The Spokane Tribe of Indians revealed on Thursday more details about its planned casino in Spokane County, Washington and showed members of the host community how the venue would look.
The Spokane Tribe first announced that it was planning to build a casino as part of a larger entertainment and retail complex back in 2006. However, the project met strong opposition mainly due to the gambling venue’s close proximity to the Fairchild Air Force Base. Opponents voiced concerns that the complex would result in a round of closures forced upon the base, among other things. Tribal officials, however, responded that their project would actually generate a great number of jobs to Airway Heights.
As mentioned above, plans emerged in 2006. The Spokane Tribe then took between 2008 and 2012 to work on agreements with local governments. Tribal officials submitted an application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the US Department of the Interior in 2012. In 2013, an environmental impact report was published. Two years later, the Bureau of Indian Affairs gave the project the green light. In June 2016, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, too, approved it.
The whole complex would spread over 145 acres of land and will be built in several phases. Tribal officials said that they are planning to break ground on Phase One in October. The project’s first phase includes the construction of a casino, restaurant, and several outdoor facilities. This original stage in the whole complex’s development is expected to take about a year to be completed.
The Spokane Tribe has formerly said that it planned to invest $400 million in the whole project. The entertainment and retail complex will be fully launched sometime in 2026, according to tribal officials. Under initial estimates, the casino would annually generate almost $5 million in tax revenue to the state, the county, and the host community. Apart from the economic benefits hinted at by tribal officials, the whole STEP (Spokane Tribe Economic Project) plan, as it has been referred to, is expected to create thousands of much-needed jobs, both construction and permanent ones.
