Cripple Creek, one of three casino towns in Colorado, is contemplating a building boom centered around an addition of 500 hotel rooms, plus spas and new high end restaurants.
But not everyone in the historical mining town is happy about the prospect, as the Colorado Sun reported last week.
Nevertheless the project is exciting many of the residents, from city officials to merchants and especially casino owners, who see it as a way to create a “destination” where now the lure is mainly gaming.
The region has two main industries, gaming and mining. A third industry, tourism, ties them together.
Cripple Creek is set amidst immense natural beauty west of Pike’s Peak. The region’s mining history (and present) makes it a fascinating stop along the way to immersing oneself in the great outdoors. Casinos have for many years been a part of that. But what has generally been missing were good hotels and a marketing plan to bring not only gaming aficionados but families to the city.
Now there is the prospect of a boom sparked by the approval by the city council of the $70 million expansion of Bronco Billy’s and the $40 million Triple Crown Casinos expansion that will, between them, create 350 new hotel rooms.
Bronco Billy’s plans to break ground on a parking garage in first quarter of 2019 with completion in 10-12 months. Phase II will be completed in another two years.
Century Casinos is renovating and adding up to 55 rooms to the Palace Hotel for an undisclosed amount of money. It plans to seek a Certificate of Appropriateness from city Historic Preservation Commission early this year.
Triple Crown is spending $30 million for a 140,000 SF expansion that will include a 150 room hotel, upscale dining, ballroom and convention space. Groundbreaking could come this spring.
Wildwood Casinos plans a 3½-story, 100-room hotel next to the casino for an undisclosed cost. The company will present its plans to the city sometime this quarter with the hopes of a groundbreaking soon after. Construction is expected to take about 15 months.
“We need to leverage the excitement that is building with these projects,” Steve Kitzman, Cripple Creek’s director of marketing and events, told the Sun. “I hope the national economy stays strong, because it’s time for us to build and grow.”
Locals list a number of amenities they would like to see happen as a result. Such as a free electric trolley service, restaurants oriented towards families, no vacant storefronts or crumbling commercial buildings on the town’s main thoroughfare: Bennett Avenue. All of these will cost money.
Other residents fear the city will somehow see its rich history vanish in the rearview mirror as the city motors forward into a vibrant future.
Besides the previously mentioned Bronco Billy’s and Triple Crown expansions, Wildwood Casino has plans for a 100-room hotel, and Century Casinos is in the design phase to polish and expand the venerable Palace Hotel by 55 rooms.
All told, that would add 500 rooms to the city’s hospitality offerings. No increase in gaming capacity is in the works. It’s all mainly non-gaming amenities whose goal is to lure visitors to the town for more than just a day of dropping quarters in slot machines or playing blackjack.
Kitzman believes that the city should show off all of its attractions. He has big aspirations: “The Cripple Creek economy is based almost entirely on tourism, so we have to be a destination,” he said. “We’ve been refining our mission and vision statement. I think Cripple Creek has the potential to be the No. 1 historical destination in the western U.S.”
Cripple Creek is a town with a rich history, whose founding was based on the last great gold rush in Colorado’s history, in the 1890s. This led to the creation of the Cripple Creek and Victor Mining District where gold production peaked around the turn of the century, when there were about 500 mines operating. It produced some of the 20th centuries great millionaires (who would be billionaires today.)
Kitzman notes, “There was a huge amount of money pulled out of the gold camp here in the 1890s and 1900s. All the titans of (American) industry were invested here. The wealth generated here was incredible, and nobody really knows about it—and we’re still mining gold here today.” Newmont Mining Corp operates the Cripple Creek & Victor Mine. Last year it processed 365,000 ounces of gold.
Nevertheless, by the 1950s the Gold Rush’s glory days was all in the past and the population was about 2,000 for the mining towns that remained, which included Cripple Creek, Goldfield and Victor. By 1990, despite some mining, the town’s population reached 600. In that year the state’s voters adopted a constitutional amendment that made possible Colorado’s three casino towns: Cripple Creek, Central City and Black Hawk. The casinos, which began opening in 1991, were limited to bets of no more than $5.
The towns revived. Today Cripple Creek’s population is 1,200 and much of the money from gaming was used for historical preservation, with nearly two thirds of the city budget coming from gaming taxes and device fees. Howard Melching, president of the Gold Camp Victorian Society, told the Sun, “Before gaming came in it was a pretty dead place. I voted for the gaming amendment because it was a way to get some old places rejuvenated. And it has done that.”
Revenues peaked in 2006-2007, just before the advent of the Great Recession, when gross proceeds were $153,087,028, only to drop over the next ten years to $124,334,290. However, the last three years have seen that trend reversed as proceeds hit $136,386,990 last year.
Some have noticed an odd fact: that the declines coincided with the adoption of 24-hour casino operations and 24-hour alcoholic beverages, and were not ameliorated by raising betting limits to $100.
One study, however, noted that when Cripple Creek’s revenues were declining that Black Hawk’s were increasing in a dramatic fashion. Black Hawk’s revenues increased $103 million while Cripple Creek’s declined by $9 million. Bronco Billy’s argued that this could be traced to having more hotel rooms in that city: specifically the opening of the 33-story Ameristar hotel, which added 536 rooms, a spa and convention facilities. It came in spite of visitors having to take a longer drive from Colorado Springs to reach Black Hawk.
This is similar to what has happened in Las Vegas as casinos have transitioned from gaming only, to a mixture of gaming and family-friendly amenities, says Kitzman.
A city board requires buildings to retain their historical facades to preserve the look of the historical city. Planning and Community Development Director Bill Gray says a strict adherence to that is less important than that new construction fit in with what’s there. Often it isn’t economical to try to restore old buildings that have deteriorated too much.
But no matter how you look at it, the 300,000 square foot Bronco Billy’s will completely alter the look of the downtown. As will the Triple Crown and the Century Casino Palace Hotel project.
Although Melching continues to support gaming in the city he is leery of destroying the city’s ambience. “This idea that they can go ahead and build all these new structures and close off Second Street — I hate to see the history pushed aside in the interest of gaming. I understand the financial aspect for the city and all that, but I think we’re going to lose the historical aspect of the city.”
Michelle Rozell, the heritage tourism manager, told the Sun that the just adopted lodging tax will help fund things like historical preservation. She hopes to see it market the Heritage Center, which visitors often don’t know about before they come to the city.
It might also help fund rebuilding the old electric trolley that ran in the city during its heyday. The trolley would have the modern function of connecting all of the casinos, shops and museums.
