Big Beaver site close to turnpike exit chosen for mini-casino
Mount Airy Casino Resort will build its Western Pennsylvania mini-casino just off a Pennsylvania Turnpike exit in northern Beaver County, its officials said Monday in announcing a project they expect will add a hotel and other amenities besides gambling.
Officials of Mount Airy said they are preparing to complete the purchase of an undeveloped 110-acre tract in Big Beaver from an owner they said prefers anonymity for now. The site, some 300 miles from Mount Airy’s existing casino in the Poconos, is near the intersection of the turnpike and the Beaver Valley Expressway toll portion of Interstate 376.
Taking advantage of Pennsylvania’s gambling expansion contained in October 2017 legislation, Mount Airy bid $21.2 million in February for the right to
place a small casino within 15 miles of a point it identified at the time as just east of New Castle. That meant it had the opportunity to place the facility in any of four counties — Lawrence, Beaver, Butler or Mercer.
Officials said they spent the intervening months examining marketing data and prospective sites in each of the counties. They ultimately decided to place Mount Airy Pittsburgh — as they plan to call the facility with 750 slot machines and 30 table games — in Youngstown Big Beaver, a borough of fewer than 2,000 residents about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.
“We expected stuff like this,” Big Beaver Mayor Don Wachter said Monday. “It’ll be big for us, no doubt about it.”
The 18-square-mile borough, which has easy access to highway interchanges, began preparing for a development boom decades ago by expandingsewer and municipal water service in the community, Mr. Wachter said. In more recent years, the borough added a casino as an approved land use to its zoning code.
But Big Beaver has no police department, which Mr. Wachter didn’t think would create a problem because a Pennsylvania State Police officer would be stationed at the casino. Like many small communities, Big Beaver relies on the state police for protection.
Lisa DeNaples, managing trustee of Mount Airy Casino and a member of the DeNaples family that owns it, said access to major highways and proximity to “luxury communities” such as Cranberry and Sewickley were among the factors in favor of the Big Beaver site. The casino’s analysis determined there’s a population of about 1.3 million to draw upon, with a focus likely to be on those east, west and north of the site, who may find the Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore a longer drive than they want.
“The Mount Airy casino in the Poconos is more of a destination property, one where we leverage people from around the country,” said Vincent Jordan, the casino’s vice president of marketing and gaming operations. “In Pittsburgh it will be very much a locals population, but we’ll also be able to leverage both casinos. We’ll have customers who will go from the Poconos to Pittsburgh, and from Pittsburgh to the Poconos.”
Mount Airy is among the smaller of Pennsylvania’s existing casinos, with 1,800 slot machines and annual revenue of about $220 million. But it also has more amenities than most, with an attached hotel, conference center, spa and golf course.
The casino’s officials said they hope to complete the mini-casino by the end of 2019, and in a subsequent development phase add other features such as a possible hotel and convention center. They expect the mini-casino itself to create some 300 construction-related jobs and 400 permanent positions. They said they were not prepared to provide an estimate of project cost or anticipated revenue.
Lawrence County Commissioners chairman Dan Vogler, who had advocated for locating the casino in Lawrence instead of Beaver County, was not pleased by Mount Airy’s announcement.
“I’m disappointed in the news,” he said. “The proposed location is about a mile south of the BeaverLawrence border, very close to the county line. Our county will obviously benefit from employment opportunities, but I’m just disappointed they didn’t choose to build in Lawrence County.”
Beaver County Commissioners chairman Daniel Camp, however, said it will benefit the entire region.
“I just believe that for this northern part of Beaver County and for southern Lawrence, this is something that can grow and be an economic boon for all of us,” said Mr. Camp, adding that he has visited the Mount Airy casino in Monroe County and been impressed.
With this announcement on top of the ongoing development of the Shell petrochemical plant in Potter, Mr. Camp said, Beaver County is experiencing a resurgence of welcome economic activity. He said he has heard of no resistance to adding a casino in the county.
“Hopefully, they’re going to build a facility that’s going to draw people to Beaver County in a way that we benefit not only from the tax dollars, but just from people coming here to see what we have to offer. It’s almost a segue to get to Beaver County.”
Beaver County will receive a portion of the revenue generated by the minicasino in the form of grants for economic development projects that the county proposes to a state board for approval. Big Beaver, meanwhile, will receive a portion of the revenue directly to assist its operating budget.
Of five mini-casinos that are pending in the state, Mount Airy is the second to announce its specific location. The only other such project planned in Western Pennsylvania, by the Stadium Casino group, recently announced it will locate in Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield.
Mount Airy has until Oct. 12 to file formal documents with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board outlining its specific plans for the Big Beaver mini-casino, but its officials said they expect to file before then.