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DETROIT-The Michigan Gaming Control Board has rejected a planned expansion at the Greektown Casino in the city, raising concerns over the financing of the project. But the state panel has approved an expansion at the MotorCity casino.
MotorCity's plans to add 100,000 sf of gambling space and an 18-story, 400 room hotel at the casino's present location, at the intersection of Grand River and the Lodge expressway in the city. The plan also includes a convention area, a 1,200-seat multi-use theater, restaurants, bars and 4,400 parking spaces.
"MotorCity looks forward to completing a process that began seven years ago and that Detroit will be proud of," says Gregg Solomon, chief executive of casino owner Detroit Entertainment LLC. The expansion is expected to be finished by 2008 and add an estimated 300 jobs.
A similar expansion plan, which also included financing to restructure debt, was rejected for Greektown Casino, but a casino spokesman says he expects a re-submitted plan to be approved by the end of October.
"We're going to break ground," Greektown spokesman says. "We're going to build our casino. We want to get this done." The gambling board rejected the Greektown Casino's $635-million financing plan, which would produce $175 million to $200 million for an expanded casino, a hotel, parking structure and theater. The rest of the money was to pay off debts to two former owners and refinance other debt.
When first opened in 1998, Detroit's three casinos were said to be "temporary." Since then, plans for the casinos to relocate to "permanent" locations have beenscrapped.
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