Caesars riverboat opening $62 million hotel

Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

BRIDGEPORT, Ind. -- The Louisville, Ky., area's third-largest hotel is ready for business.

The $62 million, 503-room Caesars Indiana, which has been a major focus for Caesars since it opened its Harrison County casino in late 1998, was to open to the public today.

Officials of Caesars, owned by Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas, said they don't see the hotel as competition to others in the area because its primary mission is to serve gamblers rather than conventions.

"We didn't spend $62 million for nothing," said William Mabrey, Caesars' vice president of hotel operations. "It's apparent to anyone our primary job is to increase our gaming revenues."

However, Karen Williams of the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau said the additional rooms the hotel brings to the area will enable the city to compete for larger conventions.

Hotel construction was delayed for more than two years by archaeological excavations, required under federal laws to survey and document prehistoric artifacts found at the site.

The final part of the Caesars project, an 18-hole golf course located about 10 miles to the southwest, is scheduled to open next August.