The Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway tonight has committed to building a hotel, according to an announcement at the Unified Government meeting.
“This is good news,” said UG Administrator Doug Bach.
He said he received a letter today from Bob Sheldon, vice president and general manager of Hollywood Casino, who confirmed it is their intent to move forward with construction of the hotel as originally set out in the development agreement with the UG.
A groundbreaking for the hotel will be Oct. 5, 2014, when construction will begin, according to the letter from Sheldon. Planning will take place this summer.
The letter said the Kansas Entertainment board has decided to commence the development of the hotel, according to the development agreement made earlier with the Unified Government. Kansas Entertainment is the parent company of Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway.
The hotel is expected to be at or adjacent to the casino at the Village West area of Wyandotte County, near I-70 and I-435.
The development agreement with the UG called for a penalty of 1 percent of the gaming revenues, estimated at about $1.3 million a year, to begin if construction was not started. There would be no penalty if the decision was made by May 1 to build a hotel, UG officials said last January.