Mohegan Sun gives sneak peak of new casino, arena

Diane Scarponi

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

MONTVILLE, Conn. -- A new gambling palace and entertainment complex, bathed in golden light and inspired by Mohegan Indian traditions, is nearing completion on the tribe's reservation.

The Casino of the Sky, adjacent to the tribe's existing casino, will add 2,500 slot machines, 175 table games, restaurants, shops, an arena and entertainment space to the Mohegan Sun casino.

The complex is scheduled to open in October, but casino leaders gave the media a pre-opening tour Thursday.

Among the attractions: a four-story, crystal-shaped mountain that houses a bar, a four-story waterfall adorned with a Dale Chihuly sculpture, and a 150-foot planetarium dome showing continuous arrays of constellations.

In April, an adjacent 1,200-room hotel and 100,000-square-foot convention center is scheduled to open. The total project is projected to cost $1 billion.

The expansion, called "Project Sunburst," is necessary to make Mohegan Sun a full entertainment venue and a destination for people beyond the Northeast, said Mitchell Etess, vice president of marketing.

"People will have more reasons to visit, more options to visit," Etess said.

The average visitor now spends about 120 minutes in Mohegan Sun, he explained. The addition of convention space, a hotel, other restaurants, theaters and attractions is expected to increase that stay.

Rockwell Group, the interior designers, met with tribal members to hear traditional Mohegan stories of creation and history to get inspiration for the casino's decor, said Ed Bakos, the principal designer.

The color scheme centers around hues associated with sunrise, sunset and the moon, with subtle color shifts in gold, red, orange, copper and brass.

Four regions in the circular-shaped casino align with four Mohegan constellations: morning star, evening star, seven wise men and bears. The regions in between correspond with the four elements: fire, water, air and earth.

Turtles are an oft-repeated motif, from a pattern in the carpet to a turtle-shaped cage that towers above a new no-smoking casino.

"In Mohegan tradition, the Genesis story says the earth began on a turtle's back and rose out of the water," Bakos said.

In the middle of the casino glows a four-story mountain called "Wombi Rock." The word "wombi" means white, and the rock of black and marbled white onyx represents the quartz crystals the Mohegans used to gather for spiritual and medicinal uses, he said.

Above Wombi Rock, on a 150-foot dome, a planetarium will project regional views of the heavens at different times of the year.

The new casino will also house a shopping arcade, including many shops seen in upscale shopping malls, such as Brookstone and Lux, Bond & Green jewelers.

Several new restaurants will open, including national chain restaurants such as Michael Jordan's Steakhouse and Jasper White's Summer Shack.

"The tenant restaurants have worked very, very well in Las Vegas. Our restaurants are great, but as celebrity chefs become more popular, people will like to dine in a name establishment," Etess said.

The idea behind the brand-name shops instead of pricey casino shops is the same: to give conventioneers and visitors from around the country someplace familiar to eat and shop, he said.

The addition also will have casino-run restaurants, including the gourmet Rain restaurant, which is decorated with waterfalls running down the sides of the walls.

The arena can accommodate up to 10,000 spectators for concerts, sporting events and trade shows.