Westmoreland Mall chosen as site of new mini-casino
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The mini-casino announced six months ago for a location somewhere east of Greensburg will be going into Westmoreland Mall along Route 30, mall and casino officials announced Wednesday.
Stadium Casino LLC bid $40.1 million at a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board auction in January for the right to put one of the state’s new satellite casinos in a location within 15 miles of a point it picked in Derry Township, but no information was released previously about the eventual site chosen. The casino had until Friday to submit detailed plans to the gaming board, and it did so late in the day Wednesday.
Although many details were still unavailable, the small casino with up to 750 slot machines will take the place of a Bon-Ton store that is closing. It will provide more than 600 jobs once operating, according to a press release from CBL Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn., which owns the mall.
CBL described plans for a 100,000-square-foot casino and entertainment complex at the shopping complex in Hempfield, less than 40 miles east of Downtown Pittsburgh and the Rivers Casino on the North Shore.
“The addition of a casino to Westmoreland Mall is the ultimate combination of entertainment, dining and experience,” said Stephen Lebovitz, chief executive officer of CBL. “This combination of gaming and new dining venues, which is the first in the CBL portfolio, will draw new traffic to Westmoreland Mall from across the region, positioning the property for long-term growth and success.”
Joe Weinberg, a partner in Stadium Casino LLC, said the location provides “excellent infrastructure and road networks,” with a positive synergy connecting it to adjacent retail and dining operations.
Stadium Casino does not currently operate a Pennsylvania casino but is in the process of
constructing a large one in Philadelphia. The casino company is a joint venture of The Cordish Companies and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, each of which has other casino properties.
The press release did not provide a timetable or cost for completion of the Westmoreland County project, which was made possible by Pennsylvania’s wide-ranging gambling expansion approved by the Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf last fall.
The state’s existing casinos were able to bid for licenses to locate and operate the mini-casinos, which will generally be a third to a half the size of existing facilities such as the Rivers and Meadows Racetrack & Casino in North Strabane. In addition to having slot machines, the mini-casinos can pay a $2.5 million fee to have up to 30 table games.
Five mini-casinos have been approved in the state, with the only other one in Western Pennsylvania likely to be in Lawrence County, within 15 miles of a point east of New Castle. The Mount Airy Casino Resort, which is to develop that facility after having bid $21.2 million for the rights, received an extension until Oct. 12 to let the gaming board know the exact location and other details.