MGM Proposes New $500M Downtown Casino Plan

DETROIT-The owners of the MGM Grand Casino have presented a new $500-million permanent casino/hotel plan to the city council. Alan Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs for MGM Mirage, tells GlobeSt.com the firm has a purchase agreement with Detroit Edison for 25 acres on the intersection next to the Lodge and I-75 freeways.

The agreement is on hold while the Detroit council discusses the fate of the three casinos in the city.

The council is discussing whether to accept a deal arranged by new Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, which brings $102 million to the city in the next two years and other perks, in exchange for expansion plans for the three casinos into permanent sites.

Council members are holding out for more. The deadline for the permanent casino deal was July 31, but the council voted Wednesday to extend the deadline again until Friday.

Feldman says MGM’s purchase agreement is contingent on the city approving the expansion plans.

After the council agrees, Feldman says MGM’s final details of its new casino will be presented in 90 to 120 days. Current plans include a 400-room, five-star hotel, convention space, more casino gaming space and other amenities, he adds.

The company had initially bid $12.5 million for the state-owned Michigan Executive Plaza, and had said it was considering spending $4.5 million for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building next door on Abbott Street. Both properties sit on more than 12 acres.

Feldman says there were always two proposals under consideration.

“The Detroit Edison site is the best location for us,” he notes.

The MotorCity Casino has announced plans to expand at its present site at the Lodge Freeway and Grand River Avenue, on 23 acres of adjacent land.

The casino will build a 16-floor hotel with the required 400 rooms, an 800-seat showroom, new restaurants and lounges, a 50,000-sf convention center area, a spa and fitness center along with additional retail outlet space.

With the new expansion, the casino also will grow its 68,000 sf of gaming space to 100,000 sf.

The Greektown Casino claims to have mapped out a 40-story tall, 400-room hotel for a site bordered by the I-375 service drive, Clinton Street, St. Antoine Street and Gratiot Avenue. It’s to be supported by 4,655 parking spaces, a 1,500-seat theater, a spa, pool and fitness center.

A tentative city-casino agreement requires the expansions to be completed by November 2005.

The casinos were supposed to have expanded their three temporary sites to an area along the Detroit River, with about $2 billion in construction plans. The land required couldn’t be purchased due to ownership lawsuits, and river plan died.