The Cowlitz Indian Tribe of Washington has begun construction of its 0 million casino in La Center just off Interstate 5.
The tribe anticipates opening the casino in the spring of 2017. It will be bullt in three phases. The first phase will be a one-story casino resort of 368,000 square feet. It will include 100,000 SF of gaming space, 15 restaurants, shops and bars.
The casino, which will be developed by Salishan-Mohegan LLC, will have 2,500 slots, 75 gaming tables, several high limit tables and 60 high limit slots.
The meeting space will accommodate up to 2,500 people.
The second phase will include a hotel, and is anticipated to be built up to four years after the casino begins operation.
The tribe has promised to spend $32 million on upgrades of local roads, including an interchange on Interstate 5. The upgrade will serve both the new casino and the surrounding community with a new bridge, new roundabouts, on ramps and off ramps.
Construction could start early next year and finish around the spring of 2017.
Despite the planned upgrades the project is still being opposed by the Clark County council, which last week approved a resolution opposing the casino. The county is particularly opposed to the proposed wastewater injection well, which it says violates state and local law.
The county also opposes the proposed realignment of roads that are on federal land but are owned by the county.
The resolution states, “The fact that those roads lie on what has been recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as an Indian reservation does not change that the county owns that property. And the county need not agree with what another jurisdiction wants to do with the county’s property.”
