Dome dreams

Lynda Edwards

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 8:42 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Canadian contractor Scott Hawrelechko dreamed of golfing on greens under a giant geodesic dome, protected from blizzards and gale force winds.

Hawrelechko proposed his domed golf course to potential backers in his Edmonton hometown. But the bubble-enclosed course was mocked by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, then an advisory board member for a competing Alberta golf course proposal.

"I hope (Hawrelechko) does it, but I think there's a better chance of me flying to the moon and back," Nicklaus told the Edmonton Sun.

So Hawrelechko adapted his dream to suit the blazing hot Mississippi Delta, where casinos bloom among cotton fields. Mississippi is one of the nation's largest gaming jurisdictions with 29 state-licensed casinos plus two owned by the Choctaw tribe.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission approved Hawrelechko's site in Tunica County and design June 17.

His gorgeous architectural renderings depict enormous ice goblins and dragons in blue-lit caves, paths winding past lagoons, orchid gardens and cherry orchards, an 18-hole golf course and aquarium -- all under a big climate-controlled bubble. The casino and hotel will be attached to the dome.

It will take $900 million to translate the watercolor renderings into reality.

Although Hawrelechko has no gaming experience, he has gotten a warm reception in Mississippi.

"I don't care if the dome is practical or whether Mississippi will be saturated with casinos before the resort is built," Gaming Commission Director Larry Gregory said. "We let a free market decide a casino's fate in Mississippi."

What Gregory does care about is the financial plan that Hawrelechko will present to the commission this fall.

"We've never had a casino break ground then run out of money," Gregory said. "We never want cranes and bulldozers sitting around an empty hole. This period between site and financial plan approval is when the developer does his Wall Street road show drumming up investors."

Hawrelechko enlisted ex-Caesars Palace President Dan Reichartz to help convince investors that his team has the expertise for a casino-resort with technology light years beyond a fake volcano or dancing fountains.

This month Hawrelechko will finalize his takeover of a company called Synergy 2000 (OTCBB:SYNY), according to Synergy President Eli Dubich. California-based Synergy is a technology consulting firm that currently sells stock at 45 cents per share on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Dubich said that Synergy traded at a high of $6 per share when terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center destroyed many Synergy clients. Synergy will leave the technology consulting business for resort development when Hawrelechko takes control. Synergy shareholders approved the merger with Hawrelechko's Myriad Golf Resort Inc.

Hawlechko will install his own managers at the newly merged company.

"I'll be leaving although I plan to buy stock in Scott's company because I believe in the Mississippi project," Dubich said. "Buying Synergy gives Scott a mechanism to sell stock to American investors."

AmSouth Bank economist Robert Allsbrook said that mergers that dramatically change the type of business a company does were commonplace during the 1980s.

"For this guy, it's the right approach," Allsbrook said. "If he went to a bank for financing, the bankers would want to him to produce a proven track record in the casino business."

Hawrelechko runs a business painting skyscrapers and stadiums. He said that he has 160 Canadian investors for his resort.

"They bought shares in the venture for prices ranging as low as 50 cents per share," Hawrelechko said. "We'll build the project in stages as we gather funds. The hotel and casino come first. The golf course comes last."

He has contracted engineer Robert Ross, who helped create the dome technology while working at Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Ross runs an Ohio company that has designed climate-controlled domes enclosing Olympic-sized swimming pools and baseball diamonds. His work for NASA landed him a gig on the "X-Files" movie creating huge, glowing domes for a scene.

"The domes are made from a very thin but durable plastic strung on steel cables," Ross said.

One of his structures built in Kansas withstood three tornado hits. The weather challenge in Mississippi will be searing heat. Ross recommended a misting system and five fans, each with a five horsepower engine, for the Mississippi dome's climate control.

"Fans push the air through vents in the dome while the mist cloud below has a cooling effect," Ross said. "If you had a sealed dome, you could go broke fighting the sun."

archive