July 11, 2013–The 18-story hotel being built next to Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley has passed the halfway point on its construction stage, and is sponsoring a meeting for contractors interested in bidding for additional work.
Greenfire Management Services and Gilbane Building Co. will hold a pre-bid and information conference for contractors interested in providing interior finishes, as well as walkways and other hardscape work, the companies announced.
The Monday meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. at Woodland Dreams Ballroom at the casino, 1721 W. Canal St., is the project’s final prebid meeting. The project broke ground in June 2012, and the hotel is to open in late summer of 2014.
The project expects to reach its peak workforce in late February by adding around 300 construction jobs, said Kyle Merrill, Gilbane senior project manager.
So far, 500 construction employees have worked on the project at various times, said Ryan Amundson, the casino’s external communications manager.
The Forest County Potawatomi Community, which owns the casino and hotel, has a goal of Milwaukee residents accounting for 25% of the hotel’s construction workforce, with at least 20% of construction work awarded to minority-owned firms.
Once it opens, the hotel will add approximately 230 full- and part-time jobs to the casino. The casino now has just over 2,600 employees, of which about 2,250 are full time, Amundson said.
The 381-room hotel has a $97.5 million construction budget. It will include a six-story parking structure, 180-seat casual dining restaurant, lobby bar and fitness center.
The hotel will expand the casino’s customer draw from what’s now a 25-mile radius to a roughly 100-mile radius, casino officials say. The hotel is being constructed on non-tribal land and will be subject to property taxes and the city’s hotel tax.
Potawatomi Bingo Casino, which draws 6 million annual visits, is the largest tribal casino nationwide that lacks a hotel, according to the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
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