Hotel would open by 2018
Rivers Casino appeared before the Pittsburgh Planning Commission last week to outline plans for a proposed $51.5 million hotel. The seven-story, four-star hotel, which is subject to city approval, would include 221 guest rooms. It would connect to the casino on its east end, utilizing the vacant land between the casino and the Carnegie Science Center.
The contemporary hotel design uses expansive windows on every level to maximize riverfront views and to integrate “distinctively, yet seamlessly” into existing architecture in Pittsburgh’s North Shore district, according to a casino press release.
Rivers Casino Hotel will also include a fitness center, new restaurant and lobby bar. A spa will be added to the existing casino facility to accommodate hotel and casino guests.
The hotel meets zoning requirements, and traffic studies confirm no negative impact on nearby intersections and vehicle queues, the company said. All required parking will be valet and absorbed by Rivers Casino’s existing parking garage.
Rivers Casino Hotel will be operated under the Rivers Casino brand, and construction will be 100 percent privately funded. The operator anticipates a four-diamond rating. According to AAA, a four-diamond hotel is “refined, stylish with upscale physical attributes, extensive amenities and a high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail.”
Rivers estimates the hotel will bring approximately 1,528 new jobs to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Rivers Casino, already one of Pittsburgh’s largest employers, will add 128 permanent new hotel and casino jobs, along with 1,400 construction jobs.
According to the company, Rivers Casino Hotel will permanently increase state and local tax benefits by 6 percent, adding an estimated $10.5 million in new tax revenue annually. In calendar year 2015, Rivers Casino generated $180.7 million in tax revenue. Rivers has generated more than $1 billion in tax revenue since opening in 2009.
“Rivers Casino Hotel will help further Rivers Casino’s mission of positive community impact,” the company said in the statement “Since opening, Rivers Casino has provided more than $64.9 million in donations and contributions to community groups, including $55.6 million for PPG Paints Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last year alone, Rivers Casino spent approximately $28 million with local, minority and women business enterprises.”
“The possibility of a hotel was first included in the casino’s 2006 Master Development Plan, and we’re excited to begin this next stage in our evolution,” said Craig Clark, general manager of Rivers Casino. “The new Rivers Casino Hotel fulfills the promise of a true destination casino.”
Rivers Casino Hotel was designed by Stantec, with planning and landscape design by the Pittsburgh office of Strada, LLC, and Development Management Associates serving as owner’s representative. A builder has not yet been selected.
“It’s really completing the destination casino aspect that we’ve always wanted to do, and now is the time to do it,” Clark told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The market has been fairly stable the last few years and this gives us the opportunity to grow, especially that destination business… This is really to enhance the North Snore. One of the really important things is that this is full-service unlike some of the limited-service hotels on the North Shore.”
Pending approvals from the city of Pittsburgh, Rivers Casino plans to break ground in late spring of 2017 with an anticipated opening in 2018.
