It’s a question on everyone’s mind: When will the Spa Hotel, a 26-story luxury hotel on the Seneca Niagara Casino grounds, open?
The answer is a sure bet — New Year’s Eve.
“We like to do things on New Year’s Eve,” said G. Michael “Mickey” Brown, president and CEO of the Seneca Niagara Casino.
It is a date that has held significant milestones for the casino. It opened its doors to the public for the first time on New Year’s Eve 2002. It’s 2,300 parking garage opened on New Year’s Eve 2003; and for 2004, the milestone was to complete the steel framing of the 26-story hotel with work then shifting on getting the first 10 floors, or 275 rooms, open by October with a grand opening to take place on New Year’s Eve 2005.
“We are on schedule and within budget,” Brown said. “This has been an extremely successful project.”
Last week, the frame had already reached 23 floors. What’s helped move the construction along is covering the frame of the building in shrink wrap — an insulated type of material designed to keep out the harsh weather elements. The only deterrent is the wind.
“We can’t raise high steel in wind,” Brown said.
Construction has slowed down just a bit, however. And it doesn’t have anything to do with the weather.
“We have made some operational changes that we feel are necessary,” said Richard Nephew, the new chief of staff for newly election Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder Sr. “We have slowed down the pace of construction a little so that everything is done with proper planning and consideration of costs.
“President Snyder feels there is no need to rush the building pace at this point. All aspects of the casino will continue to be under review. Like any of our enterprises, there has to be room for adaptation to our needs and trends in the gaming industry.”
Along with the construction of a new hotel, the Falls casino has enjoyed many other new amenities in 2004, including the addition of a new poker room, a mezzanine level penny and nickel slot area, high limit slot area and a record-high membership in the Seneca Player’s Club — now totaling about 575,000 members.
Many more expanded features are expected for 2005, with entertainment a prime focus. In 2004, the casino put on a ‘thank you’ free community concert featuring the Beach Boys on Labor Day.
This year, Brown said the casino plans to offer up two to three such concerts and the first has already been booked for the Fourth of July, featuring Credence Clearwater Revival.
Another new feature of 2004, the 16-table poker room, has been a great success, Brown said. There’s been one major tournament already, there are daily and weekend tournaments, and more major events are planned.
“We’re plugged into the World Poker Finals as a satellite site,” Brown said.
The casino is trying to secure a television spot in the finals.
“Poker has become enormously popular in the casino industry because of the exposure of television,” Brown said.
New leadership takes charge
Immense changes are in store for the Seneca casinos, including the Seneca Allegany Casino. Eventually, both sites — in Niagara Falls and Salamanca — will contain hotels, parking garages, entertainment venues and perhaps sports venues.
“Many things are possible,” said Richard Nephew, chief of staff for the Seneca Nation. “We will continue to expand our gaming and resort areas for years to come.”
The changes ahead reflect changes in the Seneca leadership. In November, Barry Snyder Sr. beat former Nation president Cyrus Schindler, who held the post when the Senecas reached an agreement with the state to build three casinos in Western New York, including the Niagara Falls site.
Since taking over the Seneca presidency, Snyder, who could not be reached for comment, has instituted some changes in the casino operations, according to Nephew. President Snyder and eight members of the Council are continuing elected officials and are knowledgeable of most casino operations.
“Therefore, I don’t think there have been many surprises found at this point,” Nephew said. “Personally speaking, I was surprised how easy it was to make some very important and necessary changes.”
Snyder and Treasurer Maurice John Sr., in conjunction with the Seneca Legislative Council, have taken steps to ensure that casino management and the Board of Directors are more responsive and responsible to the Seneca government and therefore the people.
“The Seneca Council will have a much more oversight in casino operations in the future,” Nephew said.
Brown has not commented on his plans for the future, although his contract with the Senecas expires in 2007. Snyder also was unavailable for comment on that issue.
However, there’s already a new board for the Seneca Gaming Corp., said Nephew. The new board includes Bergal Mitchell, a former board member and Seneca Council member, and Arnold Cooper, a former Seneca Nation Treasurer who once seemed to be against Class III gaming.
“I think his value will be to provide a critical and perhaps counter viewpoint on the board,” Nephew said. Also on the board are Martin Seneca Jr., a “very experienced and respected” Seneca attorney with a Harvard education.
“He will bring his legal expertise and knowledge of the broad issues involved in the world of Native gaming to the board,” Nephew said.
Snyder and John have agreed to temporarily take the last two available seats on the board. “As elected officials, they will lend public confidence to the newly reconstituted board and will be replaced by qualified individuals in the near future,” Nephew said
Competition scarce
While some may have speculated the opening this year of the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario, may have affected the Seneca casino, it couldn’t be farther from reality, at least from Brown’s perspective.
“It’s really had no affect on our revenue or patron counts,” Brown said.
He admits he’s visited the casino on the other side of the border a couple of times and said it’s a beautiful facility. But, the Seneca casino has an edge.
“We’re in America. We’re convenient and we’ve added as much as we can,” Brown said. “We’re always on the move. We have easy parking with a connected garage and the parking lot in Lackey Plaza. We have loyal patrons to which we have provided continued good service.”
And it seems to be paying off. The casino estimates 6 million visitors each year. On weekdays, the numbers range between 10,000 to 12,000 daily and more than 22,000 on each weekend day, Brown said.
The Fallsview casino hasn’t appeared to meet its own expectations since it opened, according to Brown, who understands the facility may have had some employee layoffs since it opened. Some of those displaced workers have applied at the Seneca casino.
Meanwhile, the casino continues to exceed the state’s expectations, according to state Senator George Maziarz, who, despite not representing Niagara Falls, has positioned himself as a key force in how the casino revenues for Niagara Falls are divvied up.
“It’s been very positive,” Maziarz said. “They have a hotel under construction, there’s been no real increase in crime. It certainly has had an effect on Western New York. The fact that there’s almost 2,300 people working there is clearly a positive.”
The success can only increase once the Niagara Falls International Airport becomes a player in the casino game.
“If you want to get private aircraft in and have them land close to the casino, there needs to be a hub in Niagara Falls. If you want to get casino junkets in, the thing to do is to get them to land at Niagara Falls,” Maziarz said. “We need a proper terminal and proper facility to do that and it becomes easier to do with a casino than without.”
That’s why it’s important to use casino revenues to help develop the airport as opposed to taxpayer dollars, or instead of using the funds to build more low-income housing, Maziarz said.
Brown said the airport could be of great assistance to the casino, having direct flights to Niagara Falls which would bring in groups from other parts of the country.
“It’s 10 minutes away,” Brown said.
Meanwhile, there’s been no resolve in how the local and state elected officials plan to resolve the disbursement of the local casino share. “We can’t continue to argue over money,” Maziarz said. “We have to go to the next level and start working diligently on more private investments in downtown Niagara Falls.”
When asked if he ever thinks that will actually happen, Maziarz said he remains optimistic.
“There are certainly a lot of road blocks to overcome,” he said.
City reaps rewards
The Seneca Niagara Casino took in a reported $289.6 million in 2004 in gaming revenues compared to $184.3 million in 2003, an increase of $105.3 million or a reported 57 percent.
The numbers reflect the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. The report, issued by the Seneca Gaming Corp. last week also stated that the Seneca Allegany Casino, which opened in Salamanca on May 1, took in $47.9 million in gaming revenues.
The numbers are looking good for Niagara Falls, which stands to gain about $12.5 million for its share of the casino revenues as part of the compact between the state and Senecas. That is about $2 million more than 2003, Anello estimates.
A good deal of the city’s share has already been spent, Anello said.
Up to $1 million for the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation
Up to $1 million for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority for the airport
$750,000 for Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for its heart center
$750,000 for the Niagara Falls City School District
The city also has also committed to giving some of the money to the Housing Authority for a project to demolish and rebuild a public housing complex in the city’s North End and for the operation of the new conference center, Anello said.
Anello also hopes to use some of the funds to revamp local streets and sidewalks, to build a new public safety building , a new train station and to spur new city economic development programs that would provide loans and grants to small businesses and residential properties that do not qualify for other grant money, he said.
“We’re exploring the mechanics,” he said. “We have to make it so that it complies with both state and federal laws.”
There may be some long-term positive effects as well. Since there are a number of Senecas employed at the casino, it may become plausible to consider housing areas in the city for Nation members.
“I am not sure of the number of employees who now live or plan to move to Niagara Falls. I think the numbers will fluctuate for some time due to the uncertainty of the location of the third casino and accommodations available in Allegany,” Nephew said.
“Some people thrive in an urban environment; others may prefer the country atmosphere of Allegany,” he said. “We have not identified a particular part of the city as preferred over another. When the time comes, we will meet with Mayor Anello to discuss our plans in a cooperative way.”
While the Senecas are enjoying the successes at the two casinos already up and running, the Nation continues to watch and wait when it comes to the location of its third Western New York casino location. The Town of Cheektowaga continues to be its preferred choice based on market studies, Nephew said.
But there’s a snag. A lawsuit has been filed by a group called the Huron Group against the Town of Cheektowaga.
“Since we are not a party to the suit, we can only wait and watch like everyone else,” Nephew said.
The Huron Group is lead by the head of Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello’s casino task force, Carl Paladino — a Buffalo developer who also has plans to renovate the United Office Building in downtown Niagara Falls.
“It is interesting that the Huron Group chose the name of a Native American group that was vanquished by the Senecas and our allies,” Nephew said.
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