The Biz Buzz - New slots ready for play on the 23rd at Fife casino

Get the most up-to-date news, insights and analysis of South Sound business.

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

New slots ready for play on the 23rd at Fife casino

Posted by C.R. Roberts @ 11:41:19 am

Happy Clams are on their way to Fife. So are Double Dolphins, Persian Princess, Phone Tag, Aztec Temple and Rich Little Piggies.

Such names are among the 850 new slot machines that will welcome players at at expanded Emerald Queen Casino beginning Sunday at 10 a.m. The 850 machines will bring to 3,500 the total number operated by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians – thus giving the Puyallups the highest number of machines of any tribe in the state.

The Fife location will house 1,500 machines while the facility near Portland Avenue will have 2,000.

Sunday’s opening will include 28,000 square feet of gaming space. Limited valet parking will be available in the new five-story parking garage, which casino head Frank Wright said will fully open for general parking as early as February. Another garage will open in the spring.

Two towers are also being constructed at the site, one housing offices, a fitness center and pool, and another that will house staff and public restaurants. The tower featuring the eateries should open early in 2008.

The new slot-machine area will be “comfortable, just relaxing with earth tones and soothing music, and no showroom,” Wright said. “I am the first one with low lighting levels. It’s also important to keep the ceilings low, close to the air conditioning. It gives you more of a relaxed feeling.”

The entire project is costing the tribe approximately $130 million. the general contractor is AECON Buildings of Lynwood. Merritt Architecture designed the facility, while BCE Engineers, AHBL Engineers and PCS Structural Solutions also contributed. Lead banks for funding were KeyBank and Bank of America, Wright said.

Categories: Economic Development • 1 comment

COMMENTS:

Comment by woppywoo @ 11:42 - Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

Does this include a "NO SMOKING AREA?"

Comments are not allowed from anonymous visitors. Please login or register to comment.

The Biz Buzz

The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.

Talk to us
Got something to say? Here's the place to say it. We welcome your comments on what's going on in business in the South Sound that we should be discussing, reporting or analyzing here on our blog or in the pages of The News Tribune.

Contributors

Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.

C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.

John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.

Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.