PORT ANGELES — The 7 Cedars Casino will be bigger, better and more elegant when the Jamestown S’Klallam completes a 4,000-square-foot expansion this December, tribal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Allen told Port Angeles business leaders Monday.
The $7.5 million expansion will include hundreds of new slot machines, new table games, a Fireside restaurant and a Rainforest bar taking the place of the bingo hall to the left of the casino’s main entrance.
“We’re very excited about this project,” Allen told nearly 100 members of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce at their weekly luncheon at the Red Lion Hotel.
“We think that you’ll find it very elegant.”
The expansion will support 85 new jobs, adding to the tribe’s 650-member workforce, Allen said.
Besides the casino, the tribe operates a health clinic in Sequim, the Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course near Sequim, and Northwest Native Expressions Art Gallery, Longhouse Market & Deli, a dental clinic and other facilities in Blyn.
Allen, who is also president of the Washington Indian Gaming Commission and an influential state and federal lobbyist, displayed an artist’s rendering of the interior of the new casino space and architectural drawings showing how the walls will be extended by 35 feet.
Although the new wing of the casino will allow smoking, Allen said a state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air conditioning system — along with a higher ceiling — should limit the nuisance to those sensitive to secondhand smoke.
“The new side is going to circulate way better,” Allen said.
The casino face-lift is the first phase in the tribe’s plan to build a hotel and resort off U.S. Highway 101 in Blyn.
The resort was put on hold when the economy tanked a few years ago.
“The resort is still very much on the burner,” Allen said.
“We had to put it in the back burner because this basically is about a $60 million to $75 million project that we will be engaging in.
“Because of the financial industry and in order to make sure that we’re going to be able to cover the debt load, we have backed off and said that we’re going to take this thing into a phase-by-phase approach.”
Next year, the tribe plans to build the water and wastewater infrastructure for the resort.
It will include a water reuse facility on recently purchased land near the casino.
“It’s a very sophisticated system that we’re designing as we speak,” Allen said.
“After that, we need the parking garage. We’re looking at somewhere between a 500- and 650-car parking garage, and then an entertainment center.”
Allen did not announce a target date for the resort.
Meanwhile, the tribe still plans to upgrade the Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course beginning next year.
The 18-hole course will be renovated, and a par-3 golf academy will be built on an adjacent property along Woodcock Road.
“The golfing operation doesn’t make money,” Allen said.
“Right now, we’re breaking even. And for us, that works.
“Golf is simply a sport that is highly loved in the community, and we want to be able to provide it.”
He added: “We think the Cedars at Dungeness is really a fine property and works very well.”
Allen has served as CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe since 1982.
Under his leadership, the tribe has grown from a zero resource base to having an annual budget of about $26 million.
“For us, we don’t essentially have a tax base, so our businesses are our tax base,” Allen told the chamber audience.
“Casinos are a big deal, and they have made a significant difference in Indian Country for about 240 or so of the 565 Indian nations.”
As the tribe continues to purchase land, it plans to open a second Longhouse market near the Jefferson County line in about four years.
The first grocery-gas station complex was built on the site of a former tavern in Blyn in 2007.
“We’re delighted to say that we’re holding our own at Jamestown,” Allen said, adding that charitable contributions are important to the tribe.
“We’re very proud to be able to give back,” he said.
“We give back literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in different initiatives throughout the community.”
Last month, Allen received Indian Gaming magazine’s 2012 Eagle Visionary Award and was inducted into the Indian Gaming Hall of Fame.
“I’m very honored,” Allen said in a telephone interview after the induction ceremony at the Northwest Indian Gaming Conference and Expo at the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton in mid-July.
“It was nice to be honored in front of a whole lot of people I have a great appreciation for and respect.”
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 5072 or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
