landing, which they may or may not purchase,” says Lee. Pinnacle has proposed a $208-million project on Laclede’s Landing, including a 75,000-sf, 2,000-slot casino; a luxury hotel; retail space; and a large parking structure. As part of the agreement with the city, Pinnacle also intends to build (potentially with one or more development partners) an additional $50 million of residential housing, retail or mixed-use developments within five years of the opening of the casino and hotel, which is projected for early 2007.In addition to the Laclede’s Landing project, 10 miles south of Downtown, in the community of Lemay, Pinnacle has proposed a $300-million gaming and mixed-use project. The proposed development would be situated on approximately 56 acres of land leased from the St. Louis County Port Authority and include a 90,000-sf, 3,000-slot casino; a 100-guestroom hotel; and an undetermined amount of retail and entertainment space. An additional 24 acres would be developed into a public park that would include community and recreational facilities. Because the county project requires extensive remediation of the former industrial site as well as construction of a new road and flood control measures, the company estimates that construction would take approximately one year longer than will be required for the Laclede’s Landing development.