Groundbreaking for Norfolk’s forthcoming casino is set to take place Oct. 30, according to a news release Tuesday.
The announcement of the event, which is slated to feature remarks by the CEO of Boyd Gaming, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s chief and Norfolk’s mayor, comes after the Norfolk City Council approved the project last month after multiple delays.
The tribe announced in September that it has partnered with Las Vegas casino giant Boyd Gaming on the project, which will include a temporary casino and a permanent structure built near Harbor Park, with construction starting within a few weeks of each other early next year. Boyd replaces former partner Jon Yarbrough, who formed a limited liability company, Golden Eagle Consulting II, with the tribe’s gaming authority in 2020. Yarbrough is no longer affiliated with the casino, having sold his interest in the project to Boyd Gaming, which is now majority owner of Golden Eagle Consulting II.
The temporary casino is expected to meet the state’s deadline of November 2025, by which time a casino must be built and licensed by the Virginia Lottery under state law. According to paperwork filed with the city, construction of the “transitional casino” would begin in late February 2025 and be complete by mid-October 2025, with an opening date targeted for Nov. 5, 2025. The permanent casino’s construction would start in mid-January 2025 and be complete in August 2027, with its opening taking place the following month.
Cost estimates for both the temporary and permanent casinos have not yet been announced, and in September, Uri Clinton, Boyd Gaming’s general counsel and corporate secretary, said they’re “still under review.” Under state law, the permanent casino resort must cost at least $300 million.
According to a pitchbook for the project, the permanent casino resort will include a 200-room hotel, 13,000 square feet of meeting space, a casino with 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games, eight restaurants and bars, and 4,000 square feet of spa and gym space. The HeadWaters Resort & Casino name will no longer be used, and Boyd is working on a new name and brand for the casino.
Norfolk’s casino referendum was approved by local voters in 2020, along with three other casinos in Virginia — all of which are now up and running in Portsmouth, Danville and Bristol. The latter two cities opened temporary casinos but are set to open their permanent resorts this year. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol is scheduled to host its grand opening ceremony Nov. 14, and Danville’s Caesars Virginia casino resort, a $750 million project, is anticipated to open by the end of this year.
Richmond voters defeated a casino referendum twice in 2021 and 2023, and in November, Petersburg voters will weigh in on a referendum that would allow the city to build a casino with developer The Cordish Cos. and Bruce Smith Enterprise, a Virginia Beach-based development firm led by Norfolk native and Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith.
Norfolk will have a temporary casino open by next November and a permanent resort in 2027 if all goes to plan, as the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and casino giant Boyd Gaming, its new corporate partner, received a fresh start on the long-delayed project from Norfolk City Council on Tuesday.
City Council members and the mayor voted 7-1 Tuesday to approve a development agreement between the city, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Boyd Gaming, which replaces Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough as the King William County tribe’s corporate partner. In paperwork filed with the city, the partners have scrapped the casino’s old name, HeadWaters Resort & Casino, and provided a timeline to start construction of a temporary casino and a permanent structure within a few weeks of each other in early 2025.
Council member Andria McClellan was the sole no-voter Tuesday. She said that the larger casino proposed in 2020 was now smaller, and that some of her concerns, including public safety costs, had not yet been addressed.
The temporary casino is expected to meet the state’s deadline of November 2025, by which time a casino must be built and licensed by the Virginia Lottery under state law. According to paperwork filed with the city, construction of the “transitional casino” would begin in late February 2025 and be complete by mid-October 2025, with an opening date targeted for Nov. 5, 2025. The permanent casino’s construction would start in mid-January 2025 and be complete in August 2027, with its opening taking place the following month.
The budgets for both the temporary and permanent casinos are “still under review,” Boyd Gaming’s general counsel and corporate secretary, Uri Clinton, said in an interview Tuesday before the vote. However, he noted that the focus is on building the permanent casino, as opposed to the construction of the temporary space. “Just to be very direct, the transitional casino is not a big item relative to the overall project,” Clinton said. “So right now, we’re still going through that, but it is very specific to its purpose [of meeting state lottery requirements]. It’s transitional by nature.”
According to a pitchbook provided to Virginia Business by the company, the permanent casino resort will include a 200-room hotel, 13,000 square feet of meeting space, a casino with 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games, eight restaurants and bars, and 4,000 square feet of spa and gym space. The HeadWaters Resort & Casino name is no longer in effect, and Boyd is working now on a new name and brand for the casino.
Under the agreement, Boyd Gaming is now majority owner of Golden Eagle Consulting II, a limited liability company formed by the Pamunkey Indian Tribal Gaming Authority and Yarbrough, which won the city’s approval as operator of the Norfolk casino in 2020. The resort was approved by voters via referendum in November 2020, the first year commercial casinos were allowed to be brought to referendums in Virginia. Originally, the tribe partnered with Yarbrough, a billionaire who founded casino game producer Video Gaming Technologies, which he sold for $1.28 billion in 2014.
Pamunkey Indian Tribe Chief Robert Gray said Tuesday that the end of the tribe’s partnership with Yarbrough was “very amicable. We’re moving in this direction. It’s just a fantastic opportunity.”
The tribe and Yarbrough promised to build the $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino on the Elizabeth River, but disputes between the city and the developers over design and proposed two-phase construction delayed the project multiple times — and now developers face a November 2025 state deadline, during which at least a temporary casino must be built and licensed by the Virginia State Lottery for the developers to retain the right to build a casino under the 2020 referendum vote.
Three other casinos approved by voters in Danville, Bristol and Portsmouth in 2020 have already opened, and in November, Petersburg voters will weigh in on their own casino referendum. Richmond voters twice rejected casino referendums, and the state legislature voted to provide Petersburg the opportunity earlier this year.
Clinton said his company has finished other casinos quickly, including a $500 million Sacramento, California, resort completed ahead of schedule and under budget, and an extension of a Louisiana casino that was “a ground-up construction.”
Gray began working toward building a casino in Norfolk even before the state allowed commercial casinos to be built; in 2019, the city approved a land deal that allowed the casino to be built on the waterfront. On Tuesday, he said the tribe spoke with several casino developers earlier in the year before landing on Boyd Gaming, a publicly traded, 49-year-old company that still has Boyd family members in some leadership roles. The tribe and the company began working together about six months ago, Gray said.
“[We’re] very excited, because I believe Boyd is the group that can bring us across the finish line in time and build and create a great opportunity here in the region,” he said. As for the tribe’s members, “they say it’s beneficial to tribal citizens in the way of education, health care, housing and various other needs.”
He said that the tribe decided to partner with Boyd over other companies because they “shared our commitment to the community, shared values, family values, commitment to even the workers,” including hiring local veterans, who are in ample supply in Hampton Roads.
Rendering of Norfolk casino
Based in Las Vegas, Boyd Gaming operates 28 casinos in 10 states, including some with tribal partners, but this is its first venture in Virginia. The company reported $3.75 billion in revenue in 2023.
Boyd estimates that the permanent casino’s construction phase will produce $510 million in local economic impact, as well as 2,850 temporary construction jobs and $173 million in salaries and wages. In the operating phase, the company predicts $2.9 billion in economic impact, $583 million in salaries and wages, and 850 permanent jobs. Under the partnership, the tribe retains no less than 20% equity in the casino project, the same as it did in the partnership with Yarbrough.
The permanent project must cost at least $300 million, a requirement under state law.
Tuesday’s City Council vote gives Golden Eagle Consulting — now including Boyd Gaming — an amended and restated option to purchase an additional acre, in addition to 8.35 acres already planned for the casino and parking facilities, and authorizing the city manager to execute the development agreement and enter into site plan agreements and easements.
“I am excited to recognize this significant milestone in our journey to bring a world-class casino and hotel resort to the Harbor Park Entertainment District,” Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said in a statement. “Boyd Gaming Corp., in partnership with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, is set to deliver a premier destination that will generate millions of dollars in tax revenues, create numerous jobs and revitalize our waterfront. This project will not only enhance our tourism efforts but also enable us to invest in key priorities that will benefit our community for years to come.”
Keith Smith, Boyd Gaming’s CEO and president, added, “We are pleased to take this important step forward in helping the Pamunkey Indian Tribe realize its vision of a best-in-class gaming resort. The greater Norfolk area is one of the largest underserved gaming markets in the mid-Atlantic region, and represents a compelling opportunity to further expand and diversify our company’s nationwide presence. We appreciate the Norfolk City Council’s support and confidence in our development plans, and we look forward to partnering with the city and the tribe as we continue the process of developing a transformational gaming entertainment experience on the Norfolk waterfront.”
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected since publication.
With the clock ticking on HeadWaters Resort & Casino’s statutory requirement to open a permanent resort casino by November 2025 — five years after Norfolk voters approved it — the developer has submitted new plans to the City of Norfolk, aiming to start construction in spring 2024.
The Norfolk Architecture Review Board is set to review the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s revised casino plans at its Jan. 8, 2024, meeting. Following that meeting, the plans must still be reviewed by the city’s planning commission and ultimately approved by Norfolk City Council before any work can begin. The casino’s development team last submitted plans over the summer.
Instead of building the $500 million casino and resort in two phases with a gap between each phase, plans call for the development to be constructed continuously with the casino opening while the hotel, spa and other parts are still under construction. The casino and resort would also no longer be on the waterfront of the Elizabeth River and would have a smaller footprint.
To meet the city’s November 2025 deadline for the casino’s opening, construction would need to start by spring of next year, said Jay Smith, spokesman for HeadWaters Resort & Casino, which is being developed in a partnership between the King William-based Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough.
Construction would start on the north side of the property and progress south.
“Our continuous construction is in response to the city wanting to see what the entire project [looks like] and getting the whole thing built as quickly as possible,” Smith told Virginia Business.
Once the developer receives approvals for the plan and a development certificate, it can purchase the land from the city and get shovels in the ground. It also must secure a license from the Virginia Lottery Board for the casino to be operational.
Plans call for the nearly 1 million-square-foot Norfolk resort and casino to have 800 to 1,000 slot machines and 20 to 25 table games when it opens, Smith said, but those numbers would double to 1,800 to 2,000 slot machines and 50 table games by the time the development is fully completed.
Construction plans and a detailed construction timeline have not been submitted to the city, but Smith says it’s because there are so many moving parts to the development. “This is a fluid project with many moving parts and … it’s impossible to give the completion date of the entire project,” he said. “But rest assured, we are working as fast as we can to get the entire project open.”
And because those plans have not been filed, Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander said he remains skeptical about the development. He said he does not want to see a delay between the casino opening and everything else promised, including the hotel. A delay in construction would be unacceptable, he said.
Another wrinkle: At the same time the casino and resort would be constructed, the city is making plans with the Army Corps of Engineers to build a $2.6 billion seawall project to include eight miles of floodwalls, nearly a mile of levees, 11 tide gates and 10 pumping stations along the Elizabeth River. Part of that wall would be near the existing Harbor Park stadium and the casino.
Because of the seawall, the casino and resort would be on a smaller footprint, which necessitated a change in the design and size of the casino property. Instead of buying 13 or 14 acres to build the casino and resort, the developer could — with city council approval — purchase fewer acres for the development and it would not be on the waterfront, according to the plans submitted to the city. The seawall may end up on city property but the developer is still working out details about the seawall with the city.
Of the 963,000 or so square feet of the planned casino and resort, about half is a parking deck with about 1,200 spaces. Another 45,000 square feet will be the main casino floor (eventually expanded to 65,000 square feet) and restaurants, including a 180-seat sports bar restaurant with 25 seats along a bar, a grab-and-go quick service restaurant, a food hall with three or four restaurant concepts and a steak and seafood restaurant. This would all be elevated — with some of the parking garage underneath, raising parts such as the casino floor — to accommodate views over the planned seawall.
The 300-room hotel would have a rooftop pool facing the ballpark where the Triple-A Norfolk Tides baseball team plays and a 10,000 square-foot ballroom with 8,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Pamunkey Tribe is working with construction firms Newport News-based W.M. Jordan and Boston-based Suffolk Construction, Richmond-based architectural design firm Baskervill and Dallas-based HKS on engineering and architecture.
The project could create 2,000 construction jobs and 2,480 full-time jobs when it’s fully open.
The HeadWaters project has gone through multiple iterations since voters approved the project in a November 2020 referendum. At that time, developers pitched a $500-plus million resort casino with a 300-room hotel, restaurants, an entertainment venue, a rooftop pool, thousands of slot machines and as many as 150 table games.
The developers of the $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino in Norfolk have scrapped plans to open a 45,000-square-foot temporary casino, instead focusing all their efforts on building the permanent casino, which will open before construction begins on an associated hotel and other planned amenities.
“We have changed our approach and gone with a first-class experience from the get-go,” says Jay Smith, spokesperson for HeadWaters Resort & Casino, which is being developed in a partnership between the King William-based Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough. The developers hope to break ground on the project this year, Smith says.
According to plans filed with the city last week, the permanent HeadWaters resort casino will be built in two phases. The first will include a 45,000 square-foot gaming floor, along with a 180-seat restaurant, a 1,200-space parking garage and a 5,000-square-foot lobby.
While the plan filed with the city doesn’t include details about the project’s second phase, Smith says phase 2 of construction will include a hotel, an outdoor pool, additional restaurants, an entertainment venue and other amenities. Renderings filed with the city last week show an infinity pool overlooking the ballpark, a multistory hotel and multiple bars. One design shows the word “Norfolk” carved into the building in large letters. In a design narrative for the project’s first phase, the developer writes, “The graceful curves of the shipping channels and railroad lines that once traversed the site have been translated into various components of the project. These influences pay homage to the original use of the bustling marine terminal.”
The developers plan to get the casino built and operational before moving on to the second phase, Smith says. No timeline has been announced for delivering the second phase.
The developers’ plans submitted to the city for a development certificate have to go undergo a review from city staff and must receive approvals from the city Architectural Review Board, the City Planning Commission and City Council, all which could happen in the next few months.
The plans for the casino that were submitted to the city fell short of Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander’s expectations. “Although it may be constructed in phases, I was not expecting them to turn [the plan] in phases,” Alexander said. The mayor added that he was concerned by the lack of concrete details in the plan, as well as a lack of communication from developers on the casino’s application status with the Virginia Lottery, the state regulatory body that must approve the casino’s operating license.
“We continue to ask them for the same information over and over again,” Alexander says. “I want all the details to accompany the pretty pictures. Submit the supporting documentation.”
However, in a March letter sent by the city to the casino developers, the city requested only conceptual details for the future phases of development, while requesting details such as architectural renderings, building elevations and a site layout for the first phase, all of which were provided by the development team.
Regarding the operating license, Smith says, the HeadWaters project is in the midst of the licensing process and working closely with the lottery, regularly updating the state agency on the casino’s land acquisition and design plans.
The HeadWaters project has gone through multiple iterations since voters approved the project in a November 2020 referendum. At that time, developers pitched a $500-plus million resort casino with a 300-room hotel, restaurants, an entertainment venue, a rooftop pool, thousands of slot machines and as many as 150 table games.
Roy Corby’s first job at a casino was as a dealer.
Now, Corby is general manager of the $300 million Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which is on track to become the first Virginia casino to open in a permanent location. It plans to open in January 2023 at the intersection of Victory and Cavalier boulevards, off Interstate 264.
But to Corby, the resort casino’s practically up and running already.
“It really starts to become real as you start to go through the dealer school, as you start to mass hire employees,” he says. The casino kicked off hiring in May with a job fair at Tidewater Community College, recruiting employees to train for dealing cards and running table games.
Rush Street Gaming, the casino’s owner, plans to hire 1,300 permanent employees. As of late June, the casino had hired 27 workers, including select leaders, Corby says, and had received 500 job applications.
Two more job fairs have been scheduled: one Aug. 20 at the Sportsplex in Portsmouth, and another Sept. 28 at the Holiday Inn Virginia Beach Norfolk Hotel and Conference Center. The casino has partnered with TCC to assist with workforce development and recruitment.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth started construction in December 2021, with Virginia Beach-based S.B. Ballard Construction Co. and Philadelphia-based Yates Construction as general contractors. Rivers Casino Portsmouth avoided supply chain issues and inflation-related cost increases by securing materials in advance, Corby says.
In July, the casino opened a 2,317-square-foot office in a coworking space on High Street in Olde Towne to house multiple administrative departments and assist with recruitment.
Interim Portsmouth Economic Development Director Brian Donahue says the casino will generate about $16 million in annual tax revenue, accounting for 7% of the city’s current gross domestic product.
Meanwhile, across the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s rival HeadWaters Resort & Casino is on schedule to open in 2024 next to Harbor Park, says casino spokesperson Jay Smith, adding he doesn’t have a timeline for its construction to start.
Norfolk’s city government is pondering allowing the HeadWaters casino to open a temporary facility, which Smith says could help develop customers and allow the city to draw tax revenue sooner. The temporaryvenue received an OK from city planners in May but still requires city council approval.
Virginia Business Associate Editors Courtney Mabeus and Robyn Sidersky contributed to this article.
HeadWaters Resort & Casino, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s $500 million gaming project planned for Norfolk, announced Wednesday it is abandoning its temporary casino plans at Harbor Park, instead locating the facility on the same property as the permanent casino.
“Issues were recently raised about the address of the proposed initial gaming facility,” the tribe said in an announcement Wednesday, noting an error in paperwork that led Norfolk officials to table a vote on the casino this week. “While the tribe does not believe the ballpark address to be an issue since it was approved by the city, any delay due to a potential challenge is unacceptable.” The tribe also added, “Contrary to media reports, the address of the stadium was never changed.”
The Virginian-Pilot reported that the city changed the baseball stadium’s address last month to match the casino’s permanent address of 200 Park Avenue, “in an apparent attempt to circumvent language in the casino referendum that Norfolk voters approved in 2020.” In May, the Norfolk Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit to open a temporary casino.
Instead of the baseball field, the tribe says it is submitting a site plan for city approval east of Harbor Park Stadium on the location designated for the permanent casino, and it could be as open as soon as March 2023. Plans for the temporary facility will be provided to the city in a few weeks, the tribe said.
Newport News-based construction company W.M. Jordan Co. will team up with a national firm, Suffolk, to build Norfolk’s $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino project on the Elizabeth River, according to a Friday announcement from the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, the casino’s operator.
Suffolk, which earns $4 billion in annual revenue and employs 2,500 people in locations across the United States, has built new casinos and made major expansions to others in Florida, Arkansas and the Boston Harbor, and was named the No. 1 hotel sector construction firm in 2020 by Building Design + Construction, a trade publication. Jordan, a familiar name in Hampton Roads, has completed more than 100 projects in the city of Norfolk, including the Hilton Norfolk The Main, Nauticus, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and buildings at Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University and Eastern Virginia Medical School.
The Pamunkey tribe, which is partnering with Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough on the casino, said in a statement Friday that Jordan and Suffolk were chosen for their use of local subcontractors and suppliers, and the Norfolk casino contract will require “high participation goals” for Black-owned businesses and Black workers in the construction process.
“This construction team will bring this project to life, one nail at a time. They are known for the quality of their work, and I have confidence they can deliver a magnificent project on schedule,” Pamunkey Chief Robert Gray said in a statement. “Just as important as their commitment to quality work, they are equally committed to providing opportunities for small and minority-owned subcontractors and suppliers to play a significant role in this project.”
The 300-room hotel, casino and entertainment venue is expected to produce at least 2,000 construction jobs. Groundbreaking is set for later this year or early 2022, the tribe has said, with the casino opening scheduled in 2023.
Monday afternoon was the city’s deadline for its request for proposals, and all six submitted were deemed eligible. Starting next month, Richmond will hold public meetings with opportunities for citizen input.
In addition to the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, which announced its plans to submit a project last year, the companies include Bally’s Corp., Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., Texas-based Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos, Wind Creek Hospitality and a partnership between Colonial Downs and Maryland-based media company Urban One Inc.
The proposals varied in size, scope, cost and locations:
Rhode Island-based Bally’s proposal would bring a $650 million, 1.6 million casino with sportsbook, performance space, a hotel, pool and dining and retail outlets to a 61-acre parcel of land north of Powhite Parkway and east of Chippenham Parkway near the city’s western border. The proposal would include a one-time $100 million payment to the city of Richmond. The company estimates it would create 2,000 jobs and annually generate 3.7 million visitors and $415 million in total gross revenue. The corporation is working with Willie Lanier, the former pro football player from Richmond; Darrell Green, cornerback from the former Washington Redskins; and Warren Thompson, founder, president and chairman of Thompson Hospitality Corp.
The Pamunkey tribe’s proposal is on a different site than it previously proposed, but the casino would still be on the city’s South Side, off Interstate 95 and south of the Bells Road exit on 24.5 acres, according to spokesman Jay Smith. The current $350 million proposal includes a 300-room, four-diamond hotel tower with a spa, pool, fitness center and several restaurants. The tribe anticipates the project would create 1,910 permanent jobs, as well as 5.3 million annual visitors, up from an earlier estimate of 4 million. Smith notes that the Pamunkey project is the only submission from a Virginia-based entity and would be 100% minority-owned. The tribe is preparing to begin construction on a casino in Norfolk later this year.
ONE casino rendering, backed by Maryland’s Urban One Inc.
Urban One, which owns and operates 55 radio stations and the TV One cable network, is proposing a $517 million project that would be the first casino under Black ownership in the country. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the company will partner with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, Colonial Downs Group’s owner, which also owns the Rosie’s Gaming Emporium franchise in Virginia. If approved, the casino would be built on 100 acres near Interstate 95 owned by Altria Group Inc., parent company of Philip Morris USA. In details released Tuesday, Urban One’s casino resort would be called ONE, and it would include a sportsbook, 150 hotel rooms, a 3,000-seat theater, 90,000 square feet of gaming space, 12 bars and restaurants, including many with local ties, as well as 20,000 square feet of event space. Urban One, which has a minority stake in MGM National Harbor on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., in Maryland, would also partner with Live Nation to put on 200 live entertainment events.
The Times-Dispatch also reports that The Cordish Cos., which owns casinos in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Florida, has submitted a plan for a $600 million project that would include a hotel with 300 rooms and 30 suites, a 4,000-seat entertainment venue and 250,000 square feet of gaming space. This project would be built on the current Movieland movie theater property near The Diamond across the Boulevard from Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood. Cordish, which developed Norfolk’s Waterfront district, last year threatened to sue the city of Norfolk over its 2013 development agreement with the city, which said that the company could expand a $40 million dining and retail project into a casino if the state legalized gambling. Cordish also backed casino opposition efforts in Norfolk.
Announced Wednesday is a $400 million proposal from Houston-based Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos, which would bring a 950,000-square-foot facility about six miles from downtown, according to a news release, and would include a 177-room hotel with 37 suites, a 93,000-square-foot casino floor, a 16,000-square-foot event space, a 1,500-seat concert venue and at least six restaurants, including Morton’s The Steakhouse, and four retail outlets. A pool complex would include a lazy river and cabanas. The company estimates that 1,200 jobs would be created, and completion would take about three years after approval. The proposal also includes one-time donations of $60 million to Richmond Public Schools, $10 million to the Richmond Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $1 million to Virginia Union University. The proposed location would be on the same property as the Bally’s proposal, north of Powhite Parkway and east of Chippenham Parkway near the city’s western border, according to the mayor’s office. A Bally’s spokesperson released a statement saying that it has the “exclusive right to purchase” the Parkway Crossing site, although the company has other options and has an exclusive right to purchase a second site.
Also announced Wednesday is Alabama-based Wind Creek Hospitality’s $541 million project in the city’s South Side on two plots with 46 acres combined. Wind Creek’s bid would include 100,000 square feet of gaming space, 2,500 slot machines and 120 table games, as well as more than 500 hotel rooms in two towers. The project also would include a 67,000-square-foot entertainment center, a spa, indoor pool, fitness center and seven food and beverage locations. The company manages seven casino resorts and a gaming website for the federally recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians, as well as racetracks in Alabama and Florida.
Rendering of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s proposed casino and hotel project in Richmond.
Of the five cities across Virginia where commercial casinos have been legalized, Richmond was the only one to delay its approval process until 2021. Casino projects in Danville, Bristol, Norfolk and Portsmouth were overwhelmingly approved by voters in last November’s referendums, and are on their way to construction over the next couple of years.
A nine-member evaluation panel named by Mayor Levar Stoney reviewed the casino proposals over the following days, assisted by consulting firm Convergence Strategy Group, and the panel will make a recommendation in May or June to the Richmond City Council, which will then choose the site and operator in June, according to the city.
The city’s first virtual community meeting to discuss the six proposals will take place March 9, and full details will be available on the city website.
At that point, the Virginia Lottery must approve the proposed casino operator, and local voters will have the opportunity to weigh in with a November referendum on the ballot.
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe announced Thursday that Dallas, Texas-based HKS and Richmond-based Baskervill will serve as the architecture team for the tribe’s planned $500 million Norfolk Resort & Casino if city voters approve a Nov. 3 local referendum approving the casino development.
Backed by Tennessee billionaire investor Jon Yarbrough, the casino and resort will include a 300-room hotel with restaurants, a spa and an entertainment venue that will seat 2,500. The project is expected to create 2,500 full-time jobs. The tribe predicts the project will have a total economic impact of $850 million for the state, including $754 million for the city, as well as $26 million to $31 million annually in gaming and sales-related taxes.
“The design team that we have assembled will create an amazing resort,” Pamunkey Chief Robert Gray said in a statement. “These two companies bring the creativity, industry expertise, experience and drive to ensure that this facility will exceed the highest expectations set by the tribe and the city of Norfolk for this project.”
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe issued conceptual renderings for the Norfolk casino more than a year ago, but those will change with the new architectural team in place, says Jay Smith, spokesman for the Pamunkey Indian Tribe.
HKS is a global firm with 1,350 employees and 23 locations. Some of their notable projects include AT&T Stadium (home to the Dallas Cowboys) and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (home to the NFL Rams and Chargers), in addition to other resorts and casinos. HKS was the lead architect on the MGM National Harbor Casino, located just outside Washington, D.C., in Maryland.
“It is an honor to be part of a project that will transform and create a positive impact for the Norfolk community,” Luis Zapiain, HKS principal and director of hospitality, said in a statement. “Along with bringing our design expertise and creativity, we are equally committed to working alongside our local partners and sharing the common goal of creating a destination like no other.”
Founded in 1897, Baskervill designed Norfolk’s Glass Light Hotel & Gallery and handled the interior design of the Hilton Norfolk The Main.
“We are thrilled to be working with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe alongside our partners at HKS on this incredibly exciting project for Norfolk and Virginia. As a longstanding Virginia-based firm, we know how important an investment like this can be for our communities. We’re proud to be a part of this,” Baskervill President Bob Clark said in a statement.
Under legislation passed in 2020, the state will allow casinos to be developed in five economically challenged Virginia cities, including Norfolk, but citizens have to approved the casinos in local referendums. The Pamunkey Tribe was designated as the preferred casino operator by Norfolk City Council and the project has also received preliminary certification from the state Lottery Board.
On Virginia’s first state-recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe announced Monday that its proposed casino in Norfolk would provide between $3.5 million and $4 million each year to the Virginia Indigenous People’s Trust Fund.
The proposed $500 million casino and resort is on the Nov. 3 general election ballot in the city of Norfolk; if voters approve the plan, the casino would be built on the waterfront near Harbor Park. If the casino moves forward, it would be the only tribe-affiliated commercial casino in Virginia, where four casinos’ fates are being decided by voters in local referendums next month.
The Pamunkey Tribe, the first of seven Virginia Native American tribes to be federally recognized, falls under state legislation that directs 1% of gaming proceeds from any tribe-operated casino to be given to a fund to assist the other Virginia tribes that are federally recognized.
According to a news release from the tribe, the fund will provide finances for education, housing, health care and business development to the Chickahominy Tribe and the Chickahominy-Eastern Division; the Monacan Indian Nation; the Nansemond; the Rappahannock Tribe Inc.; and the Upper Mattaponi Tribe. In addition to the fund, about $50 million a year will go toward school construction and renovation, focusing on public schools that were constructed more than 50 years ago.
“As the only tribe eligible to operate a casino in the state, we are thrilled with the opportunities our proposed resort and casino can provide other native Virginians,” Pamunkey Tribe Chief Robert Gray said in a statement. “After suffering injustices for hundreds of years, casino gaming in Norfolk will help continue the process of reconciliation for some of the commonwealth’s first disenfranchised groups. We know what this will mean in terms of new opportunities for our tribe, and that’s why we pushed to have a portion of gaming revenue taxes go to a fund to assist the other tribes.”
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The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
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The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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