Rush Street Gaming has chosen a contractor for its upcoming $300 million Rivers Casino Portsmouth in Virginia. The operator announced it has chosen Ballard-Yates, a joint venture between Virginia Beach-based S.B. Ballard Construction Co. and Philadelphia, Mississippi-based Yates Construction, as the new casino’s general contractor.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth will comprise 400,000-square-foot project including a casino, a hotel, indoor and outdoor concert venues, conference space and multiple restaurants. The project is expected to bring 1,300 permanent jobs and 1,400 temporary construction jobs and generate more than $16 million in new annual tax revenues for Portsmouth.
S.B. Ballard was founded in 1978 and has constructed more than $1 billion and nearly 10 million square feet worth of projects in Hampton Roads, the metropolitan area including Portsmouth and Norfolk. Yates Construction has built more than 250 hospitality and gaming-related projects, specializing in casinos.
Rush Street Gaming, which has committed to diversity in hiring and contracting—the operator has offered a 5 percent or $5 million stake in the Rivers Portsmouth property a local minority-owned business or private investor who is a person of color—announced that the casino has a goal of 30 percent of construction spend from minority- or women-owned businesses.
“Rush Street Gaming has a long and proud record of diversity and inclusion throughout all its business operations nationwide,” Rivers Casino Portsmouth spokesperson Deleon Miles said in a statement. “Rivers Casino Portsmouth will utilize minority, women and veteran-owned small businesses in every phase of its construction and operation.”
The Portsmouth casino will be located along Interstate 264 in an area the city plans to market as its entertainment district. Pending approvals from the Virginia Lottery and the city of Portsmouth, the operator could break ground on the project this year.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation in 2020 allowing five economically challenged cities to open casinos. Voters in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth overwhelmingly approved casinos in referendums held during the November 2020 elections. Richmond plans to hold a casino referendum in November.
