CLEVELAND-A joint venture of Detroit-based Rock Gaming and Caesars Entertainment Corp. said Thursday that they have finalized an agreement to move forward on a $350 million temporary casino, the Horseshoe, at the Higbee Building downtown. The venture also bought a site nearby for $85 million for the eventual development of the $600 million permanent casino.
Rock Gaming, a subsidiary of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans firm, helped push through a constitutional amendment to allow casino gaming in Ohio, and has plans to invest more than $1 billion in casinos here and in Cincinnati. Caesars will manage both properties.
First, however, the joint venture had to finalize its plan for a temporary casino at the Higbee. The Higbee casino will open in early 2012, according to a venture statement Thursday, with construction bid packages being issued in the next several weeks. The casino will occupy300,000 square feet on the first four floors. The casino will have entrances at the Public Square on the north end and on Prospect Street on the south, with a third entrance connecting to Tower City Center.
Gary Loveman, chairman, CEO and president of Caesars, said the project will bring 1,600 jobs to the downtown, with at least 90% of the employees hired from the Cleveland metropolitan area. He said in a statement that the Horseshoe brand, which originated in Las Vegas, was selected “based on similarities between the namesake’s history and Cleveland’s culture.”
Forest City Enterprises Inc., which owns Tower City and has its headquarters there, this week sold the joint venture a 16-acre land parcel, with air rights, for $85 million. The parcel is adjacent to Tower City, along the Cuyahoga River. The site will be the future home of the $600 million permanent Horseshoe Cleveland.
A Caesars spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the permanent site will be complete by 2013. She did not answer questions on what would happen to the temporary casino once the permanent site is ready for use.
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