Wind Creek Bethlehem holds grand opening
Wind Creek Hospitality President and CEO Jay Dorris remembers walking the floor of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem about three years ago, glancing down at the facility’s recently installed carpet.
On Wednesday night, Dorris walked the floor again, the facility now called Wind Creek Bethlehem following a $1.3 billion sale of the casino complex earlier this year. On his stroll, he joked that he found a worn spot in the carpet, likely tired beneath the feet of 32 million people who also have walked the floor over the past three years.
“Today, going forward, we do have a commitment to continue reinvestment” at the property, Dorris said.
A new carpet will be among the more minor projects Wind Creek is planning. It’s a to-do list that also includes a proposal to transform the No. 2 Machine Shop via a $250 million infusion and a $90 million plan to build another hotel, with potential for a groundbreaking on the hotel early next year. Those plans have Wind Creek and local officials excited about the 10-year-old property’s future — and they said as much during a grand opening ceremony on Thursday just outside the casino’s main entrance.
“Bethlehem is the jewel of the Lehigh Valley and as Wind Creek thrives, we’ll continue to shine,” state Sen. Lisa Boscola said, adding that she believes the crucial property, built upon what was once the country’s largest brownfield, is in good hands with Wind Creek. Wind Creek is the gambling and hospitality arm of Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
Boscola, State Sen. Pat Browne and Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez also reflected on the past, back 15 years ago when it was far from a sure thing that Bethlehem would even allow casino development. Donchez was then a councilman, actually casting the deciding vote to allow the project in the city.
“There’s no question in my mind that was the right vote,” Donchez said.
But Thursday was more about the future, something ushered in Thursday with a tribal dance and song, fireworks, appearances by Emeril Lagasse and Buddy Valastro and a charitygiving contest. In the contest, in which 10 area nonprofits were pre-selected and then the public voted to decide the winner, Wind Creek Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Carr announced Via of the Lehigh Valley as the winner of $25,000. He then announced Wind Creek had decided to give the remaining nine nonprofits a prize of $10,000 each.
Tribal Chair Stephanie Bryan said the tribe and Wind Creek will be focused on becoming good neighbors in Bethlehem, planning to build on the legacy Las Vegas Sands Corp. left in the city and to create additional job opportunities beyond the property’s current employment of about 2,360.
“Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Poarch, Alabama, are linked now,” said Bryan, one of many tribal officials on hand Thursday. “We’re part of each other’s history.”
The next chapter will include plans for a souped-up Bethlehem property, a crucial task especially as the threat of Las Vegas-style casino gambling looms on the horizon in New York City.
Arthur Mothershed, Wind Creek’s vice president of business development, said plans are moving along for a 276-room hotel and another 42,000 square feet of meeting space near the existing 282-room hotel. He said Wind Creek believes it can break ground on the hotel shortly after Jan. 1, a project that will take about 14 months to complete.
More fluid is the plan to turn the No. 2 Machine Shop, which is a third of a mile long, into a 300,000-square-foot adventure and water park that also would include a roughly 400-room hotel. Mothershed said that, conservatively, Wind Creek is probably eight months away from getting the design to the point where it can think about a groundbreaking.
He reiterated that Wind Creek has $100 million in financing for the project and hopes to attract partners as it works to secure the remaining $150 million.
“We’d like to do it with a partner, but it’s got to be the right partner,” he said, noting Wind Creek has cash flow it could funnel into the project if need be. “If not, we’ll do it on our
own.”
In terms of gambling options, Wind Creek Chief Operating Officer Brent Pinkston said the company is working with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to get approvals on its planned online gambling operation and is in negotiations for a sportsbook, hoping to announce something in 30 to 45 days.
Another part of Wind Creek’s grand opening festivities is the roll out of Wind Creek Rewards in Bethlehem. The four-tiered rewards program, Pinkston said, makes it clear to patrons how they get from one level to the next. At the top level, he mentioned, patrons get a free trip to one of Wind Creek’s properties.
Most, unsurprisingly, choose Wind Creek’s Aruba or Curaçao property in the Caribbean, he noted.
But, among all the changes happening or planned, don’t forget the carpet.
If things go well, in fact, Dorris and Wind Creek would welcome replacing the carpet a second time down the road.
He told Carr: “I want you and your team to wear out the next carpet in two years, not three.”