Harrah's Horseshoe casino finishing $500 million expansion
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By Gene Koprowski
Dramatic changes to the shoreline of Hammond, Ind., are already appearing, brought about by the $485 million expansion of the Horseshoe casino. A revitalized Hammond Marina will open May 1.


Construction of a new casino is progressing ahead of schedule with the opening expected in late summer instead of early fall, according to Rick Mazer, Indiana regional president and general manager of Horseshoe Casino, Hammond.

The Horseshoe project includes construction of new gaming rooms, new restaurants and a new theater designed to draw Las Vegas-style entertainment to the facility. "The design is comparable to any of the finest casinos in Las Vegas ," Mazer said.
When the expanded casino opens, Mazer said he expects the full-time payroll to jump from around "2,300 employees to 2,700."
There are other, noticeable changes too. All the old chips are being replaced, and a timeline for redemption of existing chips is being established. Gaming equipment also will have to be moved.

Mayor Tom McDermott said this major construction project represents a "significant commitment" by Harrah's Corp . to the city of Hammond. "It was a difficult decision to shut down the marina for a year, I'm not going to lie," McDermott said. "But improvements at the marina will help bring back its loyal users."
Milan Kruzynski, director of the Port Authority, said that themarina is about 17 years old. "This gave us an opportunity to update everything," Kruzynski said.

The Horseshoe construction caused the marina to reconfigure all the docking slips. Two years ago, there were 982 slips, and this year. Part of the marina area is still tied up with construction, and there will be 692 slips. But, the final slip count will be around 900 in 2009 when all work is completed.

The marina will also offer day rental of small slips for personal watercraft often used by boat owners. He said this was done as a convenience for boaters, who often don't have a place to dock their smaller craft near their boat slip.
As part of the construction project the harbor was dredged and that sand was used to replenish Lakefront Beach. "It rivals the beach at the dunes," he said.

McDermott said the improvements at the marina and the casino will be an economic boon to the local community.
The 200 to 300 additional full-time jobs that will be added at the casino will help the local economy. McDermott said Horseshoe has been employed local residents.

The investment will also increase the assessed value and lower the tax rate in the city.
McDermott said the location as the first casino in Indiana nearest Chicago has been helpful and he expects the new casino to be an even bigger draw.  "There's going to be a lot more visitors to the Hammond marina," McDermott said.





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