Saratoga Casino and Raceway has hired a national construction company to build its new $34 million on-site hotel, racino officials said Wednesday.
The racino has retained Kirchhoff-Consigli Construction Management and Tishman Construction to build the five-story hotel, which is supposed to open in 2016.
“This yearlong construction phase will bring hundreds of good-paying union jobs to our community, and we look forward to getting started in the near future,” said Dan Gerrity, president of Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
The announcement came a few days after the state Gaming Commission, as lead agency for an environmental review, concluded no further review is needed since there is no significant unaddressed impact on the environment. In an April 24 decision, the Gaming Commission determined the racino’s owners won’t need to do an environmental impact statement on their plans.
The racino’s owners believe the hotel on the Jefferson Street side of the property will help the facility — which has only video lottery terminals, as well as live and simulcast racing — compete after the opening of a full-fledged casino in Schenectady.
In December, the raceway abandoned the most controversial part of its plans — a 2,000-seat event center that raised concerns it would draw people away from downtown.
The hotel will have 123,000 square feet of space, and include an indoor pool, a steakhouse, a coffee shop and meeting rooms. It would be built on part of the existing parking lot west of the racino, and the existing harness practice track would be removed to accommodate new parking.
The negative declaration means the environmental review is essentially complete, and the state Office of General Services, as the Gaming Commission’s agent, can begin the permitting process, said Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park.
Because it involved state-regulated gaming, the state, not the city, has approval power over the project.
The racino operators have said their expansion should draw more business to the VLT casino once a casino offering live table games opens on the Schenectady riverfront, in about 2017. Casino management has estimated the expansion of casino gambling could reduce the racino’s customers by up to 40 percent and drastically impact its 630-person workforce.
Saratoga Casino and Raceway has 1,700 VLTs, as well as live harness racing and simulcast races.
In announcing the construction team, Gerrity called the project “transformational” for the raceway.
Kirchhoff-Consigli Construction Management is based in Pleasant Valley. Tishman Construction, a division of AECOM of Los Angeles, has worked on One World Trade Center and other major projects across the country.
The building, which will have Victorian architectural features, is being designed by JCJ Architecture of New York City.
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