Guest JMT Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Seminoles plan huge casino, entertainment complex in Coconut CreekSun-Sentinel One of the largest hotels in Florida could one day tower over Coconut Creek as the Seminole Tribe of Florida considers transforming its casino there. And the Seminoles could go forward with the project without the city's oversight if the federal government approves their request to have 44 acres of land declared sovereign.Preliminary plans filed at Coconut Creek City Hall call for a 24-story, 1,500-room hotel at the casino -- 500 more rooms than Broward County's largest hotel, The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood. The nine-story parking garage alone would be five stories higher than the tallest building in Coconut Creek.The proposed entertainment complex near State Road 7 and Sample Road also would include an expanded casino, a 2,500-seat concert venue and 150,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and offices.A bulked-up casino could mean big changes for the city of about 50,000 that touts its major tourist attraction as the world's largest butterfly aviary. The increased traffic worries some city officials.Seminole Gaming CEO James Allen said the initial proposal shows the casino site's potential. There's no market for a 1,500-room hotel in Coconut Creek now, but that would change if the Seminoles are successful in getting Las Vegas-style slot machines and table games, he said."If we maximize all the land, that's the type of resort that could be built there," Allen said. "It's a master plan, not a definite plan."Allen said the casino complex could employ as many as 5,000 people, which would make it the city's largest employer.The Seminole Tribal Council hasn't signed off on any development plans yet, said tribal attorney Jim Shore.Within coming years, Broward could have as many as six major gambling/entertainment complexes. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood -- the first one to open -- already has solidified its reputation as a major South Florida destination. Mardi Gras Racetrack & Gaming Center in Hallandale Beach wants to build a complex with a 320-room hotel and retail space comparable to the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale. A project attached to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach is slated to have a 500-room hotel, 750,000 square feet of retail space and 1,500 residential units.The current Seminole Coconut Creek Casino sits on almost five acres of sovereign land, deeded to the tribe two decades ago by the county in exchange for Hollywood tribal property used for road easements. The tribe has since bought 44 acres surrounding the casino, which are subject to city, county and state regulations and taxes. All of the proposed entertainment complex would be on that land except for the casino, some hotel rooms and a smoke shop.But the Seminoles have asked the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to have those 44 acres put in a trust, making it sovereign land. If that happens, the city would have no legal authority over the development and the county couldn't assess taxes. There have been no estimates done on how much tax money the county could lose if the project is fully built.Coconut Creek city officials said they learned about the Seminoles' land trust plan when the bureau sent them a letter in November asking for input.For the past four years, the city has been planning an ambitious downtown district -- known as MainStreet -- with design standards for all properties within its boundaries, including the Seminole-owned, non-sovereign land."The 44 acres the tribe has requested to be placed in trust represents a substantial portion of the proposed MainStreet project, and to properly plan the proposed development, this acreage must be integrated as part of the total plan," wrote Coconut Creek City Manager John Kelly in a Dec. 18 letter to the U.S. Department of Interior. "Without this integration, the MainStreet project would not properly function. ... Taking the land into trust, with the automatic removal of oversight of the local government, is poor land management."Shore said the tribe always kept open the option of putting the land in trust. Talks between the Seminoles and city officials have focused on how development at the casino would fit in with MainStreet, Shore said."I think they have benefited from us being there," he said. "[The decision on the land] might have been a surprise, but it shouldn't have been a big surprise."Coconut Creek is unique in the state -- and perhaps in the nation -- in that the city has an agreement with the Seminoles about paying for municipal services, Kelly said. The city received just over $1.5 million last year because of the contract, he said. That amount would jump to $2 million if the Seminoles get Las Vegas-style slot machines, as opposed to the less-lucrative bingo-style slots now in the casino...FULL STORY: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cseminole21jan23,0,6083740.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Gaming is gonna be huge up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the lurker Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 what kind of smoke shop ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 I'm sure cigs and such like every other smoke shop on the Reservations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coach Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Isn't Coconut Creek mostly suburban residential? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Yeah. But that doesn't matter to the casino planners. They need a lot of space to do their thing, and suburbs have that space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coach Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Oh yeah, I'm just saying that it is ridiculous how the city governments lets this shit go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Really? I think full gambling would be fantastic down here. Get our tourism economy out from depending solely on nightclubs and beaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brasiliandrunk Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 i totally agree $2/$2 poker fucking sucks give me a chance with $2/$4 $5/$10 or $10/$20 .... high stakes poker brings big business... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spacecadet Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Really? I think full gambling would be fantastic down here. Get our tourism economy out from depending solely on nightclubs and beaches.That is a must because those slot machines with that bingo crap sucks a big one and the poker sucks a big one too. Dont see why the cant have black jack roulette and craps too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 They've tried before a few times. I'm not familiar enough with the issue to remember why it gets defeated though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coach Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Really? I think full gambling would be fantastic down here. Get our tourism economy out from depending solely on nightclubs and beaches.Yeah, but don't build them right next to where normal families are just trying to raise their 2.3 kids and 3.2 dogs.I mean, if you build your condo next to an existing entertainment venue and then bitch about it, that is one thing (stupid). But if you buy a nice little house out in the quiet suburbs and then somebody puts up this huge entertainment complex just down the street, that's uncool.And I still have yet to be convinced that gambling brings a good demographic. I would totally be down with allowing high stakes poker at any venue that wanted it ($1000 buy in, or so). But, regular gambling tends to attract the lower middle class crowd (particularly slots). Not that there is anything wrong with being lower middle class... salt of the earth, I tell ya. But is it the demographic we really want to target. I really think the lack of tourism recently has more to do with failures of marketing than failures of draws (reasons for people to come). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Well, the Reservations are sovereign land, people can bitch, but nothing can be done really. There's condos and such near the Hard Rock, and no one said a word. Probably realize they can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coach Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Oh gotcha. I did not realize this is going to be on indian land. So it shouldn't be too close to the houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 I'm guessing so since the article refers to the fact that the Seminole tribe is the one considering it. Indian Gaming is a gold mine, it's a $22 billion a year industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V. Barbarino Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 I'm highly against this, we can't turn south Florida into Vegas. And what happened to the guy that said Hard Rock would get level 3 gaming? It hasn't happened yet and probably won't happen for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 Vegas is so tame. The Vegas of yore people talk about is long gone. It's Disney with gaming these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spacecadet Posted January 23 Report Share Posted January 23 I'm highly against this, we can't turn south Florida into Vegas. And what happened to the guy that said Hard Rock would get level 3 gaming? It hasn't happened yet and probably won't happen for a long time. Im sure if this casino gets built there will be a big push for level 3 gaming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mayor Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 Watch what happensClass 3 slots are already here fellasgo walk into the casinoand by the way - check Casino Players MagazineThe Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood and Tampa were the 2 most money making casinos in North America Last yearmore than any in vegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 Indian Gaming pulls in more money than Vegas and AC combined. I would love to see Class III gaming. I'm not a gaming person, but the benefits are undeniable. We can't have a one-concept tourist economy down here. Clubs and beaches only go so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JMT Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 Watch what happensClass 3 slots are already here fellasgo walk into the casinoand by the way - check Casino Players MagazineThe Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood and Tampa were the 2 most money making casinos in North America Last yearmore than any in vegasbut if they lost their tax exemptions that would most likely change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pod Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 I doubt that would happen. The political fallout would be immense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mayor Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 Watch what happensClass 3 slots are already here fellasgo walk into the casinoand by the way - check Casino Players MagazineThe Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood and Tampa were the 2 most money making casinos in North America Last yearmore than any in vegasbut if they lost their tax exemptions that would most likely change.????????How would that happen - Bush is not Governor anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest james stratus Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 Indian Gaming pulls in more money than Vegas and AC combined. I would love to see Class III gaming. I'm not a gaming person, but the benefits are undeniable. We can't have a one-concept tourist economy down here. Clubs and beaches only go so far. Dude, the clubs are really just a bonus for those of us in South Florida. Florida itself lives on its beaches. Hell, there would be no reason to go to the Caribbean if it wasn't islands surrounded by beaches and warm water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V. Barbarino Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 class 3 slots is not the type of gaming we are all talking about and the state will look for innovative ways to fund it's insurance pool. Someone put the Seminoles on notice please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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