Tribal members, casino employees, and construction workers were all on hand for the top off ceremony at Phase II of the Black Oak Casino.
The final steel beam was lowered into place Friday afternoon.
The project is scheduled for completion at the end of the year, and will include gambling areas, family entertainment areas, and dining establishments.
The employment figures say a lot about the scope of the project, according to Black Oak General Manager Ron Patell.
“Our first year´s annual payroll was somewhere around six million dollars. Once we´ve got Phase II completed, with a total of seven or eight hundred employees, we´ll exceed ten million dollars in payroll, which all gets recirculated through the local community,” Patell says.
As for the completion date of the project, “we´re looking at a December opening for this building, so at the height of the summer we´ll have two or three hundred construction workers on site here.”
Artistic renderings of the finalized project were on hand for Friday afternoon´s luncheon by the Economic Development Company, which was held at the Sonora Opera Hall.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 4:29 pm