MGM Grand Opening in CT

[HartfordTycoon]

This is pretty crazy I must say. Check out the article.

The Associated Press

April 25 2006, 9:25 AM EDT

MGM Mirage will open a hotel and casino alongside Foxwoods Resort Casino, an unusual partnership that will bring one of the world's largest gaming corporations onto an Indian reservation that's already home to one of the world's most successful casinos.

The deal, announced Tuesday morning, is part of a $700 million Foxwoods expansion that's already under way. The new hotel will be called the MGM Grand but will be operated by Foxwoods employees.

The agreement gives Foxwoods an experienced partner as it tries to expand its convention and entertainment business and attract more minorities. Foxwoods will have access to MGM's database of more than 22 million customers and will use MGM's partnerships with other companies to help attract new restaurants and top-tier entertainers to eastern Connecticut, Foxwoods CEO William Sherlock said.

Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage owns and operates 24 casinos in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan. Its Las Vegas properties include the MGM Grand, the Bellagio and Mirage hotels.

Courant Article

[damus]

It's pretty good marketing, but nothing else has changed from their monster proposal judging from this. With all these projects going on, shouldn't there be an Eastern CT subforum?

[HartfordTycoon]

It's pretty good marketing, but nothing else has changed from their monster proposal judging from this. With all these projects going on, shouldn't there be an Eastern CT subforum?

I think there should be. There's alot of exciting things happening in that part of the state.

[Hartfordfan]

This is not suprising because Foxwoods is competing with Mohgean Sun, which had recent renovations. This off topic but which casino do you like better, Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun?

[PCGrad02]

Mohegan Sun by a longshot, the atmosphere is a million times better, I live five mins from Mohegan and ten from Foxwoods, I haven't been to Foxwoods in six years. Everyone I know prefers Mohegan Sun. The colors and design @ Foxwoods are awful.

[damus]

Mohegan Sun by a longshot, the atmosphere is a million times better, I live five mins from Mohegan and ten from Foxwoods, I haven't been to Foxwoods in six years. Everyone I know prefers Mohegan Sun. The colors and design @ Foxwoods are awful.

Heh.... I live in Preston grew up in Norwich. There's a view of the Mohegan tower from my old bedroom window when leaves are gone from the trees.

Mohegan Sun is 100% better. I know someone who's one level below VP in his department at Foxwoods. He said Foxwoods thought the Mohegans were idiots for bringing in all those chains during their Sunburst Expansion, because they thought you made more money off your own stores. Now look at Foxwoods, with Hard Rock, Panera Bread, Amy Ruths (or whatever it is), Nathan's.... all second rate (in my opinion) chains. Now Mohegan is kicking Foxwoods' butt in slot revenue. Bingo, which I'm told by that guy is Foxwoods' #2 moneymaker behind slots is a (along with Poker) a huge market that the Mohegan is just giving away to Foxwoods...

The layout at Foxwoods is a mess; it's like they never developed a master plan to go by. It's just pieced together. They seem to have the same table machines at the bar in their racebook that they had when it was built (I dont know ... I'm only 22). The selection of comped drinks is poor, and what you do get they put in plastic cups. You can't even walk on the concourse with them though you can smoke anywhere you want besides the "smoke free" casinos. If it wasn't for the fact that Foxwoods has just about every game, and Mohegans don't even really have poker, there would be no redeming qualities at Foxwoods. In my opinion they should just start ripping apart entire sections and redo it piece by piece.

This expansion gets one HUGE gripe from me: the moving walkway to get between the Great Cedar tower and the expansion. I hate having to wait on escalators because everyone stands on them and takes up the whole thing so you can't walk around them. I'd rather take stairs, or in this case a regular skybridge, than spend more time standing around than I would had I walked. I remember as a kid people had "escalator ettiquette" and stood on one side and walked on another. That's all gone.

[MadVlad]

Mohegan Sun, by a mile...

[SOCOM]

Mohegan Sun, by a mile...

I'm 26 and I've never been to either of them. I'm not sure if that's sad or if I should be proud of it. I prefer losing my money in private, on the internet gambling sites.

Just for the record, all my friends (and anyone else who I've asked about which casino is better) say Mohegan is much better.

[MadVlad]

You don't have to gamble to go there, I think I've gambled $100 in the last 10 times I've gone...

[drc72]

This is not suprising because Foxwoods is competing with Mohgean Sun, which had recent renovations. This off topic but which casino do you like better, Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun?

Definitely Mohegan Sun. I just like design and layout so much better, but MGM grand coming is huge. I wonder if where gonna get some big ticket boxing now?

Edited April 26, 2006 by drc72

[damus]

I'm 26 and I've never been to either of them. I'm not sure if that's sad or if I should be proud of it. I prefer losing my money in private, on the internet gambling sites.

Just for the record, all my friends (and anyone else who I've asked about which casino is better) say Mohegan is much better.

It's a shame... I think Foxwoods really went downhill when the guy who brought the "tribe" together, Skip Hayward, was displaced as leader of the Pequots. From the stories I hear and the way I see that place operating, I think they feel like Foxwoods can't fail. They give a lot of money, and a lot of special treatment too, to "tribal" members. The guy who used to run the operations there left long ago (I forget who ... it's in the book "without reservation" by jeff benedict) and they seemed to go downhill quite a bit after that too.

That book tells a lot of the shady deals that happened in order for a fake Indian tribe to become the first to run a casino. One of the big guys there, I think Michael Brown, was singled out as a racist who was arrested with crack in Providence and in Los Angeles for beating up a cop because he was white. I really find interesting that Skip Hayward wanted to build a giant domed theme park (like Utopia) that featured a model of the great wall of China. He viewed the casino as a means to an end, which was to make his "Indian Reservation" the next Disney-sized tourist attraction. The formerly poor people, many of whom were black and were apparantly not welcomed by the then all white tribe, that Skip let into the tribe and made all this money for, voted him out of office as Tribal Chairman. They felt they needed to focus on Casino Operations and to give more money back to the ever deserving members... Now the place is becoming more and more of a dump. I need to get another copy of that book and re-read the parts that I read and finally finish it...

[runawayjim]

i find the MGM expansion interesting... they're already the biggest casino in the world... do they think that adding more will bring that many more people? unless it's better than mohegan, it'll bring people in for a few months and they'll go back to the sun. the only other thing that will help is having something to compete with the arena at mohegan sun, which is something foxwoods does not have (although i'm not a fan of the arena, the top section is like sitting on the edge of a cliff).

so i guess you know my opinion. aside from the fact that foxwoods is such an eye sore (probably the biggest eye sore in CT, aside from maybe bridgeport), it's just not as nice a casino as mohegan. i haven't been to foxwoods in years, so i haven't seen any of the chains (although i love hard rock cafes). i have friends who used to live about a mile or 2 from mohegan sun. we used to frequent it, in fact you could see it from their apartment deck. it's a really nice looking building (the hotel that is) and the casino is nicely themed and classier than foxwoods. poker is the only redeeming quality about foxwoods.

the chains at mohegan are nice and they're not the chains you see everywhere (although johnny rockets and ben and jerry's are relatively common). the food is good at most of the places and even the bars are decent (i've been known to hang out at the dubliner, the "irish" pub).

[damus]

i find the MGM expansion interesting... they're already the biggest casino in the world... do they think that adding more will bring that many more people? unless it's better than mohegan, it'll bring people in for a few months and they'll go back to the sun. the only other thing that will help is having something to compete with the arena at mohegan sun, which is something foxwoods does not have (although i'm not a fan of the arena, the top section is like sitting on the edge of a cliff).

the chains at mohegan are nice and they're not the chains you see everywhere (although johnny rockets and ben and jerry's are relatively common). the food is good at most of the places and even the bars are decent (i've been known to hang out at the dubliner, the "irish" pub).

I believe it was the first Johnny Rockets in CT, and I thought it was the only til I looked it up just now. Turns out there's another on in South Windsor (why not on the Berlin Turnpike?). Though I'm not a fan of shopping for fun, I am a fan of eating and drinking and they have a few good options. The little mall they got there has something for everyone.

A big advantage of the MGM branding will be they will have access to their high rollers, another department that (I hear from people I know who work at the places, none of this is public info) Foxwoods had an advantage over the Mohegans with. They had their high rollers room in the Great Cedar Tower, I'm sure it's still there...

http://norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../604260309/1002

And in other news:

http://norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...NEWS01/60426007

Now onto Biloxi... They are pretty big on these satellite casinos. They're building on a 600 acre parcel in the Virgin Islands, they're in the running for the slot machines in Philadelphia, and now this.

[Richhamleigh, DC]

Any rednerings of the MGM Grand? How tall will it be?

[Hartfordfan]

i find the MGM expansion interesting... they're already the biggest casino in the world... do they think that adding more will bring that many more people? unless it's better than mohegan, it'll bring people in for a few months and they'll go back to the sun. the only other thing that will help is having something to compete with the arena at mohegan sun, which is something foxwoods does not have (although i'm not a fan of the arena, the top section is like sitting on the edge of a cliff).

so i guess you know my opinion. aside from the fact that foxwoods is such an eye sore (probably the biggest eye sore in CT, aside from maybe bridgeport), it's just not as nice a casino as mohegan. i haven't been to foxwoods in years, so i haven't seen any of the chains (although i love hard rock cafes). i have friends who used to live about a mile or 2 from mohegan sun. we used to frequent it, in fact you could see it from their apartment deck. it's a really nice looking building (the hotel that is) and the casino is nicely themed and classier than foxwoods. poker is the only redeeming quality about foxwoods.

the chains at mohegan are nice and they're not the chains you see everywhere (although johnny rockets and ben and jerry's are relatively common). the food is good at most of the places and even the bars are decent (i've been known to hang out at the dubliner, the "irish" pub).

Moheghan sun arena is terrible. Although it is new, the upper section is like sitting on and edge of a cliff. Arena at Harbor yard has the same capacity but the view isn't as steep. Yea, are there any renderings?

[damus]

Any rednerings of the MGM Grand? How tall will it be?

WHAT THE FOXWOODS EXPANSION ENTAILS

from http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../510060302/1002

Cost: $700 million.

Designer: Paul Steelman Design Group, Las Vegas.

Start date: Summer 2005.

End date: Summer 2008.

Among the additions:

- 2 million square feet added to existing 5 million square feet of gaming, convention, dining and retail space.

- 50,000 square feetof gaming space.

- 1,500more slot machines.

- 45more game tables.

- 2,900parking spaces.

- 4 restaurants, 4 retail shopsadded to the more than 50 such outlets.

- 2 nightclubsand three lounges.

- 4,000-seatperforming arts theater.

- 825-roomfourth hotel tower.

- 21,000square-foot spa.

- 50,000-square-foot ballroom-- it is to be the largest in the Northeast.

- 115,000square feet of meeting and convention floor space, bringing the resort total to 170,000 square feet.

I'm not sure how tall it will be... I think in the high 20s, which is a lot considering it's in the middle of a cluster of "cow towns". If you really wanna know you can just count the floors on the pic....

[SOCOM]

Here's a more detailed rendering from the Hartford Courant.

I counted 28 floors plus the base. I think it'll [just barely] break the 300ft mark.

Edited April 27, 2006 by SOCOM

[drc72]

Here's a more detailed rendering from the Hartford Courant.

I counted 28 floors plus the base. I'd think it'll break the 300ft mark.

WOW! Ledyard is gonna have their own skyline pretty soon.

[HartfordTycoon]

They now have a webcam showing construction progress. It's rising nicely.

Foxwoods Website: MGM Grand Construction Progress

[SOCOM]

Cool find, thanks for sharing Tycoon. The videos are so neat...I still can't believe how massive those two mega casinos are going to be in a few years. They're already the two largest casino's in the world!

[The Voice of Reason]

I did not realize this tower was allready built.

Its not open yet, but I just drove by the casino today, and I have to say I like the new tower. its a shame its not in a city because the whole casino just looks silly out there.

The intro to their site has some images of the new hotel tower

http://www.mgmatfoxwoods.com/

[The Voice of Reason]

Foxwoods To Hire 2,000 Employees

http://www.courant.com/business/hcu-foxwoo...0,1264749.story

Sure most of them are not the highest paying jobs, but this right here is the begining of a major upswing for SE Connecticut. Between these 2000 and 2000 at Mohican Sun, there will be a large number of upstanding citizens moving into the slightly sketchy towns of New London and Norwich.

[The Voice of Reason]

more articles in the courant today

and this picture

looks like the casino is hiring 2000 and related businesses(like boutiques and resturants) are hiring 1000 more.

I expect to see a population spike in the 2010 census

[Lowerdeck]

I don't see that much of a population boost in N.L. County. Most of the people that will work there will be like the similar pool of workers: some live in the region already, some commute from quite a ways away (anywhere between 50-60 miles, the occasional one who comes in on the buses from NYC and Boston), and others working there for short periods on work visas and then go back to their native countries.

It would be nice if people came in to New London, Groton, and Norwich ... help further revitalize southeastern Conn. But, I doubt it will be a huge impact.