The two-year-old property, which includes Cherokee Hills Golf Club, was damaged by a freak snowstorm in February. It will now add a new $52 million tower within a year, said its owner/operator, Cherokee Nation Entertainment.
The freak snowstorm that pounded the Tulsa, Okla. area in early February has only served to accelerate plans for expanding the two-year-old Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, which had a portion of its roof collapse under the weight of the 14 inches that fell within 24 hours.
Rather than just recreate the single-story gambling area that was damaged by the storm, Cherokee Nation Entertainment, owner and operator of the property in suburban Catoosa (which includes the Cherokee Hills Golf Club) has announced plans to now use the site to build a $52 million, eight-to-ten story tower that will add approximately 100 more hotel rooms to the resort, reports the Tulsa World.
The addition to the casino’s current 356 rooms will make the Hard Rock nearly equal to or larger than the 460-room Hyatt Regency Tulsa, which is currently the largest area hotel in terms of room count.
The lower areas of the Hard Rock’s planned tower, which will be the resort’s third hotel tower, will also add 10,000 square feet of dining and entertainment and 45,000 square feet of gaming space.
David Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Cherokee Nation Entertainment, said long-term plans to expand the casino were already in place, and the roof collapse served to push them forward.
“We have a great opportunity to build in one of the most popular areas of the casino,” Stewart said.
Though the majority of the casino remained open after the snowstorm, the collapsed area was gutted to prepare for renovations, Stewart noted. He anticipated that the new construction would begin within 30 days, with the entire project slated to be finished 12 months after that.
The lower areas, however, will be finished within nine months, he added. Though the building’s footprint will remain the same, a mezzanine level will allow the resort to add more gaming and entertainment space.
A key attraction of the new area will be a to-be-named “media bar.” The mezzanine-level bar will be within a large, circular bank of television screens that broadcast inside the bar as well as outside to the casino below.
The first floor will also include a food court, and a new pedestrian bridge will extend from the tower to the north parking lot.
Stewart said the casino has a strong need for new hotel rooms, especially after last year’s construction of The Joint, a 45,000-sq. ft., 2,700-seat amphitheater.
“The Joint is a huge success,” Stewart said. “The acoustics are incredibly good, and we’ve sold out most shows within a matter of days.”
Typically, 90 percent of the Hard Rock’s existing rooms are booked on any given day, he said.
Additionally, Stewart said, the additional rooms will allow the casino to attract larger conventions to the resort, even though the new phase of development doesn’t include new convention space.
“We’ll be able to book more and larger conferences and conventions, since we’ll have more rooms to facilitate the conference,” he said.
Ray Hoyt, senior vice president of VisiTulsa, the convention and visitors program for the Tulsa Metro Chamber, said the addition should boost the casino’s already strong ability to draw visitors to the area.
“It’s not just a hotel; it’s a unique destination with a casino, golf and other entertainment,” he said. “Because of its brand, people will drive in from all around the region.”
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