Gambling board OKs MotorCity expansion, rejects Greektown’s

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.

DETROIT -- The Michigan Gaming Control Board has approved plans for an expansion of the MotorCity Casino but has rejected a refinancing and expansion plan for the Greektown Casino.

With Tuesday's action, MotorCity now needs city building permits to begin the project.

MotorCity's plan would add 100,000 square feet of gambling space, an 18-story 400 room hotel, a convention area, a 1,200-seat multi use theater, restaurants, bars and 4,400 parking spaces at its present location.

"MotorCity looks forward to completing a process that began seven years ago and that Detroit will be proud of," Gregg Solomon, chief executive of casino owner Detroit Entertainment LLC, told the Detroit Free Press.

The expansion is expected to be finished by 2008 and add an estimated 300 jobs.

The gambling board rejected the Greektown Casino's $635 million financing plan, which would produce $175 million to $200 million for an expanded casino, a hotel, parking structure and theater. The rest of the money was to pay off debts to two former owners and refinance other debt.

Board members said they were concerned that Greektown appeared to be shifting its debt, rather than eliminating it. They said they also were worried about the casino's negative net worth and its repeated failure to reach revenue projections.

Greektown spokesman Roger Martin said he expects approval for financing the casino expansion to be approved by the end of October.

"We're going to break ground," Martin told The Detroit News. "We're going to build our casino. We want to get this done."

The board tentatively approved casino entrepreneur Don Barden's purchase of a 1 percent stake in the Greektown Casino.