Peppermill to unveil major expansion plan

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 10:24 a.m.

RENO -- The Peppermill hotel-casino intends this week to announce a $230 million expansion, including a new hotel, convention space and larger gambling floor, a newspaper reported Sunday.

"We're excited to be hosting a press conference on Thursday to announce a $230 million expansion," Peppermill spokeswoman Kim Stoll told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "At that time, all of the facts and artist renderings will be presented."

The south Reno casino sent news conference invitations to various city officials and community leaders, who confirmed receiving them Friday.

"They already have all the entitlements, so they're just ready to go," Reno Councilwoman Sharon Zadra said.

In 1999, Peppermill officials announced their intent to spend $230 million on a 632-room hotel addition, a casino and retail expansion, new parking garage and added convention space.

Permits taken out with the city at the time allow those components, as well as further hotel and parking expansions.

That year, the hotel-casino spent $65 million to renovate and enlarge many of its facilities, including using space in the closed Century Theaters next door.

"The entitlements that they received back then are still valid," Zadra said. "It is more than we typically see on an expansion. It is a pretty big deal."

Station Casinos Inc. has announced plans for two south Reno hotel-casinos. The Peppermill's expansion could be a shrewd move to head off competition, one expert said.

"Peppermill, by jumping into this, could be an attempt to pre-empt Station's interest in the market," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The expansion is a positive sign for the region, which has seen annual gambling revenue drop about 12 percent since 2000 as tourism has waned, Eadington said.