Greektown Casino to Begin Construction on Tuesday

The construction for the permanent casino in Detroit will begin on Tuesday, August 15, 2006. The $200 million casino, hotel and entertainment complex Greektown Casino received final approval from the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

It's a unanimous approval for the Greektown's plans. Casino officials hope to open the complex by September 2008. It's merely six months after the opening of permanent facilities for MGM Grand Detroit Casino and the MotorCity Casino.

The approval of the Greektown's plan came just after the Gaming Board announced that the casino's revenue for July were down by 8 percent over the same month a year ago. The revenue for the other two Detroit casinos were up.

The three mentioned casinos will have 400-room hotels, 100,000-square-feet of gaming space, restaurants, entertainment facilities, meeting rooms and parking space.

To build the new casino Greektown originally planned to spend $450 million for this new facility. But the officials had a change of mind. Instead, they decided to expand the temporary casino in the heart of Greektown business district, a $250 million savings for the company's construction.

Mike Leinweber, construction manager for Jenkins/Skanska Ventures LLC said, "We will be taking great care to keep Greektown Casino in full operation during the construction."

An additional 30,000 square-foot of gaming space will be constructed on the second floor of the temporary casino.