MGM Springfield officials presented on Wednesday city residents with new details about the planned casino resort at a special presentation at CityStage. Recently, gambling operator MGM Resorts International announced that it had implemented certain changes in the way the property would look once completed.
Officials for the future hotel and casino complex said on Wednesday that according to latest estimates, the amount of $950 million would be invested in its construction. Under the original plan, the casino operator was to spend $800 million on the ambitious project.
Last month, it was announced that the initially planned 25-story glass hotel tower would be replaced with a 6-story building that would match the overall atmosphere of downtown Springfield in a better way, according to developers. The new hotel building would still feature 250 rooms.
Following the announcement about the redesign, Springfield officials and residents expressed concerns that MGM was no longer that committed to the project. In addition, local media reported that the whole resort would be reduced by 14%, which worried interested parties even further. MGM officials said on Wednesday that they are fully committed to the complex and that the actual reduction was 9.71%. Of those, 7% came from reduction in kitchen space, loading area, and other types of operations that have nothing to do with customers.
Commenting on the introduced changes in MGM Springfield’s design, MGM Resorts International President Bill Hornbuckle said that “change is a constant” in the contemporary resort industry. The official, however, pointed out that they would still honor the Host Community Agreement it had signed with Springfield.
MGM Resorts representatives also noted that the project has been progressing quite well. They revealed that the amount of $235 million was spent up to October 30. Of those, $23.6 million went for construction costs. What is more, more than 675 workers have been working on the construction of the resort.
Michael Mathis, President of MGM Springfield, said during the Wednesday presentation that the gambling operator would annually pay Springfield the amount of $25 million, which means that it would be the city’s largest taxpayer. In addition, officials for the resort said that they would likely meet their initial job goals to create 2,000 temporary construction jobs and more than 3,000 permanent ones.
The presented changes are yet to be approved by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, the Springfield City Council and the state Gaming Commission.
