MGM Grand, its partners get casino financing

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 9:18 a.m.

The new facility will be used to finance the development of MGM Grand's temporary casino planned for Detroit, the initial development and construction of a permanent Motor City casino, and general working capital, MGM Grand said in a statement.

About two-thirds of the commitments are from Michigan-based banks, mostly from the Detroit metropolitan area.

MGM Grand has said that if everything goes as planned, its temporary Detroit casino should open by late summer or early fall of this year. Its features: 73,000 square feet of casino space, more than 2,300 slot machines and 80 table games, as well as specialty restaurants and bars.

Under a development deal with the city of Detroit, the temporary gambling hall will remain open for no more than four years, by which time MGM's permanent Detroit casino should open.

MGM Grand estimates that the permanent entertainment, hotel and gaming complex will cost $800 million.

MGM Grand officials in Las Vegas did not immediately return telephone messages Wednesday.

Last month, the Detroit City Council approved plans to build three permanent casinos along the Detroit River by three casino companies - MGM Grand, Atwater/Circus and Greektown/Chippewa Indians.

The permanent site of all three casinos, in Detroit's Rivertown district, now contains a mixture of warehouses, restaurants and clubs, cement plants, light industries and vacant land.