Casino project to be built in 'two stages'

ELOIT — The Beloit City Council Monday night unanimously approved a Planned Unit Development master plan for a Ho-Chunk casino, hotel and conference center to be built near Interstate 90.

The vote was 6-0 with councilman Kevin Day recusing himself. Day works for Corporate Contractors Inc., which is one of the major contractors associated with the project.

The 66-page PUD puts in writing agreements between the city and the Ho-Chunk Nation about such things as lighting, signs, sewer, parking, road access and building heights at the site near Willowbrook Road and Colley Road.

The way Monday’s agreement was worded, confused some who read the meeting agenda packet online. In the notes, it said that “the applicant has proposed the construction of a casino, surface parking and central plant building, along with a future conference center, future hotel and future parking garage.”

The question was whether Ho-Chunk was committing to all of those things or just committing to the casino.

Collin Price, consultant for the Ho-Chunk Nation, said the project will be built in two phases. The casino will come first followed by construction of the hotel and convention center.

“The casino, convention center, parking garage, and hotel are all programmed to work together,” Price said in an email. “There is no scenario we leave any one of these components off the to-do list. We will continue to plan for the development of the entire project so we can maximize the guest experience.”

The two-phase approach is similar to what Ho-Chunk did at its Black River Falls project. Ho-Chunk, which operates six casinos in Wisconsin, opened its Black River Falls casino in July of 2017 and the hotel in February of 2018.

The next casino-related item on Beloit’s list is a vote on Aug. 19 to change the zoning of the casino property from a general manufacturing district to a planned unit development district.

A ground-breaking date still has not been announced for the project, although it is expected to happen in September or October. The project is expected to create 1,200 construction jobs over the 18- to 24-month construction timeline and 1,500 permanent jobs when completed.

The scope and importance of the project is impossible to overstate. When finished, the 18-story hotel will be the tallest building in Rock County. It will be the largest employer in Beloit. It will be the second largest casino in Wisconsin. It could generate up to $3 million in annual tax revenue to the city.

Source: BeloitDailyNews.com