With site work now under way, construction of the long-planned Cowlitz Indian casino-resort near La Center is set to get started early next year.
The $500-million project – to be built in phases – is among the largest capital projects planned in the Portland-Vancouver metro area in the next two years.
Bill Iyall, Cowlitz Indian Tribe chairman, said he was optimistic that the remaining obstacles facing the project will be resolved and phase-one construction of the casino will start soon on the 152-acre site west of Interstate 5.
“We expect that the latest court appeal to be resolved in our favor,” Iyall said about the challenge to the federal ruling in March granting the tribe the reservation site.
“The good news is that construction can go ahead while this is settled,” he said.
First out of the ground will be a single-story 100,000-square-foot gaming casino with parking that the tribe expects to open in mid-2017. Initial design renderings show nods to the Pacific Northwest with wood accents and a cut stone veneer. Price tag: $160 million.
The tribe also will build a $190-million interchange at Exit 16 off I-5 to better handle traffic to and from the site.
The Cowlitz tribe has hired Swinerton Builders, a San Francisco-based general contractor, to manage the project. Swinerton, also with offices in Portland, has significant experience working with tribes. Those projects include construction of an administration and office building for the Lummi Indian tribe in Bellingham, as well as projects in California that include Feather Falls Casino in Oroville; Cache Creek Casino and Resort in Brooks, and River Rock Casino for the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians in Geyserville.
Ultimately, the Cowlitz project will include tribal administrative buildings, a 250-room hotel, an entertainment venue and convention center, restaurants, retail and some housing units. Construction on these phases will occur over the next several years, Iyall said.
Architect for the Cowlitz project is Friedmutter Group of Las Vegas, Nev. The firm has worked on Native American casino projects throughout the U.S. including the Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Flagstaff, Ariz., which won recognition in September as the “top-designed Native American Casino Facility” in the nation during the international Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.
A long road
The Cowlitz have been battling to gain a reservation and build their casino for more than 10 years. Fierce opposition came from Clark County and the city of Vancouver as well as cardroom owners in downtown La Center and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, both who don’t want the competition.
But from the start, the Cowlitz have had strong backing from the Mohegan Tribe, which operates two high-end casinos in Connecticut. Still facing the project is an appeal to a federal court ruling this year that granted the Cowlitz the La Center reservation. Iyall expects the appeal to be resolved in the tribe’s favor by mid-2016.
“We’ve presented a thorough analysis and discounted all concerns,” he said. “All the legal issues are in our favor.”
Sewer setback for La Center
Meanwhile, Iyall said the tribe was disappointed by a recent decision of the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board regarding a sewer service agreement with the city of La Center. The deal was challenged by casino opponents.
The board ruled that La Center could not collaborate with the tribe on the city’s sewer system expansion because the casino site is outside the city’s growth boundary. The ruling was upheld in Thurston County Superior Court in September.
Now, Iyall said, the tribe will build a “deep well injection” sewage system on the reservation site.
“The growth management ruling is an unfortunate circumstance because we’ve had a good partnership with the city on this plan,” he said. “The tribe would have paid for part of this project. The city now will have to bring economic development to (its urban growth area) at I-5 on its own. It hurt the city, not the tribe.”
Only 26 miles north of Portland, the casino will be the nearest to the metropolitan market. The Grande Ronde operate Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, Ore., 80 miles from Portland. The tribe recently bought the former Multnomah Greyhound Park in Wood Village, Ore., but current law prevents the tribe from operating more than one casino.
Iyall said that the Cowlitz are working with marketing consults to develop the right mix of food services and entertainment facilities for the La Center site.
Construction is expected to employ 250 to 300 workers at any one time on the site, all hired through a project labor agreement with the Building Trades Council including the Carpenters Union.
“Over the course of the total project, we estimate that 1,000 people will find work at this job site,” Iyall said. Once completed, the tribe expects total operations to employ 1,500.
200 years of history
According to tribal information, the earliest historical accounts of the Cowlitz in Southwest Washington began with the Pacific Fur Co. in 1811. However, the tribe did not win official federal tribal recognition until 2000. In 2010, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the tribe’s application to put the La Center site in trust for a reservation. In March, the BIA approved the reservation.
