Danville casino price tag now set at $500M

Danville’s forthcoming Caesars Virginia casino and resort is going to be bigger than expected, with the project expected to cost $500 million, $100 million more than previously estimated. Caesars Entertainment released new renderings and more details Thursday for the casino.

Part of the additional cost will go toward a larger hotel with 500 guestrooms, 200 more than initially proposed. The casino will include 40,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, an entertainment venue that can accommodate up to 2,500 people, 1,400 slot machines and table games, a World Series of Poker-branded live poker room plus new restaurants and bars. Groundbreaking is set for December, with opening expected in late 2023, and Caesars expects to produce 900 construction jobs and 1,300 permanent jobs after opening.

“Over the course of the last two years, myself, City Council and staff have taken great care to develop plans, alongside residents and Caesars Entertainment, to create a resort that will positively impact the community through new tax revenue, jobs, partnership opportunities with local businesses and tourism dollars,” Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones said in a statement Thursday. “We are confident that Caesars Virginia will honor the old Dan River Mills’ Schoolfield site and become a pillar of pride for Danville and its people.”

Danville is one of four Virginia cities with casinos in the works, after Virginia lawmakers approved commercial casinos in five economically challenged cities across the commonwealth in 2020. The other three cities with casinos approved by local voters are Bristol, Norfolk and Portsmouth, and Richmond voters will weigh in on a casino referendum on November’s ballot.

Earlier in the year, Danville City Council created a new zoning district for the Caesars Virginia casino, which is set to be built in an industrial zone in the Schoolfield neighborhood, allowing new rules governing building height and signage specific to Caesars’ plans.

“Caesars Virginia will be an economic driver for the region, both as a tourist and entertainment draw and through the more than a thousand good-paying jobs the resort will create,” Anthony Carano, Caesars Entertainment president and chief operating officer, said in a statement Thursday. “The people of Danville have entrusted us to build a world-class resort, and we look forward to proving that trust was well founded with an incredible resort worthy of the iconic Caesars brand.”