Race on to complete Twin River hotel project
Crews still putting finishing touches on casino addition
LINCOLN — It appears there is a race of sorts going on at the Twin River Casino... but not one anyone is putting official bets on at the moment.
The race is Twin River’s construction of a new 136room hotel attached to its casino off Twin River Road while it also completes work on its new hotel and casino in Tiverton, set to open on Sept. 1.
The $30 million local hotel project, approved with a change of state gaming laws in 2015, has been under construction with town approval since last year and is heading toward an opening sometime this fall.
The project has added a four-story addition next to the North Entrance of the casino that includes a mix of standard hotel rooms, larger suites, and amenities such as fitness facilities, business support services, and meeting and function
areas.
The Excell Corp. of East Greenwich is general contractor for the hotel, and A/Z Corporation of North Stonington, Conn., and Hopkinton, construction manager. JCJ Architects designed the hotel in keeping with the overall design of Twin River, which it also designed.
Although work crews were taking on finishing projects at the hotel this week, Kim Ward, Twin River’s director of public and community affairs, was not yet ready to offer a firm opening date given the size of the construction projects Twin River has taken on in both Lincoln and Tiverton.
“We are just very pleased it is moving along and we are excited to be opening a hotel and I am sure our players are excited as well,” Ward said of the project.
Twin River originally had not believed it needed a hotel at its state-of-the-art, 160,000 square-foot casino at 100 Twin River Road, but heard a different view from players coming to the facility from around New England.
“A lot of our players said they thought it would be a good idea and we listened and here we are,” she said while looking over the work being conducted on the main floor of the hotel.
Players who visit the casino regularly on trips to Lincoln are expected to make up the bulk of customers for the new hotel, and Ward said it may also provide accommodations to entertainers visiting the event center or circuit level players brought in to compete for special events in the live table games and poker areas.
As of this week, Mark Gabrielle, assistant project manager for A/Z Corp., said the remaining work projects include installation of furnishing, fixtures and equipment, as well as remaining finish work, painting and wall and floor treatments.
Carpet and flooring was being installed in the main corridors of the 75,000-squarefoot hotel and wall coverings in some of those areas, along with finishing trim.
Room furniture was being installed in different areas of the hotel, and bedding was to follow, according to Gabrielle.
“Site work is also going on and we are getting the site landscaped so we can open,” Gabrielle said.
The hotel’s 15-by-30 foot pool has already ready been completed, and is up and running and filled with water. The Fitness Center also has its new equipment set up – two treadmills, two stationary bikes, an elliptical machine and a universal weight machine – and also free weights and other furnishings.
Each floor of hotel rooms will have at least two rooms designed specifically for disabled access, and there are also double rooms serving as suites for families or larger groups.
Ward noted that progress is also being made on Twin River’s Tiverton project, which includes a three-floor, 84-room hotel as part of the Casino under construction by the Gilbane Building Co. off Route 24 at 777 Tiverton Casino Blvd.
The Tiverton casino features 1,000 slots or video lottery terminals, and 32 live game tables, and a para-mutual betting room.
The Tiverton operation was approved by state and local voters to replace Twin River’s Newport Grand slot operation in Newport.
Representing 50,000 square feet of new construction in Tiverton, the Tiverton operation will be smaller than Twin River’s well-established operation in Lincoln.
The casino in Lincoln offers visitors 4,200 video lottery terminals or slots in a 160,000-square-foot casino, and also 108 live table games, including poker. The Lincoln casino also offers a 29,000-square-foot event center that features concerts and special performances through the year, a steakhouse, pubs and a food court.
The local hotel project had initially been planned out with an option for 260 rooms in all, but Ward said it was ultimately started as a 136-room initial phase, with a future option for another 124 rooms if needed.
“We are just going to see how that goes and if we decide there is a need for more rooms we will look at it, and if not we will just go with what we have,” she said.