Cherokee County endorses Castle Rock Casino Resort

COLUMBUS — The long-awaited casino for southeast Kansas may finally arrive, Cherokee County Commissioners were told Monday.
The Cherokee County Commission heard a proposal from Castle Rock Casino Resort Monday morning during a public hearing in the district courtroom. Castle Rock is affiliated with, and managed by, Whitesand Gaming. American Casino Entertainment Properties, which operates four casinos in Nevada, will handle the gaming management. The hearing was established to receive testimony in support of prospective Lottery Gaming Facility Managers regarding their qualifications, proposed sites for the facility, as well as specific development plans.
Rodney Steven gave a multimedia presentation detailing Castle Rock Casino’s vision to build a resort in far southeast Kansas. He described the proposed site as “a true destination attraction.”
“We’re looking to build a truly Las Vegas-style casino resort,” Steven said.
The proposed facility would be built in several phases, but ultimately would be designed to include a casino with table games not usually found in the area including roulette and craps, as well as state of the art slot machines. There would be an entire separate room for poker as well. A 200-room, 14-story tower hotel, with room on the site to expand two additional 200-room buildings is also apart of the proposed complex.
“And that’s just the beginning,” said Steven. “We also plan to include a health club and spa, a fine dining steakhouse, a 300-seat buffet, a 24-hour restaurant, a casino center bar and a separate sports bar.”
One of the most striking aspects of the complex is the proposed ice-rink arena. Greg Farris, lead consultant for the Castle Rock group, described the arena as having 5,000 to 6,000 in seating. Steven, along with his brother Brandon Steven, who also is apart of the Castle Rock group, manage several minor league hockey teams in the area including the Wichita Thunder and Tulsa Oilers.
“The beauty of this place is that it just wouldn’t be for hockey. We see it being available for concerts, high school events, company Christmas parties, conventions, all sorts of non-gaming entertainment that could be a huge attraction in this area,” said Steven.
Whitesand Gaming President Sal Scheri detailed how this could be a boom for youth in the area.
“Aside from using the arena for concerts, the youth of Cherokee County will benefit because there isn’t ice anywhere near here, you’d have to go to Springfield to find the nearest rink. But with this arena in place it opens up the possibility of public skate nights, junior hockey leagues, and learn-to-skate sessions for younger children,” said Scheri.
The Castle Rock group has purchased 80 acres near Downstream Casino as their proposed site for construction. Crossland Construction would be contracted to handle all of the phases of development and Steven cited current investments as exceeding $130 million. In the proposed location, the Casino would be in Cherokee County and not affiliated with any single town, however, the casino will be drafting a contract with the city of Galena to handle fire and emergency services. It will not be annexing into Galena.
According to Scheri, the resort would create 1,000 to 1,200 new, permanent jobs, bring $1.5 million in local property taxes to the county general fund, pay $250,000 in county sales tax, and bring in an estimated $2.4 million in gaming taxes. Benny Crossland, of Crossland Construction, said he would have 300 workers on the construction at any one time.
The Cherokee County Commissioners voted unanimously to endorse the proposal.
“The deadline for filing isn’t until Dec. 19, so it still has a way to go before anything’s finalized.” said State Representative Mike Houser.
“I’ve been fighting for this for two years so it feels really good to see it start coming together,” Houser said. “Everybody in the county will benefit from it.”
Quapaw Tribal Chairman John Berrey said the proposal was «interesting.»
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma owns and operates Downstream Casino Resort across the road from the proposed project.
«I think it’s an interesting proposal,» Berrey said. «If it was at all realistic it would be exciting.»
He said provided Castle Rock pays its employees as well and treats them as well as Downstream, «we welcome them as neighbors.»
The Quapaw Tribe has joined with Las Vegas Treasure Island Hotel & Casino and Camptown Greyhound Park owner Phil Ruffin to submit their own proposal earlier this year to reopen the long-vacant track in Southeast Kansas as a state-owned, privately managed upscale casino.
«I think our proposal’s more realistic,» Berrey said. «We know what we’re doing and everyone knows us. We can deliver something really special.»
The Kansas Gaming Commission is expected to select a gaming facilities manager by May 19, 2015 and for the casino resort design to be completed by July 1, 2015 with construction immediately following.