Las Vegas in Atmore: Casino rises in countryside
Posted by By CONNIE BAGGETT July 27, 2008 7:09 AM
ATMORE - A year after the Poarch Band of Creek Indians broke ground on the tribe's most ambitious venture to date, hundreds of workers are pressing to finish a new casino by January and a 16-floor luxury hotel by February.
Tim Martin, president of Creek Indian Enterprises, said the first phase of Wind Creek Casino and Resort is on schedule, as a noted architectural firm, Brown Chambless of Montgomery, collaborates with contractors to create a tourist destination.
The hotel tower appears to motorists on Interstate 65 heading north or south miles before they reach the Atmore exit at Alabama 21. The project name, symbolized in the wavelike rooftop, is also a reference to the branch of Creek Indians who comprise the only federally recognized tribe in Alabama: the Wind Clan.
Architect John Chambless said that Wind Creek is the product of a design team experienced in more than 40 casino construction efforts. Chambless himself has been involved in high-profile projects such as the Montgomery Business Center and Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
He said that the exterior features stone and copper finishes that impart Indian motifs, while the interior shows the flash and glitz of Las Vegas.
The 80,000-square-foot gaming room will hold 1,600 electronic bingo machines that operate, sound and look remarkably like slot machines.
For years, Poarch Creeks and the state have been locked in a battle over the tribe's right to offer Class III gaming, such as dice tables, blackjack, poker and roulette.
Federal law allows tribes, as sovereign nations, to introduce bingo halls on tribal lands. The law also empowers tribes to negotiate with state governments to set up Class III gaming if the states prohibit it otherwise.
But Alabama governors have steadfastly refused to negotiate with the tribe, and even after lawsuits, the Poarch Creeks can provide only electronic bingo games ? machines nearly indistinguishable to many observers from slot machines.
Wind Creek will be very similar to casinos in Mississippi and elsewhere. A steak restaurant, a 24-hour cafe and large buffet eatery lie just off the main floor, as do a coffee bar, several cocktail bars and performance stages.
Once the hammered copper and tooled wood are in place, and the casino and hotel are running, Phase II will start with a 5-acre lake and pool replacing the present Poarch Creek Entertainment Center by next summer. A golf course will follow.
If the $260 million Wind Creek is as profitable as the Poarch Creeks hope, the tribe will double the casino area and build two more towers, according to Chambless.
Jim Angus, construction project control manager for Creek Indian Enterprises, said Friday that he expects 90- to 100-percent occupancy for the hotel's 232 rooms.
Upscale suites at the top of the hotel are larger in size. The cost of a night there will start at several hundred dollars, Angus said.
But those won't compare in price or luxury to suites just over the gaming area. Those suites, at $2,000 to $3,000 a night, will have fireplaces, high-tech sound and lighting, flat-screen televisions built into the bathroom mirrors, and balconies that overlook the lake or 2,000-seat amphitheater.
The cost of a night at the other rooms will vary, starting at a few hundred dollars, Angus said.
Wind Creek's designers were shooting to surpass the luxury in some Las Vegas hotels, and closer by, the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Angus said.
"We are playing against the big boys," he said, "so we have to match or exceed what they offer. We are spending more on the finer details to make this a nicer hotel and resort. This will be a vacation destination."
Angus said target marketing in northwest Florida has already increased traffic to the present casino. High gasoline prices combined with a shorter drive should boost Wind Creek's competitiveness with Mississippi locales, he said.
During the past week at the tower, construction crews pulled wire and connected plumbing, finished Sheetrock, and set exterior glass 16 floors high.
About 360 workers swarmed over the site Friday. From the tower's upper floors, green fields and rolling pine hills stretched out in the distance.
A farmer in a nearby field cut hay as tower workers, hanging from harnesses, toiled away.
Atmore's landscape has already changed with Wind Creek and developments at Atmore's Rivercane industrial park. In upcoming days, Angus said, workers will set steel poles for a large electronic sign that will advertise the casino.
It's a high-stakes industry, Angus said, and the Poarch Creeks are rolling the dice.
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