$13 million East St. Louis hotel to be ready for 2000
St. Louis Business Journal - by Cynthia Vespereny
If all goes as planned, the Casino Queen in East St. Louis will be complemented by a new hotel just in time for a millennium celebration.
"That is our goal," General Manager Craig Travers said, although reservations for the hotel won't be accepted until the third or fourth quarter.
A grand opening celebration of the 150-room hotel, the first to be built in East St. Louis in decades, probably will follow in January, Travers said.
The $13 million hotel, to be just south of the riverboat casino's terminal building, will be "sort of a prairie style," although it definitely won't be Frank Lloyd Wright, project manager Mark Beck of Kuhlmann Design Group said.
The structure will be brick to match the terminal building and will shun the bright, glittery, neon-laden style of many casino hotels, he said.
"It will incorporate greens and golds and earth tones. It's a bit of a carryover from the terminal building," Beck said.
The hotel will feature six stories plus a seventh that will be finished later with luxury suites, Beck said.
"They're trying to see how the market would play out," Beck said of plans for the seventh floor. Postponing completion also keeps construction from going over budget, he said.
Many of the rooms will have sweeping views of the Mississippi River.
Options will include queen-queen rooms, small king rooms and large kings, of which 10 will have hot tubs.
There also will be an indoor swimming pool and an exercise room.
Travers said hotel construction is a trend in the riverboat casino industry that began a couple of years ago. It allows those running the operation to "expand our market horizons. Obviously a person that's traveling overnight has ... a little more funds," he said.
Besides attracting local gamers and tourists, the hotel also will try to lure the business market with two board rooms and a grand ballroom that can accommodate 500.
"When you go to a convention, you don't go to a convention 24 hours a day," said Travers, pointing out that the convention market in Las Vegas ranks just below tourism.
Rooms probably will be priced between $75 and $100, including a continental breakfast. They will offer two-line phones and Internet access, Travers said.
The Casino Queen, whose president is Charles Bidwill III, had revenue of $116.5 million last year.
Travers said he expects hotel revenue to total $1.5 million to $2 million the first year.
Kuhlmann Design Group also has designed hotels for casinos out of state, including two for Casino Magic, in Biloxi, Miss., and Shreveport, La., Beck said. It also designed a hotel for the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi.
Construction of the hotel has created about 100 full-time jobs, casino officials said.
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