After beginning construction on the new 353-room Rush Tower expansion for its Golden Nugget Lake Charles casino resort in late March, American casino operator Landry’s Incorporated held a topping-off ceremony yesterday to mark the final stages in the $100 million development.
According to a report from local television broadcaster KSLA, the expansion for the Louisiana casino operated by Houston-based Landry’s Incorporated is additionally due to feature a trio of pool villa suites and 24 corner suites and could be open by the spring of 2017.
As part of the celebrations, construction crews hoisted a spruce tree and a pair of American flags to the top of the development while workers were also treated to a complimentary lunch and got to participate in the topping-off festivities.
“We got a lot of dedicated construction folks from the entire region,” Matt McGovern, the senior project manager for the Rush Tower development, told KSLA. “They are from Texas, Louisiana, Florida and North Carolina.”
Landry’s Incorporated revealed that its Golden Nugget Lake Charles is especially popular with gamblers from the Houston area as permitted types of gambling in Texas only run to the lottery alongside raffles, charitable bingo, pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing, and pull-tabs while the state’s sole Class III casino, the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel from the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe Of Texas, is located some 340 miles away in the town of Eagle Pass on the Mexican border.
“Eighty-five percent of our customers come from out of state so we are excited,” Gerry Del Prete, General Manager for the Golden Nugget Lake Charles, told KSLA. “Predominately Texas, particularly that Houston [metropolitan] area, is important to us. It’s very Vegas-like if you don’t have two days to go on a plane to Las Vegas then this is your alternative.”
The 242-acre waterfront Golden Nugget Lake Charles currently offers 740 rooms and suites housed in a 25-story tower as well as a country club and an 18-hole golf course, while its casino features 1,600 slots, 77 gaming tables, and a poker room. It is one of five Golden Nugget-branded properties operated by Landry’s Incorporated alongside venues in Las Vegas, Laughlin, Atlantic City and Biloxi and moreover comes complete with an 18,000 sq ft ballroom, a private beach and marina, more than a dozen dining and bar options and a retail corridor.