From the Mohegan First Nation reserve in the US state of Connecticut, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) announced Monday that they had completed financing for the $1.55 billion Phase One of INSPIRE Entertainment Resort at the Incheon International Airport on Yeongjong Island in Incheon, South Korea near Seoul.
The first phase of the integrated casino resort is expected to open in 2023 with a trio of hotel towers, a foreigners-only casino, a 15,000 seat arena, convention and meeting facilities, an indoor water park under a transparent dome, and a family theme park in the outdoor space.
The Mohegan Tribe “went international” in early 2016 when the concern was chosen above a highly competitive field of dozens of world-class investors and operators to be awarded a license and contracts to build the integrated resort at the East Asian travel and cargo hub that historically sees well over a million passenger arrivals and departures each month on over 20,000 individual flights.
One and a Half Billion Dollars Secured for Build
Inspire Integrated Resort Co. Ltd. is MGE‘s wholly-owned Korean subsidiary. The concern has now secured and put in place all funds needed to complete the construction of the Phase I facilities.
In a written statement, James Gessner Jr., chairman of both the tribe and the MGE Management Board, said: “We have a proven track record in developing and operating leading integrated entertainment resorts in North America with our successes in Connecticut, Las Vegas, and Niagara Falls, and we look forward to taking this success abroad as the first American IR (integrated resort) launched in Korea.”
The funding package reflects the level of commitment each of the project’s stakeholders has in the property with local investments of about $890 million provided by a consortium of financial institutions including three prominent Korean banks; $575 million committed by MGE itself consisting of $300 million tribal business cash along with $275 million raised by the private equity firms MBK Partners and Bain Capital from global investors, and finally a completion guarantee along with an investment in the subordinate position of about $85.5 million by the project’s general contractor, Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corp.
Tourism Turnaround on Horizon
Bobby Soper, international president of MGE, said: “We anticipate a significant rebound in the tourism and leisure industry following the pandemic, and we look forward to contributing to the Korean economy while at the same time opening and operating a successful, state-of-the-art resort.”
Upon completion of the project, it is expected to cover over 1,000 acres with indoor and outdoor spaces. The nearly quarter-million square foot casino floor will only be open to foreign gamblers. They will have access to over 250 gaming tables between mass and VIP gaming areas as well as 1,500 slot machines. Retail spaces including fine dining and entertainment will cover nearly 700,000 square feet of the property and the convention center will be situated within over 200,000 square feet of indoor space.
In addition to Inspire Incheon, the tribe owns and or operates Mohegan Sun, Mohegan Sun Pocono, Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, ilani in Washington state, Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara at Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada, Mohegan Sun Casino at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, various high-value residential developments, and Connecticut Sun basketball.
The Mohegan Tribe is a sovereign, federally-recognized Indian tribe situated with a reservation in Southeastern Connecticut.
Source: Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) Successfully Completes Financing for INSPIRE Integrated Resort in Korea; Targets 2023 Opening, PR Newswire, November 29, 2021
