feature article - july 2008

$240 million expansion at casino
enhances position as major destination

FROM a small bingo hall in 1991, Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Bingo Casino has grown into one of Wisconsin’s most popular entertainment destinations.

With completion of a $240 million expansion project this year, the casino at 1721 W. Canal Street has tripled in size, adding games, restaurants and parking capable of filling all the the needs of more than 4 million visitors a year.

Here are just a few changes made during the massive expansion project:

• An additionial 1,500 slot machines were added, bringing the total to 3,100.
  
  
• The number of table games was doubled to almost 120. Guests can choose from old favorites like blackjack, roulette and craps or try new options like war and big six. The poker room has moved and expanded, now featuring 20 tables.
  
  
• An off-track betting room is set to open later this summer.
  
  
• Dream Dance, the casino’s four-star, four-diamond restaurant, has expanded and moved to the first floor.
  
  
• RuYi, an Asian-concept restaurant, is new and Wild Earth, offering American cuisine, will open sometime in August.
  
  
• The Menomonee Valley Food Court has been added for patrons wanting a quick snack and the very popular Buffet has been expanded and moved to the first floor.
  
  
• At the center of the first-floor is the new Bar 360, with its dream catcher -inspired ceiling design. Bar 360 is an excellent spot to meet friends and watch all the action on the gaming floor.

For many who visit Potawatomi on a regular basis, one of the most significant additions is a new six-story parking structure to the west of the older structure. The new structure adds 1,700 new parking spaces.

Improvements in surface streets leading into the casino also have improved access, as has a vehicular bridge connecting the parking structure to the James E. Groppi Unity Bridge (16th Street viaduct).

In the 17 years since the Forest County Potawatomi Community opened the casino, the Menomonee River Valley along Canal Street has changed dramatically.

When the casino was first built, it stood among old and often empty industrial buildings. Today, the casino is the centerpiece of a growing entertainment district that begins on the west end of canal street with Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers’ state-of-the-art baseball stadium, and continues east from the casino to the new Harley-Davidson Museum which opens this month.

With completion of all aspects of the expansion project later this year, the casino’s workforce will total almost 3,000, an increase of nearly 1,000 from previous levels. The expansion project itself generated about 3,500 local construction jobs.