Potawatomi drops 'Bingo' from name ahead of hotel opening
Potawatomi Bingo Casino’s name officially changes to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, with the 381-room hotel in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley opening Aug. 18, it was announced.
The 19-story hotel, at 1721 W. Canal St., will celebrate its grand opening with a private ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 1. The hotel is scheduled to host its first contracted events in its new meeting space in August and September.
The hotel, which includes Locavore, a full-service casual restaurant, connects with a direct walkway to the casino and entertainment facility. The hotel's other amenities include a lobby bar, coffee shop and fitness center.
The project, which has a $97.5 million construction budget, broke ground in June 2012. The hotel and casino are owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
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.
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 nontribal land and will be subject to property taxes and the city's hotel tax.
The casino, which draws 6 million annual visits, is the largest tribal casino nationwide that lacks a hotel.
About 90% of the hotel's guests will be visitors who aren't now staying overnight in Milwaukee, according to a report by the tribe's consulting firm Pinkowski & Co., based in Memphis, Tenn.
In other Midwestern communities that have added casino hotels, there have been benefits to businesses from drawing more overnight guests.
But that hasn't brought a huge spillover effect, say business operators in those cities, including Green Bay, home to Oneida Casino, and Wisconsin Dells, near Ho-Chunk Gaming's Baraboo operation.
The casino was launched as a bingo hall in 1991, with the tribe later adding slot machines and other forms of gambling. The casino had major expansions in both 2000 and 2008.
Reported by: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
The 19-story hotel, at 1721 W. Canal St., will celebrate its grand opening with a private ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 1. The hotel is scheduled to host its first contracted events in its new meeting space in August and September.
The hotel, which includes Locavore, a full-service casual restaurant, connects with a direct walkway to the casino and entertainment facility. The hotel's other amenities include a lobby bar, coffee shop and fitness center.
The project, which has a $97.5 million construction budget, broke ground in June 2012. The hotel and casino are owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
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.
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 nontribal land and will be subject to property taxes and the city's hotel tax.
The casino, which draws 6 million annual visits, is the largest tribal casino nationwide that lacks a hotel.
About 90% of the hotel's guests will be visitors who aren't now staying overnight in Milwaukee, according to a report by the tribe's consulting firm Pinkowski & Co., based in Memphis, Tenn.
In other Midwestern communities that have added casino hotels, there have been benefits to businesses from drawing more overnight guests.
But that hasn't brought a huge spillover effect, say business operators in those cities, including Green Bay, home to Oneida Casino, and Wisconsin Dells, near Ho-Chunk Gaming's Baraboo operation.
The casino was launched as a bingo hall in 1991, with the tribe later adding slot machines and other forms of gambling. The casino had major expansions in both 2000 and 2008.
Reported by: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
