Hotel Online
News for the Hospitality Executive


 
The $150 million Black Hawk Casino by Hyatt 
Sets a New Standard for Gaming Entertainment
in Colorado
By Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 

Dec. 12--BLACK HAWK, Colo.--The new Black Hawk Casino by Hyatt is expected to raise the bar in this mining-turned-gambling town, just as Steve Wynn's $1 billion Bellagio triggered a renaissance in the Las Vegas gambling experience. 

"It's a new era in gaming in Colorado," says Tim Rose, the president of the Black Hawk Casino, a $150 million complex almost five years in the making that opens next week. "That is not an understatement." 

Nothing inside the casino is understated. Although a far cry from the opulence of the Bellagio, the Black Hawk Casino is the largest casino in Colorado, with 1,550 parking spots and 1,332 gaming machines sprinkled liberally throughout 55,000 square feet. 

The casino is aiming to set a new standard for gaming entertainment in Colorado, where limited-stakes gaming has enjoyed double-digit growth every year since its inception 10 years ago. 

The new standard, according to developer Windsor Woodmont and Hyatt Gaming Management, involves looking well beyond slot machines and poker tables. 

A $1.4 million kitchen fuels a 300-seat, seven-station buffet, a 110-seat sit-down restaurant, a Wolfgang Puck cafe, a burger joint and an employee dining room larger than any other restaurant in town. 

"Food is a big part of what we are doing here," says executive chef Chris Wing, who oversees 108 cooks. 

Food is a big part, but only a piece of the Black Hawk Casino plan. The main casino is anchored by an 8,000-square-foot lounge and live music venue, circled by four 70-foot fireplaces that stretch to the sky-blue ceiling. 

Local artists painted 20-foot murals of Colorado vistas below the timber roof. Colorado stone is everywhere. The place looks and feels like a giant ski lodge, which is hardly accidental. 

"We get a lot of people coming in saying "Wow, it feels like Aspen or it feels like Vail,' " said Jack Breslin, the director of marketing for the new casino. 

Five years ago, Windsor Woodmont, a conglomeration of developers from Colorado, Dallas and Southern California, started buying up mining claims in Black Hawk. After accumulating 208 acres -- making it the largest private landowner in the city -- the company got to work. 

The parcel happened to be on top of a mountain. So Windsor moved the mountain, blasting 800,000 cubic yards of rock, which now fills an entire valley behind the casino. The company courted several major gaming companies before marrying Hyatt. 

Starting next week, Windsor Woodmont enters into a 25-year contract with Hyatt, which has three hotels in Colorado. 

The Hyatt brand led the casino's developers to move well beyond the standard Black Hawk casino. Gilpin County's first Starbucks is inside the complex, and Black Hawk's first outdoor dining patio -- complete with a fireplace -- lines the perimeter. 

A gallery of artwork will host rotating exhibits. A 9,000-square-foot room in the back of the casino, which is unfinished, could soon host large-scale shows, boxing matches or conventions. There's hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of landscaping outside the casino. Faux Colorado plants line walkways. 

"These are the things that are going to separate us," Rose says. "These are the things people will go home and talk about." 

It has been 18 months since a new casino opened in Black Hawk, and before that, three casinos opened in 18 months. The town, Colorado's gambling powerhouse, has seen 25 percent jumps in revenue every time a new large casino opened. 

That means there's a lot of pent-up demand for gambling in Black Hawk, which lures so many Front Rangers each weekend that many casinos have to turn away business. 

"We will be the reason Black Hawk continues to see double-digit growth in 2002," Rose says. 

The casino occupies half the 208-acre parcel Windsor Woodmont owns. Once the casino shows its ability to make money, the company will begin developing a Hyatt hotel. Across the street, it took the Isle of Capri less than one year to pay off its casino and start building its 237-room hotel using cash from the casino operation. 

Construction of the Hyatt hotel could begin in early 2003, Rose says. 

"We really have spared no expense here. Our food, our employees, our furnishings," Rose says. "Our intention from the beginning was to change the perception of gaming in Black Hawk. We will stand out and we will be able to penetrate new markets." 

-----To see more of The Denver Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.denverpost.com 

(c) 2001, The Denver Post. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. 


advertisement

To search Hotel Online data base of News and Trends Go to Hotel.OnlineSearch
Home | Welcome| Hospitality News | Classifieds| Catalogs& Pricing |
Viewpoint Forum | Ideas&Trends | Press Releases
Please contact Hotel.Onlinewith your comments and suggestions.