Site work has begun on the 0 million casino planned by the Cowlitz tribe in La Center, near the Oregon border.
The plan is for the 152-acre casino resort to open in 2017. The Bureau of Indian Affairs put the land into trust last year, an action that has been challenged in federal court by rival gaming tribes. A decision by the 9th Circuit Court is expected this month. The Cowlitz tribe is confident that the appeals court will uphold lower court rulings that the federal action was appropriate.
The casino resort will include 134,000 of gaming, 260,000 SF of retail, 147,000 of convention and entertainment space, and a 250-room hotel.
The tribe has been working on a casino in this location for 15 years, so long, in fact, that current presidential candidate Donald Trump was involved at one time.
In the early part of the millennium Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts offered to back the tribe. This was at a time when the casino mogul sought to expand outside of Atlantic City. The tribe eventually rejected Trump’s offer because he wanted too large a share of the profits. The Cowlitz tribe currently has an agreement with the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority of Connecticut to build and operate the casino.
The tribe recently made their negotiations with Trump public recently. One reason the tribe didn’t ultimately sign a deal with Trump was because they heard some tales of his dealings with the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians, who signed an agreement with Trump to manage the Trump 29 Casinos in Palm Springs. The California tribe later bought its way out of the deal by paying Trump $6 million. Four years later Trump’s casino operation, most based in Atlantic City, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
