After months of delay waiting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue a permit, construction began in early November on the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s 9 million Margaritaville Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The property will open in late 2016 and will be connected to the existing River Spirit Casino. The new destination resort-casino will offer a casino, convention space, 3,000-seat entertainment venue and a 27-story, 483-room hotel. The project will add 800 full-time jobs and generate 5 million a year into the local economy. Located on the Arkansas River, Margaritaville will have a beach theme, complete with a pool deck, cabanas and palm trees.
General Manager Jerry Floyd said the dirt work alone will cost $20 million, and with architectural and engineering work plus other incidental expenses, the total price tag will hit $365 million, making Margaritaville the second-largest construction project in the history of the state of Oklahoma.
Floyd noted the Creek Nation was stuck with owning the sandy stretch of riverbank when allotments for individual tribe members were distributed in the late 1830s. Known as the Mackey Sandbar, it was overgrown and mostly inaccessible. “Well, it worked out pretty well for us in the long run. Today, this is probably the most valuable piece of real estate in Oklahoma,” Floyd said.
Meanwhile, a new report by the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services’ Gaming Compliance Unit indicated in the last fiscal year the fees paid to the state by Indian tribes dropped by $5.5 million or 4 percent, from $127.5 million to $122 million— the first year-over-year decline since the state began collecting fees in 2006. The funds primarily are directed to public education.
The report stated, “While several factors likely played a part, the nearly $5.5 million decline from the previous year coincided with a decrease in fee revenues derived from electronic Class III games and a rise in the number of Class II electronic bingo machines in tribal casinos. Tribes do not pay exclusivity fees on revenue generated from Class II gaming.”
Also in Oklahoma, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, a division of the Minnesota-based Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, announced the purchase of the 236-room Embassy Suites Oklahoma City hotel. Joseph Nayquonabe, chief executive officer of MLCV, said, “We are excited to enter the Oklahoma City market with one of the strongest performing hospitality assets. The quality of the suites and the proximity to key attractions around the city position this hotel for exceptional performance.” The recently renovated hotel has 10,000 square feet of meeting space, a business center, fitness room, indoor heated pool and gift shop.
The purchase follows the 2013 directive of Mille Lacs Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin to diversify the Band’s corporate holdings and strengthen the tribal economy. Since then the company has acquired the Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront hotel and the DoubleTree by Hilton in St. Paul, as well as a commercial print shop and 2020 Brand Solutions. It is renovating Eddy’s Resort on Lake Mille Lacs and developing other commercial properties.
Said Benjamin, “Economic diversification is critical to building a strong future for the Mille Lacs Band and I am pleased to see our corporate arm, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, acquiring assets that will benefit Band members for many generations to come.”
