Gambling
Board OKs MotorCity Expansion, Rejects Greektown's
The Michigan Gaming Control
Board has approved plans for an expansion of
the MotorCity Casino but has rejected a refinancing
and expansion plan for the Greektown Casino.
With Tuesday's action, MotorCity now
needs city building permits to begin the project.
MotorCity's plan would add 100,000 square feet
of gambling space, an 18-story 400 room hotel,
a convention area, a 1,200-seat multi use theater,
restaurants, bars and 4,400 parking spaces at
its present location.
"MotorCity looks forward to completing
a process that began seven years ago and that
Detroit will be proud of," Gregg Solomon,
chief executive of casino owner Detroit Entertainment
LLC, told the Detroit Free Press.
The expansion is expected to be finished by
2008 and add an estimated 300 jobs.
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.
Board members said they were concerned that
Greektown appeared to be shifting its debt,
rather than eliminating it. They said they also
were worried about the casino's negative net
worth and its repeated failure to reach revenue
projections.
Greektown spokesman Roger Martin said he expects
approval for financing the casino expansion
to be approved by the end of October.
"We're going to break ground," Martin
told The Detroit News. "We're going to
build our casino. We want to get this done."
The board tentatively approved casino entrepreneur
Don Barden's purchase of a 1 percent stake in
the Greektown Casino.
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